Since the holiday season is soon approaching here are just a few tips to consider:

Purchase greeting cards made from recycled or tree-free materials.  Americans send two billion holiday cards each year, so just a 1 percent reduction could save fifteen thousand trees.

Rogers, Elizabeth, and Thomas M. Kostigen. The Green Book.  New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007.

*Our family really enjoys making our Christmas cards out of recycled paper, scraps of wrapping paper, magazine clippings, etc.  It’s a great way to spend quality time together and also introduce different art techniques to the children.

If you’re planning to buy holiday decorations this year, consider a decor of seasonal plants (poinsettia, holly, pine-cones), decorations that can be reused or donated, or vintage items from an antiques shop.  Two-thirds of households buy new Christmas decorations each year and spend over $7.5 billion.  If these households diverted just $6 of their decorating budget to reusable items, the money saved could pay to heat 5.9 million New England homes for every hour between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Rogers, Elizabeth, and Thomas M. Kostigen. The Green Book.  New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007.

*We really enjoy pine-cone gathering and sprinkling colorful glitter on them to make decorations.  We also make beautiful center pieces and Christmas tree decorations out of random object around the house and from outside.  Again, a great time to bond as a family and make something that is truly personal/meaningful. 

Greener Cleaners - Tucson ‘Green’ House Cleaning

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