Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle Holiday Waste

While the kids tear into gifts on Christmas, I run around them confiscating the boxes, gift bags, and ribbon to put up in the closet and reuse for next year. I don't want to imagine all the waste sitting on the curbs waiting for trash pick up after the holidays. If it can be reused, I salvage it.

DIY Wreath - This year I made a wreath for our front door using beads and ribbon from last year. The wreath itself was something I purchased last year (at the dollar store) and the faux poinsettia is the only thing I bought this year. My total investment was $3.

I am lucky enough to receive many holiday cards each year. It always warms my heart to open the envelope and find a cheery card inside. My family has a tradition of taping all our holiday cards on the back of our front door. We are constantly being reminded of the wonderful people in our life.

As much as I would love to, I just can’t keep every card we receive. When the holidays are over, I remove all the cards from our front door. I put aside the ones that have family pictures on them or ones that have in-depth personal messages. Those cards go in inspirational journals that I keep.

Most of the cards usually just contain a signature, so I don’t feel too awful about reusing those. I fold the crease of the card and tear down the middle. I dispose of the side that has the signature, and I reuse the cover of the card. A few examples of how I reuse them: in a holiday collage, transform into gift tags for next year, as a holiday postcard (flip over, write a message & add a stamp!) and I also write thank you notes on them to include in my Etsy orders. 

Think about how you can reuse & recycle the paper items you receive this year!