XMAS frugality

[roosmom]

I have had my little strings of lights FOREVER also. I replace, never throw out.....BUT....what kills me, is when I shop I see the NEW stuff that came out....I WANT IT ALL.....I WANT IT ALL, ALL THE PRETTY SANTAS, FANCY LIGHTS, NEW BULBS, lol-lol-lol

But I don't buy....wow it is hard to pull back my hand!

But yes, my stuff is old now. It is time for a FEW dollars maybe of some new stuff. (well maybe, cause since I own all this stuff, I almost can't allow myself to get more)--enough is enough....or is it when decorating for Xmas..HA HA HA

AGREED, AGREED, AGREED!!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

The only strand of lights we use on our tree is a set of lights my DH had bought his mother before she passed away. She only got to use them for one Christmas....a month later she was gone.

So every year that string of lights is on our tree. We carefully package it each year after Christmas (ok actually Christmas night. I am the tear it all down and put it away Christmas evening kind of people) and each year when we get it out my DH lovingly puts them on the tree....after we check out for bad bulbs and replace the ones needing replaced.

 

[roosmom]

Oh, how sweet. Some things dont have to be used long to be a good memory.

 

[annmarie]

I also reuse our lights every year (I never realized they were considered disposable by anyone!) However, probably this year I will replace ours because now you can get LED Christmas lights, which I believe use 85-90% less energy, so even though I cringe at the idea of throwing away perfectly good lights (I'll probably just stash them in the attic!) I think this is one of those situations where spending money will save money in the long run. Last year the LED's were sold out in no time around here though, so hopefully they'll have a larger supply this year.

Edited to add: How funny, I just noticed that after I posted this an ad for LED Christmas lights popped up at the bottom of the page!

 

[roosmom]

I dont think they are really considered throw away, but most people do not want to take the time to fix them so they toss them out. Like my neighbor was going to do. I told her fine, throw them out but not until after I pull all the bulbs, receptacles and fuses LOL.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I absolutely hated doing the lights on Christmas trees. the job was always left to me b/c no one else wanted to do them either, so a few years ago, we bought an artificial tree that already had the lights on it. Best investment.

I still have the old lights, plus I have ouside lights that we will never use again, so I thtik I am just going to sell them.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I do this too, except I do it low-tech. I just hold the lights up to a light source and see if the little wire connection got burnt out or broken. But I noticed that one year when I bought new lights that they were not compatible with my older lights, so you couldn't put new bulbs in the old plastic thingee at the bottom. Maybe I just bought a lame brand of lights?

So -- LOL -- I thought this thread was going to be about gift giving ideas.

 

[roosmom]

Hmmm, I will have to try that Drakemaiden. But my eyes-not so good.

 

[Dace]

I used to have a friend who would throw out the tree, lights and all. She could not be bothered to take them off, and would just buy new ones every year.
Stupid!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yeah, roosmom, I'm thinking some day soon I'm going to have the same problem. Probably from too many years of squinting at Christmas light bulbs.

A good light source and a magnifying glass, might be a good investment for me.