These ideas are for what remains of this year and to put down on your to do list for next year to make your holiday a greener and more frugal holiday. On December 26th you will have the opportunity to get items at a clearance, here are a few things to pick up for next year.

☃ Recyclable Wrapping
- The paper gets ripped off the present 10x faster than it took for you to get it taped up. Next time look for and wrap with

  • holiday dishcloths or other fabric 
  • maps(found in old National Geographic magazines)
  • saved aluminum foil
  • comics section of the paper 
  • pages from a magazine 
  • sheet music
  • brown sack wrapped with twine and decorated with your imagination.
Flickr/CC - JaseMan
☃ Used but not Abused 
- There is re-gifting that can be done for next year, just put a post-it note on the item so you know who you got if from. But you can also make some wonderful, like new, purchases from antique stores and 2nd hand stores - Clean them well. Items to look for are napkin holders, handkerchiefs, canvas shopping bags, vintage containers and housewares.

Also scour Craigslist and Freecycle throughout the year for items that they may want. Craigslist allows you to follow alerts for items you are searching for. Look for the RSS at the bottom right for ways to track.

☃ Christmas Cards
- Clearance is a great way to stock up, but not only on the cards but you can use the ones you received or the left-overs from this year as gift tags, cut up in 2x3" rectangles and you are ready for next year.

Also send used  cards of all occasion to St. Jude's Ranch and they currently have an increased need for both Birthday and Thank You card submissions

☃ Consumable Gifts 
- Cut down on the cost of shipping or gas and pickup the ingredients while shopping for consumable gifts like jar cookies or a food gift basket.

☃ Give to the Heart
- Find out what memberships they may like or charitable causes they are interested in and give a gift in their name. With some charities you will get notification to give them, sometimes a small gift such as a bookmark or t-shirt and with programs like Kiva.org you get the money back to re-gift again or bank it after the lendee pays it back. A bonus: You get a tax write-off.

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