Wrapping Paper Detritus

Day 263: Wrapping Paper Detritus

Ever wonder why RubberMaid isn't
spelled RubberMade? I do.

I try to mitigate the environmental impact of wrapping gifts. I have lots of ways of doing this. Reusing other stuff, like old maps and funny papers. Smoothing and saving wrapping paper and bows, just like mothers did in 1931. Buying spools of grosgrain ribbon at the PTO Thrift Shop and using it year after year. Making present bags out of fabric scraps. Cutting up old greeting cards to use as present tags. If I'm really tempted to buy festive new paper, I shoot for the thin delicate kind, not the thick stuff that costs an arm and a leg and seems like something you could use to wallpaper your bathroom.

The accumulated result of all this is chaos in the RubberMaid wrapping bin. In honor of the stuff project, I decided to clean it out. This is what I am getting rid of: red polyester shiny fabric that is shaped too oddly to convert into present bags; Chinese take-out food containers that Jess gave me a few years ago filled with homemade granola, which are now disintegrating and unsuitable for regifting; cardboard ribbon spools empty of ribbon; old greeting cards and used envelopes that are covered with writing and unsuitable for gift tags; miscellaneous garbage, like gum wrappers, inkless pens and empty Scotch tape containers.

I also organized everything that remains. I put all the present bags together in a fabric bag, all the wrapping paper scraps and tissue in another fabric bag, tied spools of ribbon together with an elastic band, and neatly stacked the small jewelry boxes. The tape and scissors are tucked neatly in corner. The box will remain this way until someone else uses it, which will probably be the day after tomorrow.

For today, it's all good.