She's On The Money - How to have a sustainable Christmas

Episode Date: December 7, 2021

When you think Christmas you probably think of presents, feasts and time spent with loved ones, but what happens when we take down the decorations and clean up after the big day? Turns out Christmas is one of the most unsustainable times of year, so today we’re talking about how we can do our bit to reduce the impact on the planet (and also our wallets in the process!)  The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Last week, we went deep on the 12 saves of Christmas, but today we want to talk a little bit more about sustainability when it comes to gifting this festive season. My name is Georgia King and joining me as always is financial advisor, Victoria Devine. V, we have a couple of little disclaimers we want to rattle off before we get into the main chat today, don't we?

That we do. And I think it's really important to rattle these off because when we're talking about gifting and talking about spending money. That is not a privilege that is extended to every single person in our She's On The Money community. And I know, as well as the rest of our community knows, that this Christmas for some people is going to be a really tough one. It's not a new thing, which is really sad, but I just wanted to, at the start of this episode, really acknowledge our privilege because we do know that not everyone can afford Christmas presents this year, but also not everyone can afford fancy sustainable products, but we can definitely all shop a little bit more responsibly and shop less, which is also a huge piece of this whole puzzle.

Yeah. Well, that's exactly right. So yeah. Thank you for kind of clarifying that up the top. I think that's really important. I just think it's really important because if we're going to do episodes, this one was really, really requested and obviously we were really excited about doing it. But also when we do whole episodes on gifting, sometimes you're like, oh, well, this might not actually resonate with some people. And that's okay. If this episode isn't your episode, that's totally cool. But I'm so grateful that people want our advice on these topics, George, and they reach out and say, hey, like, how would I do this? Or is this a money win or not? Like, these are the conversations we like having with our community. And I think that that's

fun regardless of the situation you're in. 100%. And I think when it comes to sustainability as well, there's definitely a perception that it's the more expensive route to kind of head down. And that is the case with some of these higher quality, more sustainable, ethical brands. They are more expensive, but we're not necessarily just talking about that today. We're talking about a series of ways that you can save money while also shopping sustainably. So, before we do get into those tips, V, I wanted to ask you exactly what the impacts of our Christmas consumption are on the planet right now. It's actually really scary, George. You ready? Talk to me. Strap yourself in. The amount of waste we produce increases by 30% at Christmas time,

which makes sense when you break it down. And if you think about how much wrapping paper and sticky tape and trees and gifts and food and packaging all gets thrown away in your household, especially at Christmas time, you kind of go, oh, a 30% increase does make sense. We also produce, George, 125,000 tons of waste, which if you calculate that out, 125 million kilos just from plastic packaging. Wow. That's so many kilos of plastic packaging. We also spend an extra $554 million on food at this time. And a third of that ends up going to waste. So we really need to start being way more sensible when it comes to the silly season. Well, that's the thing, isn't it? Because you kind of, everyone would think of gifts, but you don't really think about the other

things that you're throwing away, like the food waste, the alcohol waste, the packaging waste, like there's so much to it, which I guess is what we're discussing today. Vy, let's get into our top tips. The first point I have here is really simple and you mentioned it at the top of the show. our first tip is just to shop less. I mean, that's a really easy kind of tip, right? I mean, but it's also not the easiest tip to implement, is it? Like, I feel like so many of us have the resolve and we go, oh my gosh, this year I'm going to shop less. But what does that actually mean? Does it mean Georgia King gets less presents? Because if so, like I'm probably not going to buy you less presents. Does that make sense? So it's harder to buy less than we

actually think it is, but it's pretty plain and simple. If we buy less, the better we are doing for our planet. And G, as we mentioned in last week's episode, Australians are tipped to spend $23.9 billion this year. That's ridiculous. That's too much money. That's actually insane. I genuinely think if we shift our thinking and opt for fewer, higher quality gifts instead of buying cheaper items that will likely be thrown out within six months to a year, then that's a really good place to start. In fact, Jay, you and I were having this conversation earlier today, and I don't know if this is going to like strike a nerve with some people in our community, but I've obviously just gotten engaged and low key, I already booked the wedding because if

