365 Days to a Greener You

We spent the weekend taking down our indoor holiday decorations. I still have the outdoor things in the yard since it has been raining here for the past few days. I really do not want to put them away while they are still wet. I have them unplugged though.

We have a pretty good system and it does not take too long to put the decorations away for another year. The one thing that bothers me a little bit is what to do with all of the holiday cards when the decorations go back up in the attic for another year.

Every year we get more and more photo cards mostly from our friends that have children. The cards from friends who have adult children or no children at all usually do not have photos. I say usually because we have had some that made us scratch our heads on why that particular photo made it on the holiday card. We tape the photo ones in a keepsake album, but we are stumped on what to do with the regular cards.

Most of them can be recycled just like regular paper, but I feel bad about getting rid of them. I say most because some cards are made of some sort of strange material or have ribbons and things that make them sing. In these cases, just tear out the non recyclable parts and recycle the card as usual.

I also saw that the St. Jude’s Greeting Card Recycling Program is back this year. From now until February 28, 2009, you can send your used greeting cards with the backs cut off to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children
Card Recycling
100 St. Jude’s Street
Boulder City, NV 89005-1681

It is a great idea for a very worthy cause. You can’t beat being green and charitable at the same time.

I also saw this neat little project on creating origami boxes out of old cards. I really do not have the patience or have a need for small boxes, but it is a cute idea.