Why You Should Think Twice Before Throwing Away Shoeboxes

You don't have to be a shoe aficionado like Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and the City" to understand that a growing pile of empty shoeboxes is not going to do much for the aesthetic appeal of your home. In 2021, the average yearly consumer expenditure on footwear among Americans between the ages of 45 and 54 was $470, according to Statista.

The need to be environmentally conscious is seeping into the lives of most people, even if you don't call yourself an environmental advocate. Most shoeboxes may not be as harmful as plastic which is why you should be thinking twice about throwing away plastic straws, but upcycling them is a nice way to contribute toward a sustainable cause. Giving old products a second chance at life is what upcycling is all about, per You Matter, so why not show some love to the boxes that once housed and transported your favorite pair of shoes?

Whether you plan to put your creative energy to good use and come up with cool projects that can turn your shoeboxes into something else entirely, or you're simply interested in using them as additional storage devices, the options are endless.

Are you someone who likes to keep your workspace, wardrobe, and kitchen counters organized? Is clutter a cause of distress for you? Shoeboxes make great organizational tools. You can simply leave them as they are — rustic — and use them to organize your delicates in your wardrobe or add in some cardboard separators and labels for your spices and recipes and leave them on your kitchen counters, according to Home Hacks.

There's really no end to how many more ways you can use shoeboxes to bring order to chaos inside a home. If you're looking for a creative way to store your jewelry, you could fashion a shoebox jewelry organizer using the lid (via DIY Joy). You may want to cover the lid with some decorative cloth of your choice and hang it on a wall close to your dresser; you can hang your necklaces and other jewelry on push pins fastened to the top of the lid.

Are you looking to organize your ribbons and other sewing essentials? Do you want to make sure your office table is clutter-free with its own space for pens and markers? Or do you want to have some extra storage space for your children's toys? Shoeboxes make great tools for all of these, according to DIY Joy.

Wall art is a lovely way to give new life to old shoeboxes. The lids of your empty shoeboxes are empty canvases for you to do with as you will, per DIY Crafts. You can either create pieces that speak to your personality, according to Bob Villa, or simply get out your paint brushes and let the inner artist in you shine, notes DIY Crafts. Shoeboxes will also make really handy wall shelf units in which you can store delicate vases and other items that aren't too heavy, reports Earth 911.

Children are always looking for things to amuse themselves with so why not gather them together and get to work on a shoebox puppet theater? You'll first want to create a frame in your shoebox by cutting a rectangle from the bottom, after which you'll make 3 to 4 slits along one of the long sides of the box through which you can animate your paper puppets, explains Bob Villa. You'll need to make a platform with cardboard, with matching slits, to go on the bottom of the shoebox as well. 

You can even keep your cats from destroying your couches by creating their very own claw-sharpening device using cardboard strips glued to the inside of a shoebox's lid, notes Bob Villa.

Shoeboxes have excellent reuse value so the next time you go out and buy your best summer sneaker, consider putting the box to an alternate use aside from throwing it in the garbage.