Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

themadvix

I’d say, don’t wait until you’ve run out of paper before you start the switch to bags Bailey’s Babe - I made bags last year but was glad of some of the saved paper this year when I had a couple of awkward shapes to wrap that didn’t fit into a bag (and I had no time or inclination to try to make a bag for it). Also, there’s always a few presents that you’re unlikely to get the bags back from (IME), so best to use paper for them as long as possible. There’s a place for both. Mum and Sis now converted to bags due to how long they spent wrapping - bags are amazing for this, especially if you can persuade people to give the tags back to you too - you just reattach to the ribbon on next year’s bag and voilà, wrapping done!

Baileys_Babe

Thanks for the feedback TMV I am off to investigate suitably patterned fabric. Do you know what type of fabric yours are made off? Cotton? Felt?

Debsnewbudget

I save the brown paper that protects the items in the big river boxes, smooth it out, then wrap presents in it using a scrunch method rather than sellotape. Not pretty but effective enough, and very quick to wrap.
Presents then go in a large gift bag for each recipient which is collected after Christmas and reused each year. 

Makingabobor2

Debsnewbudget said:

I save the brown paper that protects the items in the big river boxes, smooth it out, then wrap presents in it using a scrunch method rather than sellotape. Not pretty but effective enough, and very quick to wrap.
Presents then go in a large gift bag for each recipient which is collected after Christmas and reused each year. 

I saw a clip about ironing the scrunched up brown paper to reuse it. Seemed to work really well

kayannie

The fabric shops usually stock a  range of inexpensive Christmas themed cotton fabric leading up to Christmas. One year I bought some Christmassy tea towels in the sales & used those to wrap some smaller presents for friends (ones who I knew would appreciate a tea towel as an extra present!). It's worth checking out the charity shops too as a Christmassy duvet cover will provide enough fabric for many years! KA

Debsnewbudget

Makingabobor2 said:

Debsnewbudget said:

I save the brown paper that protects the items in the big river boxes, smooth it out, then wrap presents in it using a scrunch method rather than sellotape. Not pretty but effective enough, and very quick to wrap.
Presents then go in a large gift bag for each recipient which is collected after Christmas and reused each year. 

I saw a clip about ironing the scrunched up brown paper to reuse it. Seemed to work really well

I just tend to roll it and that straightens it out enough 

Baileys_Babe

I smooth out the brown packing paper and then store rolled up.

Good idea on the Christmas duvet cover - matching pillowcase aka ready made gift bag 😆

themadvix

Mine are cotton, from hobbycraft… apart from the old cream duvet cover (with festive drawstring ribbon). The patterned ones look good against the contrast of the plain ones.

Elisheba

Makingabobor2 said:

Debsnewbudget said:

I save the brown paper that protects the items in the big river boxes, smooth it out, then wrap presents in it using a scrunch method rather than sellotape. Not pretty but effective enough, and very quick to wrap.
Presents then go in a large gift bag for each recipient which is collected after Christmas and reused each year. 

I saw a clip about ironing the scrunched up brown paper to reuse it. Seemed to work really well

I've been using it as a firestarter on my woodburner - its great, and saves always having to keep an eye out for free newspapers all the time 

foxgloves

Lovely to read all your contributions about wrappings, etc. I have a big bag of salvage to sort through at some point.
Well, festive resource #1 - the turkey - has now been dealt with. Turkey dismantling always takes place on 27th Dec in our house. Have been doing Christmas carol kitchen karaoke while cracking on with some serious batch-cooking. And yes, I am of course, going to bore you with how many portions I have s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d it to. It has done:
2 Christmas dinners
2 cold Boxing Day dinners
2 portions of turkey & mushroom supreme
5 portions of turkey chilli (WI recipe)
4 portions of turkey bhuna
2 portions of turkey slices in gravy
3 containers of microwavable Christmas dinner for work lunches on late shifts
7 portions of turkey & vegetable soup
6 containers of stock
That's 33 portions in total & I'm pleased with that. I was even more pleased when Mr F appeared & offered to do all the washing-up!
I do insist on a free-range turkey (though save vouchers to off-set the cost) so it is important to us to make use of every scrap.
I still make turkey soup in broadly the same way my Nana taught me when I was about 14. Only two differences, really. Firstly I don't add soup-mix as neither of us like pearl barley, & second, I strip the meat & make stock from the carcass before making the soup. Nana would put everything for the soup into the cauldron, including the carcass. She would then fish out the bones as she went along. Delicious soup, but too many tiny bits of bone in people's bowls for my liking, so when I took over as turkey soup maker, I refined the process into meat stripping & stock, then made the soup afterwards. Doubtless Nana (who was a proper Mrs Thrift, having grown up with very little) will have been looking down from her cloud berating me for using two lots of gas ring, lol, as her method defo only required the single boil-up.
Soot was evicted from the pantry so ran upstairs, climbed into Mr F's drawer & threw all his socks out onto the floor. Bad weather means the cats have not had enough fresh air & so will doubtless be crackers later.
Ah well, turkey tasks done at least.
F x