5 Tips To Keep It Simple For You, Your Bank Account, and the Planet This Holiday Season

Winter came early this year and now the holiday season is in full swing, but it doesn’t always have to be stressful time of the year. Traditions evolve, and what worked before can always be adapted in ways that can save everyone time, money, stress, and even help the environment. What follows are five of our quickest tips for your family to save all three and enjoy the holidays!

Double Sided Wrapping Paper

Use double sided wrapping paper to save on cost and cut down on waste. Many brands now sell wrapping paper in larger rolls with a different, or the same, design on each side. Not only does this cut down on your costs when buying paper, but larger rolls last longer – you can even get creative with your wrapping and create family traditions with them while reducing the amount of waste you're creating each year.

E-Cards

Send holiday e-cards to cut down on postage and paper. We only have so much space, and as quaint and endearing as they can be, no card is going to stick around forever. A creative e-card, however, can stick around in an inbox for years. Plus, with new software and video technology, your Christmas cards can be personalized for everyone you send them to and also be more creative and entertaining than the posed pictures of the past. This is also a great opportunity to involve your kids in a new holiday tradition. 

Make Old Crafts New Again

Teach the kids how to make crafty gifts to save money, teach them some fun skills, and have a moment as a family. Kids can save their allowances by creating crafty gifts for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. It usually means more to grandparents to have something hand made over cheaply bought anyway. Whether it’s a photo frame or a series of bookmarks from old photos, they can create gifts that will last forever and be functional all from things around the home.

Clothing Purge

Go through old clothes that you haven’t worn – making room for the inevitable new gifted clothes coming in! We know, it’s Christmas and “clothes are coming.” Where will they all go? We guarantee there are probably some clothes hidden away that haven’t seen the light of day in nearly a year.

If so, now is the time to clear them out, knowing that more are on the way. Charities and donation centres across the country are always looking for used scarves, jackets, gloves, sweaters, and hoodies at this time of year. Now is a better time than ever to send your gently used clothing their way, and Junk Canada is always available for a quick pickup, even during the holiday!

Group Gifts and Online Gifts

Save money on shipping costs and avoid all that packing by grouping all your family’s online shopping together. It can be tiring to keep track of and order all the gifts for your family, especially if a certain someone won’t tell you what he wants until the last minute. What’s worse is the mess when it all arrives. Dealing with 10 or 20 different packages makes this more difficult and, worse, more cluttered this time of year. If you’re lucky enough, though, you can get everyone’s gifts online AND in one shipment. Set a deadline for any gift lists so that you can order everything at once. You will likely have to annoy some of those who you know take their time with gift orders, but it will all be worth it in the end.

5 Tips To Keep It Simple For You and Your Bank Account This Holiday Season

Winter came early this year and now the holiday season is in full swing, but it doesn’t always have to be stressful time of the year. Traditions evolve, and what worked before can always be adapted in ways that can save everyone time, money, stress, and even help the environment. What follows are five of our quickest tips for your family to save all three and enjoy the holidays!

Double Sided Wrapping Paper

Use double sided wrapping paper to save on cost and cut down on waste. Many brands now sell wrapping paper in larger rolls with a different, or the same, design on each side. Not only does this cut down on your costs when buying paper, but larger rolls last longer – you can even get creative with your wrapping and create family traditions with them while reducing the amount of waste you're creating each year.

E-Cards

Send holiday e-cards to cut down on postage and paper. We only have so much space, and as quaint and endearing as they can be, no card is going to stick around forever. A creative e-card, however, can stick around in an inbox for years. Plus, with new software and video technology, your Christmas cards can be personalized for everyone you send them to and also be more creative and entertaining than the posed pictures of the past. This is also a great opportunity to involve your kids in a new holiday tradition. 

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Make Old Crafts New Again

Teach the kids how to make crafty gifts to save money, teach them some fun skills, and have a moment as a family. Kids can save their allowances by creating crafty gifts for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. It usually means more to grandparents to have something hand made over cheaply bought anyway. Whether it’s a photo frame or a series of bookmarks from old photos, they can create gifts that will last forever and be functional all from things around the home.

Clothing Purge

Go through old clothes that you haven’t worn – making room for the inevitable new gifted clothes coming in! We know, it’s Christmas and “clothes are coming.” Where will they all go? We guarantee there are probably some clothes hidden away that haven’t seen the light of day in nearly a year.

If so, now is the time to clear them out, knowing that more are on the way. Charities and donation centres across the country are always looking for used scarves, jackets, gloves, sweaters, and hoodies at this time of year. Now is a better time than ever to send your gently used clothing their way, and Junk Canada is always available for a quick pickup, even during the holiday!

Group Gifts and Online Gifts

Save money on shipping costs and avoid all that packing by grouping all your family’s online shopping together. It can be tiring to keep track of and order all the gifts for your family, especially if a certain someone won’t tell you what he wants until the last minute. What’s worse is the mess when it all arrives. Dealing with 10 or 20 different packages makes this more difficult and, worse, more cluttered this time of year. If you’re lucky enough, though, you can get everyone’s gifts online AND in one shipment. Set a deadline for any gift lists so that you can order everything at once. You will likely have to annoy some of those who you know take their time with gift orders, but it will all be worth it in the end.