How to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Your Holidays - Without Being
Cheap!
So many of us are disturbed by the commercialism and extravagance of
the end-of-the-year holidays. Much that should be adding
to our pleasure becomes a burden, both financially and psychologically.
Yet there are many ways to be frugal and giving - in
fact, richly - and to conserve resources into the bargain.
True, buying "new" might stimulate the business sector of the
economy. But, well, my economy probably has to be of
first importance! Too, purchasing (where one has to purchase)
used items does a world of good in one's community as well: it stimulates
the non-profit and private sectors of the economy, as it were; individuals
bolstering their finances by selling/
bartering, good-doing organizations dependent on "rummage" sales,
and both businesses and individuals gaining via the tax benefits from
items donated to non-profits.
In any case, many aspects of holiday celebration are open to "interpretation"
in the light of "The Three Rs" (as waste reduction folks like
to call the frugality of conservation). And whether one is directly concerned
with resource conservation or not, reducing, reusing, and recycling
can be a whole lot of fun!
What -is- frugality?
"Frugal", in my vocabulary, doesn't necessarily mean "cheap"
or even, necessarily, inexpensive. Not meagerness - just not ostentation.
To me, frugality means "what is just enough" - what is right
for the circumstances, the people, the occasion.
This is my philosophy of gift-giving: Apt meaning is what's important.
What's right could be expensive - but if the gift is "right,"
the expense wouldn't be extravagant (if the giver can afford that, and
the receiver will truly appreciate it). Limiting yourself to the inexpensive
no matter what might mean limiting the impact of your gift - and the pleasure
of making
gifts meaningful, in multiple layers of meaning, is one of the things
I receive from giving. (Of course, if your budget is mighty slim,
inexpensive giving would likely be de rigueur. In which case you can have
the fun of coming up with just the right inexpensive gift!)
But oh, how much an apt inexpensive or free gift can give!
If you found a lovely crystal formation, for instance (or owned one you
were willing to part with), imagine the delight it could bring to a giftee
sensitive to its beauty. Or consider the pleasure a house-bound aunt would
take in being given a coupon for a monthly hair appointment in her home.
(There, look at the layering: A visit; a spruce-up perhaps not otherwise
affordable; another layer if the stylist were you - and another if you
brought your toddler along. :^)
The holidays, after all, are meant to be meaningful - otherwise, what
is celebration for? They - you - can certainly be frugal without diminishing
their meaning one iota. In fact, you might agree that some appropriate
frugality might add to your (and others') enjoyment of Christmas,
Hanukah, the New Year, or whatever you celebrate.
And if reducing, reusing, and recycling gives you pleasure - out of a
desire to conserve resources -and/or- money, or just to open up the gift-giving
spectrum - here are some ideas for incorporating The Three Rs "resourcefully"
into the holidays.
Holiday Greetings:
There's recycled paper, of course.
Make greeting postcards out of the fronts of folded greeting cards
you received in previous years.
Use the interesting outer portion of an old card front as the frame
for a new design.
Cut those folded card fronts up. Glue one shape, or make a simple
collage of a few, onto the front of a blank folded card -or make a glued
mosaic of bits (cut from the colorful parts you would otherwise have
discarded?).
Use your children's artwork on the fronts instead.
Or family photos (I always get double prints, do you? - and then
I have extras lying around!).
Make the paper.
Holiday parties:
Have a gift exchange featuring recycled gifts (i.e., "white elephants")
- fun! (Or specifically, recycled Christmas tree ornaments?) Children
could exchange in-good-shape toys they've tired of (and bring one for
a community toy collection box?).
Ask your guests to bring excess food from homes to donate to a food
bank.
Recycle memories - ask guests to bring their favorite holiday memories
to share with the group (backed up by photos, if
available).
Make "stone soup" - from one over-abundant item in each
guest's
refrigerator?
Meet to glean some veggies from a local farmer's field, go back to
your house to wash them for a meals-on-wheels program (and a treat for
the guests?).
Give as "party favors" floor sweepings from a local grain
elevator, bagged up as food for guests' local birds.
Make shrunken-wool hats or mittens (from rummaged sweaters) for a
homeless shelter.
