I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this, but I grab pretty wrapping papers, smooth them out and keep them to wrap other presents in whenever anyone around me opens a present!
For a long time I just stuffed the paper into a box and occasionally used a piece. I was being supa-green by saving it but because I wasn't organised, I wasn't actually doing a lot of good as it was too hard to find a piece of usable, suitable paper in the two minutes before we walk out the door to the party and remember to both grab the pressie and to wrap it!
A remedy to this wrapping riddle was needed!
Here's what I did...
First I found a spot in the hub of the house with space that could be used for this task.
Then I emptied the drawer of all the junk.
Then I sorted all the papers, bags, tags, cards and ribbons out and packed them into the drawer in a way that makes the easy to see and to get at.
For us, this system of storing wrapping paper had to be accessible. There is no way we would ever wrap a pressie with recycled paper if we had to walk down the hallway or reach up into a wardrobe... (and because that's were it actually was, we often didn't get around to wrapping pressies - just thrust them into the recipients hands and muttered something about lack of time, kids playing up, husband running late as the excuse...)
It also had to be easy to see at a glance what papers, cards and ribbons there were to choose from. Having to dig down when you are in a hurry just doesn't work for us.
It also has to be easy to put in new papers etc. If we could just shove the new thing on the top, we did. This covered up all the other things and turned the box into a mess that gave the impression of 'too hard' and so we kept buying new paper rather than sort through the box.
It also had to be near where the scissors and sellotape (sticky tape for my Australian readers!) were or again, it was just too hard.
So the drawer of the filing cabinet next to my desk was the logical place. And as you can see got these presents wrapped in two minutes flat about ten minutes before we were due at the party!
Score card:
Green-ness: Re-using things that have already been made is much green and is to be encouraged!
Frugal-ness: If it cost nothing but a few minutes of time - it is 'extreme-frugalling'.
Time cost: As long as you don't have to look, find, dig and throw a tantrum looking for the sticky tape first - it takes as long as wrapping a present with new paper, without the drive to the shops first!
Skill level: Supa-basic!
Fun -ness: A party is always an excuse to have a bit of fun!
Most of the time the paper is just fine to reuse to wrap pressies or it gets used for decorating notebooks/school books and crafty projects before finding its way to the worms or compost heap.
For a long time I just stuffed the paper into a box and occasionally used a piece. I was being supa-green by saving it but because I wasn't organised, I wasn't actually doing a lot of good as it was too hard to find a piece of usable, suitable paper in the two minutes before we walk out the door to the party and remember to both grab the pressie and to wrap it!
A remedy to this wrapping riddle was needed!
Here's what I did...
First I found a spot in the hub of the house with space that could be used for this task.
Then I emptied the drawer of all the junk.
Then I sorted all the papers, bags, tags, cards and ribbons out and packed them into the drawer in a way that makes the easy to see and to get at.
For us, this system of storing wrapping paper had to be accessible. There is no way we would ever wrap a pressie with recycled paper if we had to walk down the hallway or reach up into a wardrobe... (and because that's were it actually was, we often didn't get around to wrapping pressies - just thrust them into the recipients hands and muttered something about lack of time, kids playing up, husband running late as the excuse...)
It also had to be easy to see at a glance what papers, cards and ribbons there were to choose from. Having to dig down when you are in a hurry just doesn't work for us.
It also has to be easy to put in new papers etc. If we could just shove the new thing on the top, we did. This covered up all the other things and turned the box into a mess that gave the impression of 'too hard' and so we kept buying new paper rather than sort through the box.
It also had to be near where the scissors and sellotape (sticky tape for my Australian readers!) were or again, it was just too hard.
So the drawer of the filing cabinet next to my desk was the logical place. And as you can see got these presents wrapped in two minutes flat about ten minutes before we were due at the party!
The tizzy ribbon things and the bag made it home but the paper, sadly didn't...
For more green ideas on using recycled wrapping papers, try here and here! 
Happy Birthday Freddy!
Score card:
Green-ness: Re-using things that have already been made is much green and is to be encouraged!
Frugal-ness: If it cost nothing but a few minutes of time - it is 'extreme-frugalling'.
Time cost: As long as you don't have to look, find, dig and throw a tantrum looking for the sticky tape first - it takes as long as wrapping a present with new paper, without the drive to the shops first!
Skill level: Supa-basic!
Fun -ness: A party is always an excuse to have a bit of fun!
Comments