Frugal Holiday Wrapping Tip

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you know two things about me.  The obvious one is that I love to save money, the other is that I really encourage re-purposing, re-using and recycling.  If something has reached the end of it's usefulness for it's original purpose, I try to find an alternative use for it to keep it out of the landfill or recycle bin. 

I just can't stand spending money on things like wrapping paper, gift bags and gift tags - after all, they just end up in the trash or recycling after a very short life of making a gift look pretty.  I would much rather get these things for FREE and spend the extra money on the gift itself.  There are usually plenty of deals for things like wrapping paper, tissue and bags - we've seen that recently at Wags, but I have yet to find a deal on gift tags, so I always make my own. 

Each year I keep all the Christmas cards that are sent to us, I only save the front of the card and recycle the rest.  My husband also brings home the cards that they get at the police department.  I keep these for the next Christmas season and make gift tags out of them.  You can take fancy scrapbooking scissors to cut holiday shapes and add some colored card stock paper to the backside if you need a fresh area to write your message.  If you have a Cricut or other die cutting apparatus you can make holiday shapes in a jiffy.  Once they are done, use a hole punch to make a hole for a ribbon to tie the tag to a  gift bag, or just attach it to a wrapped gift - it doesn't get much easier than that!  :)

So, as you are wrapping these last few days before Christmas keep this tip in mind, and as you are cleaning up after the holidays remember to put your cards in a safe place so that next year you have plenty of stock and designs to choose from. 

Frugal Holiday Storage Tip

If you are a household with kids, there's no doubt that you receive at least one holiday tin of popcorn each season.  You probably also get a few new Christmas ornaments each year as well.  It's always a challenge to figure out how to stow away new ornaments added to your collection. 

Since those popcorn tins are so large and decorative, I have a hard time putting them in the recycle bin.  I repurpose them for storing fragile Christmas ornaments or delicate holiday decorations.  The sturdy sides keep the breakables from getting crushed and I always know what's in them since they have holiday scenes on them.  I also reuse some tissue paper from gifts to tuck around all the glass ornaments and breakables in the tins.  They stack nicely and are easy to fit in just about anywhere.

This handy storage tip not only saves you from having to buy plastic tubs to put your ornaments or decorations in, it also helps the environment by reusing and repurposing something that would otherwise be discarded.

Frugal Freezer Tip

Did you know that cardboard doesn't freeze?  If you store products in your freezer in cardboard boxes the freezer works harder and uses more electricity because it is constantly trying to freeze something that won't freeze.  When possible you should remove items from cardboard boxes and freeze them in plastic packaging.  It will help your freezer work better and use less electricity, saving you money!  It also saves on space for when a really good deal comes along! :)