They’re useful as note paper if they’re blank on the back. Whenever I’m done with a business card I’ve gotten from someone, I toss it into our kitchen drawer for use in creating quick shopping and errands lists. Then it goes into recycling.

These two come to mind:

-Use them as luggage tags by writing on the blank side.
-Use them as labels. Again, blank side, taped or glued to the item that needs labeling.

My initial reaction was, why wouldn’t they immediately get recycled?

When I was decorating my house, I used old business cards for notes. Wrote down the shop / paint colour and blue tacked them all over the house to remind me.

Cover with a label and use for gift tags on presents

I’ve used them to make flashcards for my kids. We have made phonics and music flashcards, but it could be done for anything you want to memorize.

Nicole’s idea reminded me that when I was learning French, I wrote the french word down for household things and placed the cards on/beside them :)

if you scrapbook they could be handy as backing for your photos…

Business cards are the perfect size for the diaper bag. Keep them with a few crayons and you have something to entertain the kiddos while away from home. Once they’ve been thouroughly “decorated” by the kiddos they can be used to build a house of cards or folded up into miniature books.

shred them and use for your hamster box

Glue scraps of wrapping paper, foil, or fabric to the backs, punch a hole in the corner, and use as gift tags.

Business cards are ideal for writing lists if you like to keep any lists in your wallet; it’s designed to fit them!

A good use, though admittedly only for a couple, would be to write out any allergies, medical conditions, important phone numbers, etc, and keep it in your wallet in case of emergencies.

you could decorate them and then get them laminated. punch a hole in the top and you could have a keychain!

This might not be a great tip for home, but at work I have always used outdated business cards for file-drawer labels. Just trim them to fit the little metal frame on the front of the drawer, write or type on it what you will, and label away! ;-)

(1) NOTE PAD “CUBE”
Take a stack of them to an office supply place and have them glue them all together on one end to make a cool note pad cube;

(2) NOTE PAD “CUBE” (Poor man’s version)
Staple them together in groups of 20 or so, get an industrial stapler and staple them together. Toss them in your briefcase/purse to have Notepads At The Ready all the time!

School revision!
My kids used these to help them with their revision, by jotting down their condensed notes and putting them in a card file. Worked wonders, off to university now!

Cut out a fun shape, decorate, laminate, hole punch, put on a chain (or string or leather strap) and VIOLA! NEW NECKLACE! Do a pair and make earrings!

I use cards like these when I make scarves and such, knitting the same rows over and over again.

Write one row of the pattern on each card, punch a hole in the corner and thread them on a string. When one row is finished, simply turn the card to the back of the stack. Very easy to keep track of which row you’re on.

This beats the photocopy-with-crossed-out-rows, hands down. Also, I save them in case I ever do the same pattern again. They’re usually good for that, even when I’ve travelled with the project.

I reuse the back and write phone numbers and addresses on them to keep in my wallet.

I made a mess of the design of a bunch of business cards when I ordered them recently so donated them to my local charity shop who use them for swing tags ( i incidentally get free advertising should the price tags swing round to the wrong side).
My eldest child has used other business cards to do a “Smart” or “Vision On” style major temporary art picture on our floor with lots of cards.
I also use slightly larger cards (cut up cereal packets but could easily be business cards) to record all my pieces or craft work. When the pieces are on show they are grouped with a rubber band, when they sell they go in a separate place etc.

Collect them by the thousands and join a business card club on yahoo and meet other collectors who trade them for more cards. :)