While I greatly enjoy the festive spirit of Christmas, it often devolves into a season of excess and materialistic tendencies. Here are five simple strategies you can adopt this year to ensure a more frugal holiday season next year.
Curling Ribbon Confetti: Growing up, we didn’t make a significant fuss about New Year’s Eve, so there was no fanfare with confetti or poppers scattered around. When I was around twelve, I began to collect the curling ribbons from presents, cut them into small pieces and store them for the New Year’s Eve celebration. As an adult, I realize confetti isn’t expensive, but creating your own can be a fun activity for children. Plus, you’re giving the ribbon an extra lease of life which otherwise would have been discarded. The cleanup is a breeze – a quick vacuum does the trick!
Presentation Supplies: Every year, I carefully store all the Christmas gift bags and tissue paper with the holiday decorations. The following year, not only is wrapping presents cost-free, it’s also quick and effortless. Given that I usually save around 10-20 bags and tissue paper, I calculate saving approximately $20-40 annually, as I don’t have to buy any bags. While it may be harder to neatly conserve wrapping paper, you can always re-purpose it for various craft activities, like scrapbooking and collaging.
Holiday Cards: You can also transform Christmas cards into crafts for the next holiday season. They can be repurposed into fresh cards, gift tags, or even decorations. I’ve seen wonderful decorations like paper chains and paper banners made from Christmas cards. It’s worth noting some local prisons allow inmates to use old Christmas cards. They just attach a new sheet of paper inside for inmates to send heartfelt holiday greetings to their families. It could be worthwhile to check with your local prison or halfway house, and don’t forget to donate any unused stamps or writing materials!
Christmas Treats: Overloaded with an excess of candies and cookies this year? You’re not the only one. Instead of discarding all your holiday treats, you can repurpose them. Non-frosted cookies can be ground into crumbs for pie crusts, cheesecakes, or other desserts. Similarly, pieces of chocolate can be finely chopped and saved for later use in cookies. Nestling your preserved treats deep in your freezer can help resist the temptation to snack.
Christmas Meals: It seems like many are already proactively planning to repurpose their Christmas and New Year meal leftovers. Almost anything can be frozen and consumed later on. My family usually enjoys seafood and Italian cuisine, both of which can be easily frozen and reheated. The same goes for my husband’s family’s traditional tamales. Even surplus bread can be transformed into French toast, and leftover potatoes are perfect for soups. Meat like ham and turkey can be chopped, frozen, and included in almost any dish. Of course, remember to use these stored meals within the next 3-6 months, not saved till the following Christmas.
By creatively identifying ways to reduce waste this year, you’ll discover it’s easy to reuse items like Christmas cards and bags for the subsequent year. You might be pleasantly surprised at how much money you save in the upcoming year by making use of what you’ve conserved this year.
From smartasset.com.