I'm not a type A kind of person, I don't know who I am. So if anything, I'm organized. But I started having this conversation with you about those bridesmaids boxes. Yes. And how I'm just not going to do them because I'm like, okay, like I'll obviously give my bridesmaids what they need, etc. But I just, I feel like every time I've been gifted one or I've seen them, I'm like, what do people do with that stuff? Like, is it reasonable? Is it fair? So, I think this whole buy less actually extends into lots of areas of our lives. Like, how do we just buy one quality gift instead of, you know, something that looks big and extravagant and has lots of packaging? Well, what do you think though, V? Because I know a lot of families do stockings, for example. And

And yeah, you know, you want to fill them to the brim because that's the excitement of it. Yeah. And little kids love stockings. Like one of my favorite Christmas memories is getting our Santa sacks and sitting on mom and dad's bed and going through them and opening our present. And at the same time, mom being like, oh, well, why don't you open that one? And Alex opens that one because like, obviously she packed them and didn't want us opening presents at different times because we always got the same thing. So I'd be like, oh, how does she know which ones we should open. That's so weird. Maybe her and Santa are colluding. Mystery. But so how do you do that sustainably then, V? If we're encouraging, like we both have such

special memories of those stockings when we were growing up. How can you do that more sustainably? Just opt for less, smaller stockings? I think opt for less. But again, kids love opening stockings. So potentially converting that into things that we actually need. So something that my mum was really good at and maybe we should have just got the Jude star onto the podcast today to have this conversation is we would end up getting things we needed in our Santa sack so I was equally happy to get a toothbrush as I was some other present so often and I'm not saying she was doing this for sustainable reasons I think she was just being really practical we would get new socks new undies we would end up with our pajamas we'd get toothbrushes we'd get some lollies and stuff

like that. But everything that was put into our Santa sacks wasn't just stuff that we would lose after six months. And arguably kids do need new things like pajamas. And I remember a few years in a row we'd get like swimwear because obviously here in Australia it's summer. So, new pair of boardies or a swimsuit never went astray. So, I think it's about thinking about how you can pack them full of exciting things that you actually need as opposed to just filling it full of stuff for the sake of stuff. Yeah, love it. Good, good calls. Okay, so our next tip here is to ditch the wrapping paper. Yes. Talk us through why. I feel like this is such a fun tip because a lot of people are going to be like, isn't that half the reason we give presents? So we can watch

other people unwrap them. But as much as wrapping paper is lovely and usually gorgeous, unfortunately, it's really bad for the environment. And not so fun fact, at Christmas, we use 150,000 kilometers of wrapping paper. That's ridiculous. That's a lot of kilometers. That's heaps of kilometers. That's heaps of kilometers. It also often can't be recycled either, even though it's paper, because it usually has glittery styles or foil or coloring that actually can't be reused or recycled. Another idea, George, is to get more creative and wrap things in paper you already have around the house, like newspaper or magazines or wrap them in tea towels, or you could put them in your grocery green bags, which is very fun. But a hot tip from my friend Harriet, who listens to

every single episode because she's a dream human being. She, I'm pretty sure I got this tip from her. If not, she can have full credit for it. Anyway, go to op shops and buy those pretty scarves and then use them to wrap your presents. How cute, right? Like the little silky scars, you can tie cute knots at the top and put your tag on. And honestly, they look so gorgeous and they'll only cost a couple of dollars from the op shop. Arguably, that's what you were going to spend on wrapping paper anyway, but you're bringing new lease of life to something that was going to go to waste, which I think is really special. Yeah. If though, gee, you can't part ways with wrapping paper, we get it. We're not everything to everyone. Then there are a couple

