Green & Frugal Home Holiday Makeover

Give Your Home a Green & Frugal Makeover for the Holidays

Christmas is supposed to be centered around the joy of giving, but sometimes it seems to be the holiday of excessive spending and wastefulness. From extravagant decorations to expensive gifts, this holiday season could turn you into a Scrooge in a very short time. Thankfully, this does not have to be the way your holiday scenario plays out. It is possible to turn your home into a holiday wonderland by making frugal choices that will not be damaging to the earth or the family financial picture. The ideas below will give you some good ideas to begin an eco-friendly home transformation just in time for Christmas.

LET NATURE BE THE STAR OF THE SHOW

Mother Nature is one of the most experienced decorators around, and most people love her colorful displays. Why not borrow some of her most colorful products to freely create a festive spirit in your own home. Mother Nature’s bounty can be mixed and matched in a multitude of ways and allow for artistic expression. Gather the following items and use for table arrangements or corner displays:

• Clippings from holly bushes or other evergreen shrubs, particularly those with colorful berries

• Magnolia leaves

• Walnuts, pecans, and brazil nuts

• Cedar or pine branches

• Small cedar or pine trees

• Lemons, limes, apples, oranges, pineapples, grapes or other fruits

While all of these are beautiful just as they are, combining them with candles or lights of some type make them even lovelier and most fruit can be frosted with sugar and water. Just be mindful that all these things will look very attractive to young children! So make sure anything that might be dangerous, such as candles or poisonous plant materials, are kept out of harm’s way.

SPRUCE UP THE OLD AND RECYCLE

• If your furniture is beginning to look a bit frayed, this holiday season may be a good time to invest in some  furniture slipcovers. These can be purchased in solid colors for use all year, or you could buy some in holiday colors for a truly celebratory look. Either way, they will look neat and clean and will be easy to throw in the washer if guests have a few spills during Christmas parties.

• Take all of the decorations off of old, dusty wreaths and redo them by wrapping them in old Christmas paper or ribbons and using Christmas items purchased from yard sales, candy canes, or natural raffia.

• Keep an eye on the area FreeCycle groups during the weeks before Christmas as everyone cleans out older Christmas decorations. You may be able to decorate without buying a single new item. You may even find other useful items for entertaining, such as spare chairs, plates or tablecloths.

• For a really green Christmas, group several living potted plants and decorate the grouping. Place the presents around this area, and at least one tree will be saved.

The goal behind frugal decorating and recycling older items for the holidays is to keep as many useful items as possible from reaching the overflowing landfills around the country. If everyone would consciously choose to have an eco-friendly Christmas, the impact would be tremendous and lead to many more great holidays for  future generations.

This is a guest post by Caroline Smith, whose website offers a range of affordable slipcovers for loveseats. Caroline tries to live a green and frugal lifestyle and enjoys finding creative ways to decorate her home for the holidays.