Holiday Decorations:
Make a table centerpiece from a ring of repotted herb starts -to
give to the guests as parting gifts?
Quart jars stuffed with strings of tiny white lights make an exquisite
window decoration at night.
Make candle luminarias to light the paths outdoors, spray painting
tin cans that have been decorated by punching with an awl and/or nipping
with a triangle-headed can opener.
Twist branches from a "dead" artificial tree into a wreath.
Or a real"recycled wreath" can be made from chicken wire
from the back acres.
Bringing the outdoors in can be as simple, of course, as fanning out
flat leaves as the base for a centerpiece or spreading evergreens (even
if palm fronds!) around the room.
Even the tree might come inside and go back out at the end of the
holiday season, if it's potted. Or sometimes a bundle of branches serves
as a similar focal point and ornament hanger.
Quilt a tree skirt from fabric scraps.
We "reuse" decorations pleasurably through the years, of
course. That's how they become heirlooms, all those creche sets and
tree ornaments and door hangers, etc.
But maybe one year, use real stockings for everybody - wake 'em up!
So many ornaments can be made from the found or the reused: old glass
balls repainted or stickered; beribboned pinecones; stuffed scrap-fabric
shapes; decorated eggshells; stars cut from aluminum pie plates, for
light reflectors; light bulbs decorated as snowmen; magazine photos
folded into wonderful origami shapes;
and just plain old found objects themselves can be fun.
And garlands, made from: pine, fir, or spruce cones; old jigsaw puzzle
pieces; paper chains cut from greeting cards of bygone years; crumpled
aluminum foil "beads"; sea shells; old buttons strung on bright
cording; ha, excess wrapped Halloween candies!
Holiday Gifts:
Some people turn up their noses at used items as gifts - but then, that
just means the frugality of such a gift wouldn't be "right"
in that case. (Though if you pick well, maybe they wouldn't know, or tell
them and let them be amazed!)
Scrounged nuts, divided bulbs, old bricks, and gorgeous rocks make
great gifts - all free.
Consider adding to someone's collectibles collection from your yard
sale finds.
Make confetti eggs, croutons from elderly bread, baby clothes from
discarded turtlenecks, necktie serpents, braided horse tail hair bracelets,
picture frames of barn wood, newspaper fire starter pretzels, pinatas!
If a woodworker doesn't have a subscription, back-issues of "Fine
Woodworking" would be very welcome. Or a used classical CD for
a music lover.
Many people are lacking in nails, screws, nuts, washers, and bolts
when they need them - give 'em a jarful of oddments from your workshop!
Wonderful clothing can be found for those who aren't concerned with
the latest styles (as toddlers aren't, for instance!). How about a dress-up
box for a young girl?
Consider wrapping these gifts in: reused wrapping paper; old maps;
scrap fabric; containers such as jars and old tins; pictures from old
calendars; painted oatmeal cylinders; fancy foreign food bags.
Use for decorations: pinked newspaper strip "ribbons";
reused commercial bows; cut-out pictures; burnt-out Christmas tree light
bulbs; -painted- on ribbon; plumber's tape ribbon and bow for the man
of the house!
Use as gift tags: bits from old greeting cards; snowman shapes cut
from plastic milk cartons; old piano keys! - or just write on the wrapper
itself.
The Holiday Aftermath:
Did you save good-looking wrapping paper, ribbons, and garnishes at
present-opening time? (You can even reuse gift tags for people you're
with at opening time.)
Certain like-minded friends and I have fun passing paper back and
forth from year to year (it's one of the layers of the gift).
Egg cartons and partitioned liquor cartons make good ornament storage
containers.
Even a dead Christmas tree has its (re)uses!: as kindling, branch
tips in potpourri, needles covering garden paths, etc.
When we celebrate, most of us are eager to express and create something
of value for ourselves, and for others. I suppose you could say we're
training our children at the same time, to value... what? Maybe a little
deliberate conservation is good to throw into the mix. Certainly I count
it one of our blessings, that we -can- make do with less - not just make
do, but make a festival, practically out of thin air.
That's when frugality really has panache! Maybe there's
a fourth R: richness (in disguise).
