Happy holidays from your friends at One Change! Here are some simple actions you can take over the holiday season to save money and make your holidays a little greener. Got your own holiday Simple Actions that Matter? Tell us today!
- Real or fake? The answer is neither! Both real trees and fake trees have negative environmental impacts. The best option is to choose an inexpensive living tree that you can plant outdoors once the holidays are over. It has obvious advantages to the planet including providing wildlife habitat, adding oxygen to the air, securing soil, etc. Make sure you follow these care instructions: You can also decorate it outdoors for many Christmases to come. If you don’t have room in your yard to plant it, donate it to your local municipality or school. Other fun alternatives to traditional trees include decorating an indoor plant or designating an outdoor tree as your Christmas tree.
- Switch your Christmas tree lights to LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights. Switching to LEDs (light emitting diodes) is 95% more efficient than incandescent lighting. LEDs also lower the risk of fire because they do not get as hot and if one bulb goes out, the rest of the string still works. They last longer, too.
- Give less! In 2005, Canadians spent more than $36.8 billion on gifts and are expected to exceed that amount this holiday season. That works out to $845 per person for gifts! Why not give the environment a gift by reducing consumption? Try playing “secret Santa” with your family. To play you pick names from a hat and only buy for that member of the family. Don’t forget to set a spending limit! Consider being even greener by giving a homemade gift, an experience, a used item or a donation to a charity.
- Make your own gift. Make bake goods, create a mixed cd, knit a scarf, create a photo album, create a recipe book, make your own soap…the ideas are endless. Try to involve other members of your family. You will save money and spend valuable time with the people you care about.
- Give a used item. Antiques, early edition books, or vintage jewelry make unique gifts. You can also repackage an old family heirloom. Try looking for gifts flea markets, estate sales, and local craft fairs.
- Give an experience. Instead of packaging-laden gifts for friends, give a gift certificate for a dinner out or theatre tickets. Or make your own vouchers, good for a night of free babysitting! Instead of toys for kids, keep the kids active with a gift of sporting equipment or a voucher for an outdoor activity.
- Give a food item. Homemade treats are unique and delicious. Put them in an old jar or tin with a decorative ribbon. You can also fill containers with the dry ingredients of a favourite cookie, brownie, soup, or your famous vegetarian chilli. Don’t forget to include the recipe.
- Give to a local charity. This is a great gift for the person who has everything! Charities will often send a card to the recipient for you too.
- Consider giving a green gift. Some ideas include energy-saving compact fluorescent lights, a compost bin, a reusable travel mug, a basket full of non-toxic, organic cleaning products, a portable solar electronics charger, a water saving shower head, a bicycle for commuting, or an automatic thermostat.
- Invest in your family. Instead of trinkets perhaps you want to help a child plan for the future? Consider contributing to a college savings fund.
- Consolidate your online orders. When shopping online or by mail order, consolidate your orders into as few shipments as possible.
- Buy locally made goods. They aren’t transported over long distances to get to you and you are supporting the local economy.
- Get creative with gift wrapping. Use newspaper, paper bags, cloth gift bags, or cookie tins instead of wrapping paper. If your child has an artistic streak you can add a personal touch to a gift by reusing their finger paintings to wraps presents. Get even more creative by using old maps or sheet music to wrap gifts. If everyone in Canada wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 hockey rinks. Saving money using creative gift wrapping can be fun and is a great family activity.
- Make the wrapping part of the gift! Use scarves, kitchen towels, or tablecloths. A canvas bag can be reused for grocery shopping throughout the year. A tin full of cookies can be used again. A pair of earrings could be placed in a wooden box used later to store buttons, jewelry, or safety pins.
- Use recycled wrapping paper. If you must buy wrapping paper, buy it on recycled paper and save it for next year.
- Reuse old Christmas cards to create brand new gift tags. You’ll be saving money and helping the planet.
- Send an e-card. In Canada, Canada Post reports that it will “take more than 575 daily flights to deliver all the 787.3 million cards, letters and parcels that enter the Canada Post system during the holiday season. 6,000 postal vehicles (that travel 77 million kilometres a year) also help to move the mail across the country each day, including 150 highway service tractor-trailers.” Each litre of gasoline used to transport Christmas cards and packages creates 2.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide. The 2.6 billion holiday cards sold each year in the United States could fill a landfill the size of a football field 10 stories high! Consider sending an e-card. There are many free and fun cards available online which will not only save you money but also help reduce your environmental footprint over the holidays.
- Buy cards printed on recycle paper. If you do decide to buy Christmas cards, you can reduce your environmental footprint by only buying cards printed on recycled paper.
- Just add a bow! Hide large gifts, like bikes, somewhere and just add a bow. Bring them out on Christmas morning. Or you can hide the large gift somewhere in the house or yard and give the person a card with a clue, or a series of clue cards, to lead them to the present!
- Use Christmas stockings. Start a tradition of Christmas stockings for each person. Little gifts can be put in the stocking without being wrapped. The stockings can be used year after year. Or you can fill the stocking with special treats!
- Keep any wrap or bows you receive to reuse next year. Designate a box for Christmas items to reuse for next year. You will save money and time shopping for gift wrap and bows.
- Create a natural centrepiece. Instead of buying a plastic store-bought centerpiece make your own for a great personal touch! Try making a centrepiece out of pinecones or trim your evergreens and place them in a vase or directly on the table. If you’re buying a real tree don’t be shy about asking to take home any discarded branches left on the ground. You can add seasonal fruit (clementines, pomegranates, cranberries), candles and nuts to spruce it up. You will save money and you can eat it afterwards!
- Use homemade decorations. Decorate your tree with edible decorations like popcorn strings or cranberry wreaths (thread 10 to 15 cranberries on a string and tie to create a wreath). You will save money and can have fun with your family making them.
- Don’t forget to turn off the Christmas lights. Christmas tree lights left on for 10 hours a day over the 12 days of Christmas produce enough carbon dioxide to inflate 12 balloons. Make sure you turn them off when you leave home. Outdoor lights on a timer will eliminate the need to run around turning off lights in inclement weather or late at night.
- Choose your candles wisely. If you’re decorating with candles, choose the ones made from soy wax or beeswax. Both are renewable resources, as opposed to regular paraffin candles, which are made from petroleum.
- Use real dishes for holiday parties. Paper and styrofoam dishes may save you some time in the kitchen, but they last decades in a landfill. Try to enlist someone you want to spend time with to help you with dishes!
- Be battery wise. Families can get through a lot of batteries, particularly at Christmas. Batteries contain toxic chemicals, don’t biodegrade and are difficult to recycle. Instead use rechargeable ones.
- Buy in bulk. When buying for Christmas purchase fresh food with minimal packaging and buy in bulk – you’ll save money and reduce your packaging waste.
- Buy local foods for your green Christmas feast. Buy your food locally and get it organic if you can, if you buy local you will reduce the food transport costs and reduce carbon mileage. Reduce waste ad only buy what you will eat, plan ahead and make delicious meals with the leftovers or freeze them.
Got your own Simple Actions that Matter? Tell us today!
If you have ideas of other Simple Actions that Matter for the holidays, please share with us by leaving a comment below. You never know when we may add your Simple Action to our website.
Simple actions matter.