Goods that are shipped across the country and internationally are something relatively new in the history of trade. It was only a century ago that most things were bought and sold in a brick and mortar shop. Sure, people would send items long distance, but those were almost exclusively to friends or family members, not for business.

The problem wasn’t that we didn’t have the technology to ship containers or boxes or parcels. It was the technology of payment that was lacking. Think about it. Why would a company want to send you a product if you couldn’t pay them until after you received it? Similarly, why would you want to pay for something across the country and only be sent it after they received your check or cash?

The internet, however, has solved this problem. Credit cards make it easy to put in your payment information in a matter of seconds, and before you know it, your items are being packaged in shipping boxes and loaded up in a truck to start their journey to your house.

It’s taken quite a bit of time for our conception of trade to evolve to the state it has, but it begs the question: What will our business model be like in another 50 or 100 years? Will shipping be twice as quick? Will things remain as they are since our transportation is pretty high speed and efficient as it can get as is? It’s too early to tell what will happen, but I can bet that autonomous vehicles will be a cog in the system that speeds the process up even more. Sure, everyone seems to be a bit timid or even afraid of the idea of vehicles driving themselves, but by taking the human component out of the model, business is actually faster, more efficient, and more objective. (Yes, we’re gonna leave the whole can of worms that is jobs vs. AI out of this article.)

So, what do you think? Will our idea of shipping boxes evolve in the next century, too? Will cardboard be outdated by a newer, cheaper, sturdier substance that is just as eco-friendly? Will shipping become a cheaper thing overall, or will prices rise simply because the efficiency will increase?

If only we could peer just a few decades into the future, I’m sure a lot of these questions would be answered in short fashion.

The new year marks a great time to restock on a lot of your supplies within your office or your home. At this point, you’ve probably neglected a lot of your stock anyway or run out completely without having noticed.

Just think about the times when you’ve run out of staples or other essentials. It kind of sucks when your lack of supplies forces you to make a trip to the local office supplies store, right?

Well, you’re not alone in the masses. Whether or not you realize it, a lot of households shirk their duties to keep up-to-date on office supplies in the home. The thing is, you can use these items in a lot of different ways outside of the office. Whether you’re intending to ship something to a distant family member during their birthday or just keep your office space tidy for work at home, you’re sure to benefit from this list of essential shipping supplies items. Here are three essential items you need, especially for the new year:

Packaging tape. A staple in any home, packaging tape seals the deal when it comes to remedying a lot of things. No matter what, though, it allows you to wrap birthday gifts, seal up boxes to be put in storage, and tape up items to be shipped off at your local shipping store. Having some strong packing tape handy is one of the most important items to have stocked in your office.

Black markers. No matter if you’re reading this and think you don’t really “need” most of these items for shipping, everyone can benefit from a black marker. Bottom line: These things are what everyone (mostly!) uses during the holidays to address a gift to someone else, especially because you can write it directly on a package.

Manila envelopes. You can send random items in these things. You can apply to jobs with them. You can store important documents in them. Whatever the case, almost everyone past the age of 18 has used a manila envelope. As a bonus, they’re useful for shipping smaller packages to distant family members around the holidays.

While this list is great for the holidays, you can definitely benefit from having a surplus of shipping supplies year-round. Whether it’s for the office, your kids’ school endeavors, or simply keeping in touch with the family, keeping your desk at home or work office stocked with the appropriate supplies is important.

Extreme conditions in the weather can really make us quite uncomfortable, especially if we’re exposed to them during long periods of time.

When it’s seriously hot out, sweating happens, making us extremely uncomfortable. But so long as we drink plenty of water, we are, for the most part, able to survive just fine. Perhaps the sun can be pretty bad with UV rays, but again, with any layer of clothing covering your skin or proper application of sunblock lotion, humans are fine.

When it comes to the cold, however, things aren’t as easy. No longer is the temperature extreme just “uncomfortable.” Rather, it’s dangerous. While we eventually begin to lose feeling in our extremities, meaning you don’t feel as much one way or the other, this is bad soon after in that frostbite can occur and your body can begin to shut down. So, having proper gear is extremely important when the weather turns freezing.

