Are you seeing red after calculating the amount of money you’ve shelled out this holiday season?
Christmas is still a week away and some parents are already dealing with a mountain of debt accrued since Black Friday.
As devoted moms and dads we feel obligated to make all of our children’s holiday wishes come true: Big tree featuring gorgeous ornaments, life-sized animated decorations, elaborately wrapped gifts and miles of twinkling lights that would blind a buzzard.
Unfortunately, all that holiday bling can put a real dent in your household budget. One way to reduce the sting of big bills racked up during December is to go green:
Solar Lights: Solar Christmas lights are becoming a hot trend these days. They operate using the same basic principle as traditional solar lights and feature a controller board that contains solar cells, a battery, and a light sensor. The environmentally-friendly solar cells use energy from the sun to power the battery and illuminate the lights. Therefore you won’t go broke paying for costly electric bills. What’s more, solar lights turn on and off by themselves, which make them a low-maintenance Christmas decoration.
Recycled Gift Wrap: Another way to cut down on holiday bills is to use recycled wrapping paper. Either reuse gift wrap paper you’ve saved from last Christmas or experiment with other materials, such as newspaper, hand decorated paper bags, butcher paper embellished with stickers and stamps, magazines or scraps of leftover fabric. You could also wrap presents with your children’s art work or shred newspaper or junk mail to use as filler for packaging gifts.
Cheap Green Decorations: Kill two birds with one stone by making a holiday gift for your fine feathered friends that will also serve as seasonal décor. Have your kids cover pine cones with peanut butter and then roll them in black oil sunflower seed, wild bird mixed seed or seed bells. Place the all-natural bird feeders in a tree and enjoy the sights and sounds of appreciative chirping guests.