origami-box-sample
Originally uploaded by shonski

Why buy stuff when you can use stuff around the house? That’s one of my mottos (repurposing stuff, that is). Turn last year’s calendar into a paperclip, business card, or post-it note holder (or anything else that would lend well to little square containers).

You could even make a bunch of different sizes, paperclip them together and make your own drawer organizer. Making them is quick and it’s a nice way to take a short break from over-thinking during the day.

Here’s a short video I made to walk you through the process.

You can use any size piece of paper–just cut it into a square. If, however, you want a specific size box, here’s the formula I figured out:
end result / (divided by) .35 = the size square to start out with.

For example, if you want a 2″ square box, then:
2″ / .35 = 5.71, which, rounded up slightly is 5.75, or 5 3/4″.
Cut your square to have 5 3/4″ sides and your final box size will be 2″ across.