Going Green for Christmas

This Christmas we're going green. But not green in the manner you may be thinking. What I mean by "going green" is that we're out to save money rather than spend it this Christmas season. We're not going without presents or anything like that, but rather doing what we can to maximize the use of each dollar, quarter, dime, nickel and penny.

Last year, I threw out our Christmas tree. It was a Big Lots $30 special I bought before we were married when I was in college. The 6-foot, pre-lit tree was slowly dying. Over the last two years we had to strategically position the tree so that the strands that would no longer light were facing the wall or were backed into the corner. The branches were about as sturdy as a wet noodle, so we hung our ornaments not by which ones we wanted where, but rather by which branches would hold the minuscule weight of the various ornaments. It was time for it to go.

One evening couple of weeks ago, I drove by our thrift store, and there was a gorgeous 7-foot, pre-lit tree in the window. The next day I entered the store with purpose... and was nearly crushed when the $60 price tag didn't fit my thrifty budget. ($60? At a thrift store? Really?) Not wanting to walk out after only 3 seconds in the store, I wandered a bit and discovered a nice 7-foot, pre-lit tree for $15 with a sign that said, "Lights do not work." Well, I thought to myself, I can buy new lights for this tree and still come out WAY ahead. So I bought the tree.

Upon getting it home, I discovered that the vast majority of the trees lights DID work, but that they were all set to blink at different intervals. Who came up with that stupid blinking bulb anyway? I'm convinced that the only reason people use that little white bulb with the red tip is because it's the only replacement bulb they have left for the strand of lights, and in desperation they give in and use it so they don't have to buy new lights. Well, whoever had this poor tree before us must have only gotten blinking bulbs as replacements and a lot of normal bulbs must have gone out, because there were a TON of blinky bulbs. I'm talking like 11 different blinky bulbs we had to replace.

Chase, my dear husband, spent a good hour and a half with me finding the blinky bulbs (a real pain because you can only see them when the lights are blinked ON), replacing them, and fluffing branches... only to discover that the strands of light that were out couldn't be fixed because this tree had a few "non-replaceable" bulbs. Have you ever heard of non-replaceable bulbs? ...Me neither. I'm fully convinced that they are merely a scam from the pre-lit tree industry so that when one of those bulbs goes out you have to buy a completely new tree.

I wouldn't let them have that satisfaction! And besides, we're going green by saving green this Christmas, and I'd already spent my "tree budget." So after spending an hour and a half working on the tree to get the lights to work, my dear husband and I spent an hour and a half (plus another 45 minutes by myself this morning) cutting the lights out of the tree. Proof? You want to see proof? The proof is not in the pudding this time, but rather in the strands of lights piled on our floor:

Chase picked up 420 multi-color lights today, and viola! Our new/old Christmas tree! All told, it cost us $52 ($15 for the tree, $7 for a light tester to try to fix the lights, and $30 for the 420 lights), which isn't really much less than the pre-lit tree with the lights that worked. But $8 is $8, right? And tell me that this handsome tree isn't worth every dollar, quarter, dime, nickel and penny:

Another way we've gone green this Christmas season is by diving into the cloth diaper adventure. Exhibit one: Liliana sporting her new, green (although we also have white, pink, and blue), Giggle Life, one-size, pocket diaper.

These diapers are great! Averaging about $7/diaper, I only have to use each one 35 times to break even. That may sound like a lot of times until I tell you that these diapers grow with Lily. They should take her from now all the way up through potty training! And I have 24 of them! And they'll last through more than one kid (if the reviews I read are accurate)! If I seem a little over-excited about the prospect of using cloth diapers, just know that I'm excited by all the green I'll be saving!

After 24 hours of going green in the diaper department, we've only suffered one blow out (due to user error. I had it buttoned too loose). And I kind of like putting her in these. I feel like they keep her bum extra warm - no cold cheeks this Christmas season! :)