It is that time of year again; time to get ready for the holidays.  This means you need to pull the decorations out and see what is still good, look through your holiday recipes and figure the best way to wrap your presents.  With all this to do you may have forgotten you need to celebrate in a more green way.  This will cut down on how big your carbon footprint is.

Wrap Wisely

Instead of using the paper gift wrapping for presents come up with reusable or recyclable ways to wrap them. Get a nice canvas bag to place the gift in.  Then the recipient can reuse this bag shopping, carrying their crafts or for other uses during the year.  So much waste is created with gift wrap find another way.  Towels make an inventive gift wrap for bathroom items or kitchen items.  This is another reusable wrap idea. Remember you want gift wrap that does not get thrown away.

Green Decorating

Decorating with evergreen swags or branches is just one type of green decorating.  You can also use pine cones or holly sprigs too.  Then when the holidays are over throw your natural decorations in your compost pile.  Therefore, you have no added waste.

Shop Greener

Instead of going from mall to mall burning way to much gasoline in your car turn to either public transportation or online.  With public transportation for a fraction of the cost that you operate you car you can get to the mall.  Online sites have marvelous price deals because they have less overhead.  Shipping is cheaper than driving all over the place trying to find that perfect gift.

If you feel more comfortable shopping in the stores, then you can use the sales ads and online information to find which stores you should go to.  This will cut down your drive time and the amount o energy you will consume.

Keep the Temperature Down

Just because it is cold out does not mean you need to have it toasty warm inside.  Keep your thermostat around 62 to 64 so that you do not use too much energy to heat your home. Put on a sweater if you get chilled instead of cranking up the heat.  This also will cut down on the amount of carbon emissions your house gives off.  You may even be able to afford a few more presents for the money you will save.

Send Packages Wisely

When you have to mail packages off to loved ones do so wisely.  You can save your gas and have the postal carriers pickup your packages.  They will be picking up and delivering all over town anyway and they have to come through your neighborhood to deliver your mail to you.   Did you know that the United States Postal Service will ship you boxes for free; you can order them online along with some other postal supplies you can buy.  You can also set up pick up from the postal carriers too online.

Now that you have the holiday basics the green way, you can have the holidays without leaving a big carbon footprint.  With just a bit of effort you can have a greener holiday and be kinder to this world of ours.