MY ECO-FRIENDLY CHRISTMAS SAVED ME £600

Debbi Marco, 45, was determined to do her bit for the environment, while also being kind to her wallet

- DEBBI MARCO

Christmastime - the lights, the decorations, the presents (buying and getting), spending time with family and all the delicious food - is the most wonderful time of the year. But, increasingly, I'm finding the festivities laced with guilt too.

Year on year, I scrape mountains of leftovers into the bin and gather up armfuls of wrapping, not to mention the unwanted gifts my partner Matt, 42, and kids Sam, 12, and Matilda, 10, receive that are put to one side, destined for the charity shop. I can't help but feel sad that there's so much waste.

And it's not only in my home. It's estimated that each year in the UK, eight million Christmas trees are cut down, 230,000 tonnes of festive food is wasted and more than 227,000 tonnes of wrapping paper is thrown away. Christmas can be an expensive time of year, too, and in the current cost-of-living crisis, it's more important than ever not to see our hard-earned money go to waste. So this year I decided to make some changes to see if I could be more eco-friendly, and save some money in the process...

Swap Christmas cards for e-cards

I love to send and receive cards, but most end up in the recycling before the year is out. So this year I'm switching to e-cards (got-free-ecards.com). I log on and within minutes I've tapped in the email addresses of my friends, personalised messages and even created envelopes with cute little stamps. You can schedule them to arrive on a chosen date or send them straight away. Not only are the cards free, I've also avoided the stress of making the last post before Christmas.

SAVINGS: £30 (cards and postage)

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