5 Ways to Have a Less Expensive and Earth Friendly Holiday

It’s that time of year. No matter what holiday you celebrate, it is all about home, hearth, family, sharing, reflection, renewal, giving and charity . . . and being bombarded by insane marketing hype! For me bringing light into these long, cold and dark days means minimizing the commercial aspect and being more thoughtful about what I really want to share, give and how to let my close ones know how much I appreciate them. I’d say momma earth deserves a little appreciation as well, but we seem to be hardest on her during the few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years . . .

According to the EPA in the time between turkey and Auld Lang Syne, we here in the U.S. produce a whopping 25% more domestic waste than the rest of the year, which translates to over 1 million TONS of extra crap going into landfills every week! 

I was on Ebru Today talking about a few ways to lessen the negative impact of our holidays on the environment. Watch the segment than see below for links to find out more details on what we discussed.

Here are 5 things to  consider when gift-giving during the holidays – or any days!

According to the Center for a New American Dream, 70% of Americans would welcome less emphasis on gift giving and spending 

1. Make it and wrap it yourself – 1/4 – 1/3 of all domestic waste is packaging. The estimated waste from gift-wrap and shopping bags in the U.S. is about 4 million tons (fun, easy DIY gift ideas below)

2. Remember to use your own bags – Remember to bring your reusable bags for holiday gift shopping, and tell helpful cashiers that you don’t need one for very small or oversized items
3. Send an eCard – The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high, and while we’re still into math, if we each sent one less card, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper – that’s a lot of trees folks! My favorite place to send free ecards from is Care2.com– send free cards and do good while you’re at it!

4. Wrap it with something useful, recycled, or repurposed – Half of the paper America consumes is used to wrap and decorate consumer products. I like using new dishtowels or cloth napkins, but here are some other fun ideas we came up with – 13 Ways to Wrap Cheap, Have Fun & Save Money
5. When buying a gift, consider it’s lifecycle and footprint – Ask yourself a few questions like: What is the item made of – is it made from recycled materials? Where does it come from – has it traveled very far? It is recyclable or will it sit in a landfill for an extended period of time after its current use? It is durable? Can it be used more than once?

10 Easy DIY Gift Ideas for the Non-Crafty Green Diva (which includes the link to instructions for my teacup candle shown in the Ebru Today segment)

Green Diva Mizar’s DIY decorated upcycled  glass tea light holders (at the bottom of the 12.6.12 GD radio show post)