Gift Wrapping.

I have a handful of gifts. I have so much more to do. This year is going to be frugal with both of us unemployed. I am making my gifts.

The amount of time we spend wrapping the gifts is crazy. When my kids were little I made them carefully unwrap the gift and explained that it took a long time to wrap it and it should put more than a few seconds effort into the unwrapping as well.

I agree, but still you can use colorful ribbons to decorate the funny papers used to wrap a gift. You can cut the paper into strips and curl it. I have done this many times and it is pretty funky looking. I have had a lot of comments on it.

I love using Christmas wrap for my gifts, but the cost of disposing it has got me thinking.

I have used bags in the past. Maybe I will just buy the plain colored ones that way they can be reused for all occasions. If I feel the need to wrap I can always use tissue paper, wrap up the gifts and put them in the bag.

Another idea would be... depending on the present being given..If someone is giving a pretty afgan or blanket for a gift and has something else... you could wrap the other gift in the afgan or blanket and tie some ribbons around it...

Recycling is most important. Our natural resources will not always be there. Fools are those who believe that the will be.

Recycling is most important. Our natural resources will not always be there. Fools are those who believe that the will be.

You are so right.... I have started saving everything.... I am to the point that I need a bigger house, lol... I bought the smartones on sale at shaws a few weeks back that were 10/$10 and I had .30 coupons and they double so I ended up paying .40 per item which is a good deal... I bought like 50 of them and put them in the deep freeze, everytime we eat one.. I was the plastic container and put it in the cupboard and will use them when we go camping for plates... I won't have to buy anything.. I have also started saving the breyers yogurt containers to use as plastic cups when we go camping...

The yogurt cups are great to start seedlings in.

Our landfills are really overfilled. We need to rethink what to do with our waste. Recycle, reduce, reuse. : )

I actually love wrapping gifts, but it is a lot of work. I use gift wrap for some and gift bags for odd shaped gifts and for when I get totally burnt out on wrapping. I also use tissue paper for bottle or cylinder shaped items where you can just wrap the paper around and twist it at the end or ends and tie ribbon around it. Neat boxes and tins are cool too and for those extremely hard to shop for I may get a gift card and stick it into a Christmas card. I shop all year round, so I have almost all my shopping done now. I will wrap the gifts I am sending back east first and I spread it out and do 3 or 4 every other day when I'm in the mood. Another thing you can do is get people stockings and fill them up with small gifts! Hope this helps.

I had long forgotten that we do not purchase a newspaper. When I was working I would bring home the paper at the end of each day. We bought dollar store paper.

I have always been told not to burn Christmas wrap, magazines or even newspapers with colored ink as the inks and foils used often contain chemicals that can be toxic when burned.

I wrap my gifts to please the eye. Many of my family members would bring their packages to me to wrap them for them.

I like to use wrapping paper, don't get me wrong there. My problem is the waste. My mother suggested I wrap in trash bags. Well that is a bit unusual. But, I actually did think of doing it. There are many pretty colored trash bags and if you tie it up with ribbons it can look okay, but, what a trashy thing to do.

My mother did this one year and kept the papers in a box and used them again the following year. I do keep the bows and ribbons for another year. I keep my Christmas cards and make unique items with them including gift tags for the gifts.

Hmmmmm that gave me an idea. If you go to your local newspaper press they usually have end rolls that can be purchased for a song. You could decorate it with your own design. I know that my grandkids would love to get in on the decorating by using stamps with a Christmas theme or possibly just letting them loose with their own ideas. Fun, designer wrapping paper.

Consider it done. Nice to have so many people who agree with frugality.

One big bag for each person, then they have something to carry out their goodies.