The thing is, a lot of that appropriate gear can be quite costly. From heavy duty snow boots and gloves to insulated tents, clothing, and materials for your vehicle on the road, your expense can begin to rack up just preparing for cold weather.

But what if I said that a common, everyday material would suffice as insulation? What if cardboard happened to be that material?

Because corrugated cardboard has pockets of air within its walls, it makes quite an amazing insulator. You may be padding your tent walls and ground space with cardboard (which also helps to make a more comfortable floor in the tent to sleep on), which would be smart in colder, mountainous, and snowy areas. You may also just have cardboard in your vehicle in case the need arises.

There’s a reason that people who are homeless sleep on and in cardboard, and it’s not just because it’s free. The insulating properties of old shipping boxes and other pieces of cardboard is amazing, as it keeps the coldness of the ground from seeping into someone’s body.

Similarly, you can use it in your vehicle if you had to sleep in it on a long road trip, as it’ll do some good to keep a vehicle warm after the heater and vehicle have been turned off.

No matter the case, old cardboard from shipping boxes or packaging boxes should be appreciated for the uniqueness and versatility they possess in all of their various uses.

A lot of us like to splurge a little bit when it comes to having an entertainment system in our living rooms. We get a large HDTV with a sound bar (and sometimes peripheral speakers). We convince ourselves we need the cabinets and stand. And we even include things like old record players, DVD racks, book cases, video game systems, and decorations. Well, at least I do.

But the one thing everyone knows when it comes to these electronic masterpieces is how dang messy the cords and plugins can be. Things become tangled of their own accord. Plugs pop out of their sockets. Extension cords are in abundance just to be able to reach an outlet that’s farther away than you’d like it to be. Everything is in a state of disarray, and it only becomes worse if you don’t get it all organized from the get go.

We’ve got a few quick tips on taming the beast that is home entertainment system hookups, and it takes less time than fixing it all months down the road.

Bind your cords.

This is one of the most important and useful tips I can give when it comes to organizing your home entertainment system. If you have any cheap shipping supplies lying around like labeling tape, zip ties (these work best), or even twine, get to using them on your cords.

One thing I will note is that you’ll want to bind together like cords. So, having your video game console cords bound together separate from your TV cords is a smart idea. You can even go so far as to color code them if you want. Some electrical tape is colored and would do the trick here.

Use an outlet extension.

And no, not the two outlet brown cord we all seem to have lying around. Get yourself a heavy duty extension cord that has a power button and at least 5 to 6 outlets on the strip. These will allow you keep everything in its proper place and have an extension cord that’s grounded. Without this useful tool, powering your entire entertainment system is nigh impossible.

Keep it hidden behind the system.

You don’t want unsightly cords and the shipping supplies you used to bind them all to be all over the place, do you? Keep it all hidden and away behind your TV stand and cabinets so that it looks clean and organized up front.

It happens often—you stock up on office supplies, many of those including stuff you can use to ship items, and then the supplies sit there unused for years. You forget about them (much like other home essentials that have been untouched for ages) and they continue to sit there.

What gives? If you’re going to spend the money on supplies, you surely meant to use them at some point, right?

Well, we all have good intentions on most of our purchases. Shipping supplies are no different. Life just gets in the way. But luckily, there are ways to make use of those supplies you once intended to use, and you can have fun using them this holiday season, too. It may take a tad bit of work on your end, but it almost always guarantees to make someone else (and yourself!) happy around this time of year.

Send a small gift to an old friend.
When life gets in the way of your household and items you don’t use, it also tends to impede close friendships. People move away. You fall out of touch. What better way to rekindle a friendship than to randomly send a small bauble or a book as a gift to an old-time friend of yours? Pack it in a box, tape it up, wrap it, label it, and ship it out. They’ll be surprised and see that you cared enough to think of them.

Mail a family Christmas letter.
Whether you choose to send one of these to your elder family members that you can’t always visit, family friends, coworkers, or someone you know who’s away at college, family Christmas letters are nice little surprises for people that may not always be able to keep up with your life. These also show you care when you send them to someone close, and it’s a great way to show off the family and home!

Decorate your house.
Use your scissors, tape, twine, and packing paper this year to spice up your decorations, whether you’re wrapping “fake” gifts as decorations with packing paper or using twine as draping on your trees.