of really sustainable brands to consider like Inky Co and the brown paper bag packaging, which we will link to in the show notes. Beautiful. So yeah, they're more sustainable options. I'm going to be going op shopping though. I want to go op shopping for scarves. I do like that idea, but don't you think it is weird that we've just gotten used to wrapping our presents? Like it doesn't really make that much sense because we just throw away the wrapping paper straight away. Like it's so wasteful. I agree. But I also think that wrapping it up is like special. And when you get a gift wrapped present, it like still holds some of the surprise. Like if I turned up to your house and I had a soap, you'd be like, oh, when present time

comes, the soap's just sitting under the tree. And I'm like, George, that's yours. You're like, cool. I already saw it. Like there's no surprise or magic to it. So I think it's about maintaining that surprise and magic as well as being a little bit more sustainable. I know another hot tip that I'm going to bring up here is one of our family friends actually makes their own wrapping paper so throughout the year they collect all of the brown paper from our brown paper shopping bags and then they get eco-friendly paints at Christmas time and the kids decorate the bags so they cut them up and use the paper to make Christmas paper so the kids like use their hands and do hand prints and then like decorate them with like you know little pom-poms and stuff like that which I

think is so, so cute, but also arguably really sustainable because George, I think every one of us has been guilty at some point or another during the last year of going to the supermarket without our green bags and maybe getting one of the paper bags. So why not use that? Yeah. Love it. That's a great tip. Um, our next little point here, V is to make our own gifts, like our own wrapping paper. can you kind of extrapolate on this I know we did touch on it last week but just a little refresher I'm not gonna lie I'd be much better at making wrapping paper than your actual Christmas present but if you didn't listen to last week's episode please go back and do it Georgia shared some very good tips on making Christmas presents we also chatted about Christmas crack which I will be

making for the loved ones in my life and we'll be showing you guys on Instagram live soon as well I promise Georgia this time Jess and I will not be setting the kitchen on fire like I did last time we tried to cook pasta which literally when I say we won't set the kitchen on fire no I literally did it was arguably very embarrassing we also chatted on that episode George about framing your own photos which was an epic idea from you thank you so much and you are welcome if you're like me and you're just not a crafty gal but you have an oven and hands then set yourself up with some baked goods. Like honestly, most of us can bake. We can all bake. It's cheap. Not all of us can. You can eat the batter. Not all of us can. But Christmas crack is almost foolproof. I'm

telling you right now. She's going hard on the Christmas crack. I do. I really do. And anybody who's had it is going to be like, I can understand why. Anyone who hasn't is going to be really confused. But the more rustic it looks, the better. And like rustic is how I cook. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. Our last little tip before we head to the break, Vee, is to shop locally and to choose brands that are doing really good work in the sustainability space. Talk us through it. Absolutely. After the year that was, the more local we can shop, the better. Supporting small business is always a priority for She's On The Money. That's why I literally started another podcast called The Business Bible because I literally love small business. When we shop

local, we're reducing our impact on the environment by not creating emissions from freight. Depends, maybe there was a little bit, but there's arguably a lot less. Plus, there's no packaging from ordering online, which I think so many of us, especially during this season, are forgetting is existing. Like if you order something online, it arguably comes with a truckload of packaging. The amount of times I've ordered from Amazon, George, and gotten one small thing and the biggest box you've ever seen is embarrassing. Like I actually get really mad about it because I'm like this is so unnecessary. Like if there was an option to have things delivered unpackaged, I would tick that box. But back to what we were talking about before, before I go on another

