Category Archives: Budget Environmentalism

Simplifying Gift Giving

Now that Halloween has passed, many people will be going into full blown holiday shopping mode. It no longer waits until after Thanksgiving for many.

Christmas is of course the big holiday for many families, and it means a lot of gift giving. Unfortunately, it also means a lot of trash and so forth generated, as well as useless gifts bought because people didn’t know what else to do.

Especially between adults, I think it makes a lot more sense to simplify holiday gift giving. Really, as an adult, how many gifts from how many people do you really need? Are there better ways you can handle it?

In my family we do name drawings. This helps matters in a lot of ways.

First of all, we each have to shop for fewer people. It also means that no one has to go over budget trying to shop for everyone, as gift ranges are predetermined, and the list only semi-random (I handle it myself). The lower a family’s budget, the less their responsibility.

This also has the advantage that better gifts can be given. It’s not buying a little something just to have something to give, it’s finding something wanted because you have a set price range, and that’s what that person will be getting from family members for Christmas.

This may well not work for a lot of families. My sisters and I have always gotten along well, and so we don’t mind making things a little easier on those with lower budgets.

Another idea is to give to favorite charities in someone’s name. It’s a gift that you have to know the person well to be sure they will appreciate, but it’s much better than adding to the clutter in their home.

Time is another great gift. It’s especially good if you’re always complaining that you never get to see your family or they’re complaining about not seeing you. Alternatively, do something for them that needs doing. This was the idea when we painted my mother’s house for her birthday.

Many of these ideas to simplify gift giving require some discussion with the recipients beforehand to be certain that they will be welcome.

If none of those ideas are sufficiently welcome, think about memberships that may be in the budget. Every year, for example, my inlaws get us zoo memberships. The kids just love it. Pretty much any area will have a place you can get a gift membership to, whether it be a zoo, museum or other place.

Changing your family’s view of gift giving from something purely consumeristic to something more considered may not happen overnight. It may take a few years. However, as you and your family get used to it, it will get easier for all concerned.

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Charged Up and Ready for Christmas?

Christmas is coming all too soon, and with it often comes a ton of new toys and gadgets. It’s probably time to start thinking about your battery situation.

I find that even with kids I don’t go through too many batteries. I have this little habit of not letting them know about all of a toy’s capabilities if it doesn’t really need the batteries in order to be enjoyed. There are a number of toys like this in my experience, and I much prefer the noises that come from the kids using their imaginations.

But there are plenty of things that do need batteries, and I think now is a very good time to look at getting a good rechargeable battery set. This way you can be ready in time for Christmas.

You can get rechargeable batteries locally, although sometimes it can be hard to find a good selection. There are also sites such as Responsible Energy Corporation which have a large selection. They even have solar powered chargers.

Of course, batteries should be properly disposed of in any case. This isn’t always easy, even in states where you are not supposed to throw them in the trash. Call 2 Recycle has resources to help you find out how to dispose of rechargeable batteries correctly.

There’s no easy way to drop the use of batteries completely for most people. There are just too many little uses for them. But if you can start your switch over to rechargeable batteries now you can greatly reduce the impact of the batteries you do use.

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Can You Green Your Halloween?

Halloween is coming pretty soon, and I’m thinking on the costumes my kids will wear. I’ve long had the habit of making their costumes at home; it’s fun and it makes for more creative costumes.

homemade halloween costume

Last year was something of an exception, but not in a particularly bad way. My mother made a Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz costume for my daughter from fabric her mother had been storing for years and years, so all we had to buy was “ruby” slippers. My son wore a lion costume we had been given as a hand-me-down about two years before. It just so happened to fit, and obviously was perfect as a companion to Dorothy.

This year my daughter so far wants to be Rapunzel. That’s easy since she already has a costume for that. Little girls and dressup, what can I say?

But dressing my son up is going to require some inspiration. He doesn’t understand about costumes yet, so won’t give an opinion. I’m just going to have to figure out what I want to do for him, I suppose.

Keeping things green for Halloween can be a bit tricky, as it is for most holidays. But Halloween has been getting more and more commercial in recent years. It amazes me seeing the sheer range of decorations in my neighborhood. It used to be that having a couple faux tombstones on the lawn was plenty. Not anymore.

I must confess that Halloween is a favorite holiday of mine. It’s just fun. No major family obligations. It’s about having a little fun for my family, and seeing how cute the kids can dress up around the neighborhood.

And of course the candy. Not very green, but there it is.

Halloween Costumes

Making costumes at home just requires a little creativity. Look around at what you have and think about the costumes you would like to make. There are plenty of websites that have tips on making homemade halloween costumes.