And for the decorations that don’t make it up this year, think about using some of your cardboard boxes and packaging tape to store what you don’t use. You can simply box up the clutter and store it in the attic, basement, or a closet (especially since it’s tough to throw certain things away).

There you have it. Three simple ways to repurpose the shipping supplies you once bought but never got around to using. Whether you’re making an old friend’s day, touching base with a distant family member, or decorating your home, you can be sure to get some use out of these common items that you’ve neglected for too long.

When you need to ship something off, whether it’s a returned item, a gift to a family member during the holidays, or something that is pressing and needs urgently sent, you want to have the bare essentials for getting your package there. While going to a delivery store solves a lot of those needs, they will always be more expensive to rely on for materials than having everything ready on your own.

Next time you’re at your local office supplies store, consider picking up these shipping supplies to ensure you’re ready for your next impromptu (or planned) item to be sent.

Packaging tape.

Also called packing tape or shipping tape, this is essential in making sure your box is properly sealed and won’t come open in transit. Packing tape is made to hold cardboard flaps tightly together, and it’s an all-purpose, easy-to-use item for other projects or things around the house when needed.

Packing paper and bubble wrap.

Having both may seem overkill, so having at least one of the two helps to keep your item secure and protected from the jostling around that happens when being shipped. Packing peanuts also fall into this category, but that seems like extra if you at least have packing paper to fill the empty spaces within your box.

Black marker.

Sharpies are great for labeling on cardboard. Not only does this handy marker serve as useful around the house very often, it’s perfect for writing addresses on cardboard if you don’t have prepared labels. The post office is especially fond of these packages, as slapping on postage is all that’s needed beyond your already-written address.

Shipping boxes.

Shipping boxes serve as the container itself. While you can have this done for you wherever you’ve having your package shipped, buying a few different sized boxes to have at your house is a good idea in case you need something in a hurry or you just want to save money. You’ll likely also have some of these sitting around from previous packages that have been sent to you, so using these is even cheaper (i.e., free!).

No matter how few packages you think you’ll send in the future, you’ll want each of these shipping supplies to at least be prepared for when the time comes. And as I’ve mentioned for almost every one of these things, they have household use outside of shipping packages, to boot. You just can’t go wrong with having these essentials at the ready.

Let’s get this out of the way: I’m not a crafty person. In fact, I consider myself quite bland when it comes to my creative side. I like unique and creative ideas, but my skills in creativity with art and hands-on activities are very lacking.

But let’s be honest, getting crafty with the kids is something that is great for their own expression, their tactile development, and simply bonding with them. Even if you also consider yourself as uncreative as me, you can do these few things to bond with your children and have fun doing it, too.

Be cheap.

There’s no reason to spend a lot on art supplies or specific, high-dollar tools and paint when you can use a lot that you have around the house already. You’d be surprised at what all you can get out of your assortment of things at home, such as packaging supplies: scissors, packaging tape, cardboard boxes, and bubble wrap are all things that you could use to get crafty with your kids.

Limit the time.

I think we all seem to think that craft time requires a lot of time to think, do, refine, and clean up. You should really only spend time setting up, getting at it, and cleaning up. Art is messy and art is fun because it’s messy. Don’t overthink whatever it is you’re doing, as you may be less interested in doing it again for your children in the future. Spend no more than 30 minutes doing something with your kids.

Prepare a mess-free area.

You don’t want paint, glue, and paper scraps everywhere on your nice hardwood table, do you? Buying some sort of cheap plastic tablecover will protect your furniture (and even floor). This also saves you a lot of time during the cleanup process.

Have. Fun.

Don’t stress about the mess. Don’t worry so much about the time or thinking about the next project. The whole point should be to have fun with your kids and encourage them to have fun. Bonding and laughing and being creative together is very beneficial to your children. If they see that you’re not having a good time, they’ll be far less likely to enjoy it themselves.

No matter how much you lack creativity, it’s easy to set aside time to just do something new and hands-on with your kids. You’ll love it. They’ll love it.

See? Craft time with the kids isn’t as hard as you thought. Bust out the packaging supplies you cast aside long ago. Grab some cheap paint and plastic table covers. Get to crafting.