Victoria rant, there's obviously added benefit for supporting small retailers. As I said before, we've had a pretty rough couple of years and supporting small business is always just so much nicer. Another handy tip V, I know we're obviously from the peninsula and there are so many like niche from the niche there are so many cute little boutiques down here and it's a really good way of finding local artists that you can buy from yeah which I really like so you'll go into them and they often stock really good local brands like one of your friends has a jewelry brand am I wrong Georgia King I have I have a few friends there's Chloe Sophia and also Lacey jewelry. Kate McIndoe is so pretty. Incredible, incredible. So many great artists down here on

the Mornington Peninsula. So check them out. And they're all obviously friends with Georgia. So fancy pants Georgia is there. No, we'll link them in the show notes though for sure. Another hot tip is actually head out to the markets. I know down on the peninsula where we're from, they have incredible markets like Emu Plains where local makers sell their incredible produce and creation. So if you're in Melbourne, definitely check that out. But also if you're interstate I have no doubt that there will be incredible Christmas markets popping up near you so do your research and shop that way because it's actually really fun often the owners of those brands are the ones that you meet at the markets as well so you can be like oh my gosh why did you

make these and you get the backstory so when you get to gift those cute earrings to your girlfriend you can be like oh my gosh so I met the person who made these and they picked this color because of this reason and it's made of this this and this and I just feel like that's really wholesome and really kind. Yeah, I agree with that. You get to meet the person that's made your product and you can see the impact that you're making by buying something to take away. It's great. It's fantastic. The last little thing here, Vy, as well was to use the resource, the Good On You app. I haven't heard of it. It's also a website. I think Emma Watson. Hermione. Hermione. Oh, she's a good egg. So, it must be good. She is a good egg in so many ways. They have really good,

they kind of rank the different brands and tell you how sustainable they are and ethical in their practices. So, that is a really good resource that we will link in the show notes as well. Yeah, let's pop that in the show notes. But as we're doing that, we're going to go to a quick break and we will be right back with more Chrissy tips for you. Stay right there. Okay, V, straight back into it. Our next tip is to consider gifting more creatively. I hate when people say this, G, when they're like, oh, be more creative. I'm like, I can't be, I'm not very creative. Literally, look, I'll make you Christmas crack, but that's because it can look, quote, rustic and that makes it wholesome. But I really get frustrated with this. But I guess

that's a good little plug, Jay, for our very own Budget and Cashflow Masterclass. You can always gift something like a course or an experience, and that gives people an experience or something to do with having very minimal impact on the environment, which I really, really like. You can also buy things that will stand the test of time, Georgia, like plants. Well, I guess that depends on how good you are at keeping them alive and whether you have a green thumb or not. But plants are usually a really cute gift, especially if you've propagated them yourself and you're gifting something to your friends that was once a part of yours. I don't know. I really like that. Again, with your partner, you could completely ditch traditional gifting and opt for like date gift

vouchers or something. I saw in Kiki K the other day, a Christmas card that had like little tear off vouchers so you could fill in little gifts. And I just thought that was so cute and a really sustainable way of gifting something thoughtful to your partner that they are going to adore. I love that. It's very, very cutesy and romantic. Yeah. And you don't even have to be creative. You just have to go buy the fancy card from Kiki K, which will probably cost you $5, but it'll be a good money win long-term because the present technically cost you $5. It's cute. You get to customize it yourself. And it came with the envelope. Not sponsored by Kiki K, but I would not say no, Georgia. Genius. Okay. Our last tip

here, V, is to shop secondhand, which everyone probably expected would pop up on this list. But V, tell us why this is such a good idea. I love this. The idea that I would be given something that has already had a life is really, really special. I know that that sounds really lame. I'm not saying, hey, George, just go into the op shop and pick up something random and gift it to your friends. Like I think thinking about it, maybe finding something online, you might be able to check eBay or Gumtree if there's something particular that you're really looking for for a friend. I mentioned this on the pod last week, but Steve's side of the family, we do secondhand, handmade or homemade. And that is actually really fun. Yes, it takes a little bit more organizing

and planning, but if you get ahead of the game, it is so fun and you feel like you're really giving back, but also you can get some really, really good presents that you arguably couldn't have afforded for your friend or your family member had you bought at full price. So, it's a money win. The beauty of secondhand things is that we aren't supporting the manufacturing process, which is obviously damaging for the planet. So, this is a very good win. We're at cheese on the money. We do know that consumption culture not only contributes greatly to carbon emissions, but it also uses an incredible amount of water. And we spoke about this on our fast fashion episode we did yonks ago G King but remember it takes 2700 liters of water to create a plain white

