The humble milk crate is a surprisingly awesome piece of engineering. It’s small enough to be convenient, strong enough to hold heavy loads, robust enough to take a lot of punishment, and at the same time it’s cheap to make and buy. There are four handles all around the top so it’s easy to carry.
Basically, a milk crate does everything a bucket does except hold water, everything a tote does only it stacks better, and it’s rigid enough to hold four gallons of something very easily.
Milk crates used to be available for free if you knew a grocer, but now Home Depot and other big box home improvement stores carry them for $8-10. They come in colors like pink and green but of course my favorite is the classic black. If you want a bargain, by the way, the odd colors cost less. I bought eight of them for help in my move and I may get more.
With a milk crate, you can:
Store things and carry them, similar to a plastic tote.
Use it as a step stool if you’re careful.
Make a simple patio end table.
Use it as a foot stool in the house with the addition of a pillow.
Stack them in a number of ways for modular shelves or storage.
Sit on them if you are short a chair.
Make a kitty cave with a blanket and pillow.
Stack them in two rows, lay a board on top, and make a shelf.
Hold canned goods, gallons of water, tools, anything heavy.
Do you have any other more unusual uses for a milk crate?
Mindflight 