Six tips to simplify your holiday season

Casey Hazlett of Sustainably Organized shares six tips for simplifying the holiday season ahead.

Most of us want the holidays to be about spending more time with friends and family, and not about spending more time shopping at the mall or online. Start the holiday season by reflecting on what you want more of, and plan your time around those goals or values, to have a calmer and more joyful season. 

1. Start with your values

Write down a few words or draw a picture that represents your values (especially what you value during the holidays). Consider involving others in the family to help. Some of my values include having relaxed time with family and keeping long-standing family traditions going (like going to cut down a tree).

Simplify the Holidays, a program of The Center for a New American Dream, includes a calendar to help focus on what matters most during this time of year. You get six weeks of daily inspirations and practical tips for simplifying your holiday season. They also offer a booklet, coupon ideas and other resources to connect more with each other. Need more inspiration? Watch their video!

2. Make your to-do lists

Make a list of all the events or projects you want – or feel you need – to do this holiday season. Consider making separate lists for each holiday. Don’t forget to include what you’ll need to do for preparation, during the actual project or event and clean-up.

For example, the activity “Christmas Dinner” may include sending out invitations, choosing recipes, buying food, preparing food, decorating, cleaning up and putting away dishes and decorations.

3. Revisit your values

After you have your list of activities, revisit your key values to make sure your activities align with them. Consider filtering out activities that don’t match up with your key values, or adding activities focused on downtime, relaxation and fun.

4. Assign your time

Once you have your activity list, assign the amount of time you think each activity will consume. Be realistic when assigning time to each activity and add some extra time. If you’re not sure, give it your best guess – it doesn’t have to be perfect. The important part is realizing that everything takes time to complete.

5. Create your calendar and revisit it regularly

Schedule your list of activities on your calendar. Scheduling your activities ensures you are creating space to get them done. As we all know, things will change and you might need to add, remove or change activities. By allowing for some buffer, you’ll have space to be flexible as things change.

6. Delegate

Consider which activities you can delegate. Have a teenager in your life (son, daughter, niece, nephew or neighbor) who loves to wrap? Let him or her take on some of the present wrapping. It gives others a chance to contribute and feel involved with the festivities and play to their strengths. It also allows us to share some gratitude with those that make these holidays worth enjoying.

Find gift ideas for other hard-to-buy-for people in your life in our resourceful holiday series. #holiday

Four tips to save money and waste less food this holiday season

There are lots of ways to make the most of your holiday meal, especially here in plentiful Portland. Did you know many farmers markets reopen for Thanksgiving food shopping? And while we love food composting, we also offer some tips for reducing food waste before you feast.

1.      Plan your meals or special dishes

Be it a holiday gathering, potluck or special dinner, planning your meals or specific dishes ahead of time allows you to get what you need with less waste. Check online for menu planning help to decide how much food you’ll need based on the number of guests. If you’re hosting, serve food buffet style so people can choose the best portions for themselves.

2.      Buy local food

There are some farmers markets open year-round and even more open for Thanksgiving, so it’s a great time to get back out to the market. The farmers market map allows shoppers to find a market based on the neighborhood and the day they want to shop.

Choose from a wide variety of seasonal food that tastes fresh and looks beautiful on your plate, including apples, pears, cranberries, winter squash, hazelnuts, walnuts, chard, kale, leeks, beets and potatoes.

3.      Reduce wasted food

Along with buying seasonal foods, you also have a chance to reduce food waste and make the most of all the food you buy. Often it feels easier to compost your food scraps (which is great!), however, even better is using all the bits you can. The Washington Post recently highlighted a few surprising and delicious food parts you may not be taking advantage of when you cook, like beet greens, squash seeds and citrus rinds.

4.    Save waste at the table, too

There are many waste reduction ideas you can incorporate at the table and in the kitchen. By using durable plates, cloth napkins and serve-ware, you can add beauty to the table, save money over time and reuse these items year after year. Invite your guests to bring reusable Tupperware or casserole dishes so they can take home leftovers (or bring your own if you’re a guest so you get dibs on leftovers too!).

Resources, including mobile apps for meal planning and more, are available at Climate Action Now.

How to shop the bulk aisle and reduce food packaging waste

We all eat, so grocery shopping is a task we have to do. There are alternatives to help you avoid the clutter created by food packaging, while still getting food you love and need (or want!).

Plastics, paper, metal and glass require natural resources and energy to manufacture into packaging, even if they are made from recycled materials. Think upstream and consider ways to get what you need for yourself and your family by choosing durable options over disposable ones.

Buy in bulk and bring your own containers. Stores like Fred Meyer, New Seasons, Sheridan’s, Whole Foods and Winco make it easy to buy grains, beans, coffee, cereals and snacks using your own bags and containers. By not taking a new bag at the bulk or produce area, your household can save 500 bags a year!

Try these five easy steps for a waste-free visit to the bulk aisle:

1. Make a grocery list. Include the exact amounts you need (1 cup sugar, ¼ tsp nutmeg).
2. Inventory your pantry and check off any items or ingredients you already have.
3. Pack the containers you’ll need for each of the items on your list. Bring empty spice jars for bulk spices, or larger glass jars for coffee or olive oil. Reusable plastic containers (such as deli or yogurt tubs, or other food-grade plastic containers) work well for dry goods because they are easy to transport.
4. When you first get to the bulk aisle, weigh your containers. Write the weight and the word “tare” on each container. Cashiers are required to remove this weight from the total they charge you. If your store doesn’t have a scale in the bulk area, you can ask a cashier to weigh containers before you fill them.
5. Write the PLU (price look-up) number and the name of the food on the side of each container (which is necessary if you have multiple containers that look similar in your pantry).

And remember to bring your bag! Pack your durable containers in reusable bags to take to the store. Bonus: many grocery stores offer a refund if you bring your own bag.