Halloween Decorations

One of the fun things we did this year was to take some seeds from last year’s pumpkins, and grow our own pumpkins for this year. We got two good ones this year, oddly enough from the pumpkin plant that grew in a random part of the yard, nowhere near where we had planted the original seeds. The ones we did plant came up with a single good plant, and its pumpkin looks like bugs are getting it already. We doubt it will make it.

But growing your own pumpkins from year to year is still a fun way to do it.

You can also make your own decorations. For pretty much my entire childhood, one of my mother’s primary Halloween decorations for the inside of the house was a huge stack of bats she had cut out of construction paper. They’re very easy to make, and I really wish I had a template to post. But if you can draw a rough bat shape, that’s all you really need.

You can also download some Halloween music and play it to set the right atmosphere, if you like.

Halloween Treats

Finding organic Halloween candy can be quite a challenge, and you have to expect that if you have a child out trick or treating that they will bring back all kinds of candy. There’s nothing to do for it, and my own philosophy is to let the kids enjoy it.

If organic candy is hard to find in your local area, you may be able to search Amazon and other websites to see what you can get. You may not have the selection that you would get just by heading out to your local stores, but it might be a bit better for the kids. Probably not much, since it is still candy.

If you want to add to the fun, try playing little jokes on the trick or treaters. Nothing serious, but do things like offer rocks from your garden, onions and so forth instead of candy. This is something my mother is notorious for in her neighborhood, even though she really does give out candy. It’s just fun seeing the look on the kids’ faces at first.

There’s a lot you can do to enjoy Halloween while keeping it relatively green and budget friendly. Perhaps the key tip is to simply keep it simple.

 

Homemade Stain Removal

My daughter and I went through her clothes yesterday because my inlaws got her a bunch of new clothes and some of what she has is looking a trifle worse for wear, if you get my drift. The kind of stuff that happens when clothing is worn by a highly imaginative and active 5 year old.

She’s quite typical for her age in some ways. Very reluctant to get rid of any of the old clothes. The shirt in the very worst condition that she of course adores I showed her the exact problems, and she finally agreed that it didn’t look too good.

But we still had a lot of clothes that she doesn’t want to get rid of, but have obvious stains. So today I’m going to have her help me work on stain removal.

I’ve been looking around for good homemade stain removal options. The one I’m thinking on is a very simple recipe:

1 squirt dishwashing liquid
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 quart water

Mix and store in a squirt bottle. Spray on stains and allow to sit for a half hour or more before washing as usual.

Hopefully this will help to revive some of my daughter’s favorite clothes. One shirt was stained on its first wearing, so I really want to get it looking good again.

I just love doing this with products that are safe enough that the kids can participate. It’s good for children to learn how to do basic household chores from early on.

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What Do You Do When You Can’t Avoid Plastic?

I hate buying plastic, but sometimes it’s really hard to avoid. But at the very least you should make sure to do the best you can when you can’t avoid buying something plastic.

Reusing is of course the first option. I was pretty delighted the other day when I found out plastic #6 is the same as the Shrinkydinks I did as a kid. I’ve found little bits of it around the house (little cup that came with liquid Nyquil), but haven’t tried using it yet. Now I know what to use it for when I’m stuck with it. Why throw it away immediately when it could be so much fun?

And of course you may be able to come up with other ideas for other kinds of plastic.

You can come up with uses for other kinds of plastic too. Some can be reused for the same job they were bought for originally. Squirt bottles, for example. If they once had cleaning chemicals you do have to be careful about how you clean them and what you reuse them for, but generally they’re good for a long time.

Other times recycling is your one choice. Here, of course, the key is to remember to actually do it and to know what is recyclable in your area. If you’re stuck buying plastic, odds are that you don’t have a choice about which variety, but do the best you can. They only recycle plastics #1 and #2 in my area, which is quite a pain.

While avoidance of plastic is best, some products pretty much only come in plastic containers. Think about yogurt? Do you ever see it in anything other than plastic? There’s a good read on plastic yogurt containers over at Green Options today. It actually makes good sense for the manufacturers to use it, compared to other potentially suitable plastics. And of course there are a lot of other places in life where plastic is just about unavoidable. It’s pretty much a fact of modern life.

The trick, as always is to remember the rules of reduce, reuse and recycle. Don’t buy plastic products if you have to, reuse plastic when it’s reasonable to do so, and educate yourself on how to recycle it in your area. I don’t know that anyone can really cut it out entirely these days, but you can limit how much you use.

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