A few months ago we ordered a few electronic components from a company called Mouser.com. (They are really great if you need anything electrical!) But, ever since then we’ve been receiving this lovely 2500+ page catalog in the mail.

At first we thought it wasn’t very smart for them to mail us this 5 lb. catalog in the mail each month, especially since we only spent about $15 online and probably will not need to buy anything from them again anytime soon.

Now that we’ve come up with some new creative uses for the Mouser Catalog however, we’ve actually started to look forward to seeing them dumped in the ditch below our mailbox. (A 2500+ page catalog does not fit in a standard sized mailbox!)

Here are some of the fantastic uses we have found for not only this catalog but also phone books and many other stupid things we get in the mail:

Excellent Fire Starters: The type of paper used in creating these types of books makes for a wonderful fire starter. Crumple up a few pages and it ignites faster than newspaper, giving you a nice cozy fire to snuggle up in front of. A must have to take with you camping!

Instant Step Stool: These catalogs also make great stepping stools for reaching those hard to reach top shelf items in the kitchen.

Entertain the Kids: It makes a great baby toy, as babies will sit and rip out the pages and tear them to tiny shreds. This is far more entertaining to them than rattles or silly things that make annoying noises.

Learn Oragami: The catalogs are also great for making paper airplanes and other papercrafts.

Cheap, Economical Wall Paper: We thought about wallpapering our bathroom and kitchen with the pages as well. (With 2500 11×8 sheets of paper, we’d probably have enough to also do a border in our bedrooms as well!)

Fix That Rickety Table: The catalogs are also useful for propping up unlevel chairs and tables.

Hell, Build a Table or Chair: We are thinking after we get a few more we might actually build a couch and coffee table.

Do you get gigantic catalogs and books in the mail you don’t read? What ways have you found to use them?