New uses for old business cards

Card Backs

If old business cards have blank backs, You can stand them upright to label card boxes.

You can thread them on a piece of thread or string tied in a loop, or on a key ring or clippable D ring. Then use the blank sides of the cards for words in a foreign language, curency exchange rates, or the cue cards for main points of a speech or sales pitch.

Naming Your Property

What about cards printed on both sides?

Family History Books

Old family cards with previous addresses can be pasted on the front of a bought or DIY family history record book. Alternatively, stick them inside the front cover, or on a page headed Where We Lived.

I put old business cards in all my wallets and purses and jacket pockets. If I leave anything at the home of a friend, they can see it's mine.

I have had many group meetings at my home where somebody left behind a hat or umbrella. You can put out an appeal on the group website. Every group has this problem.

Hotels

Some hotels will keep the property of a VIP forever. However, most dispose of unclaimed items after 3 months.

If you have your name and an out-of-date photo or address, strangers might not have the gumption and initiative to search for you on LinkedIn and find you. However, friends and family will know it's you.

You might think you had lost your hat on the train. You might not want to depress your host with a tale of woe and make yourself look a fool. Not realising that you left the item at your friend's house.

Name and phone number business card with money in purse. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Safeguarding Money

My father told me how a friend of his came to visit. A day later my father found an envelope containing a large sum of money.

He could not work out how it got there. Eventually, his friend phoned to thank him for the recent hospitality. My father asked,

'Did you lose an envelope containing money?'

'Yes, I did. I'll collect it right away!'

The friend rushed around. He gratefully bowed on receiving his precious envelope. He counted out the twenty pounds notes to confirm it was all there. It was. 

He then, took a twenty pound note, and handed it to my father.

My father backed away, laughing.

My father told me, 'Ridiculous. As if I was a stranger in the street, hoping for a reward. I was his friend. I was not taking or expecting any money. It was his money!' 

Years later, my father still remembered and still laughed about it.

Of course, with the name of the owner on the envelope, there would have been no mystery to solve. Or a business card.

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