t-shirt that baffles me like what plus there's whole issues around this around worker rights and animal exploitation and all of that but I won't get into that because I will actually start ranting so shopping this way really closes the loop and slows down consumption you have to be really mindful and really intentional when you shop because obviously it is a little bit harder and you do have to think quite hard about, well, what am I going to get? What am I looking for? Because if you just walk into an op shop, you're going to be overwhelmed, I would say. But you're giving an item a second life and preventing it from being tossed into landfill. And I think that's really special. Definitely. And if anyone listening is like, oh, gross op shops, like firstly,

wrong. Yeah, firstly, you're wrong. Just incorrect. Yeah, just I like that. That's probably the only time on the podcast we can like aggressively be like no you're wrong wrong bad naughty yeah if you are if you're not convinced i would say like think kind of creatively i know for me it wasn't from an op shop it was from an old camera store and i bought an old film camera for harps and it was like 100 it was so old but it was amazing so cool and now we have all of these amazing film photos on our wall. It's great. Hey, that's a really good suggestion. It's a good idea. Yeah. That's a good idea. That's a fun one. The other thing I really like is like fancy wine glasses. Yes. Yeah. Going and getting like, you know, two beautiful champagne flutes or, you know,

like the crystal, like, you know, like the crystal cocktail glasses, like those are so pretty and crystal is so expensive, but at the op shop, it's like dirt cheap. Like $2. Yeah, I know. It's crazy. The other thing I really like as well, now we're going on a tangent, is if I'm going into an op shop, I'll often check out like the crockery and see things like little pieces of crockery I really like because they become things like ring dishes and stuff that you can gift to a girlfriend and be like, oh my gosh, I saw this. It's secondhand, but I thought of you. It was really pretty or really beautiful or really practical. You don't have to be like, oh gee, I just popped to my local op shop to see if I could find you something. You can be like, look, I went looking for

something. I really wanted to buy you a ring dish because I know, you know, you always take your jewelry off or your earrings off before bed. And I just feel like this was really you and yet secondhand, but I just knew that this one would suit you. Like that's really cute, right? Yeah. Ring dishes for the win. Really cute little presents that are arguably very cost effective and we're saving the environment. Well, that's it Vee. And as well as op shops, we didn't say that you can also shop on eBay, Gumtree and Marketplace. They're all really good ways of closing that kind of fast fashion-y loop that we talk about. So, to recap our tips for today, we had shop secondhand, consider more creative gifts like experiences instead of

tangible products. We had shop locally and choose those brands that are doing really good work in this space. Ditch wrapping paper. That was a big one. And make out. We can buy scarves. Or, G, how many of us are short on tea towels? I actually am short on tea towels. Are you not? I am. If I wrapped your present in a nice little tea towel. And then you get to keep the tea towel. Double present. Brilliant from you. Cleaned and washed, obviously. Yeah. Like we're not talking just like grab it off the oven and just wrap G's present up and it kind of smells like food. Like, no, not that tea towel.

You never know. It's good to clarify. But you could pick festive tea towels and wrap them up and put a cute bow on it. I'm all about it. To be honest, every time someone has gifted me something that has alternative wrapping, I'm always like, yes, I love this. Yeah. Love it. Love it. The final two tips there were making your own gifts and buying less, which we love. Fee, before we do leave it for today, how would you recommend someone broach this topic with their family or their partner if they are wanting to integrate sustainable gifting into their lives? How do you do it? I feel like there's two ways of answering this or two ways this could go, right? Like your family could completely embrace it and mine did. And I know that because my mom's always been like

a bargain hunter and always been someone who's like good at finding a good piece of furniture or a good piece of like clothing secondhand. So she would absolutely adore this, but I know it's not for everybody. So I guess you could tell them to listen to the podcast episode or tell them you listen to a podcast and how would we do that? Or even just introducing the fact that you're going to try to do something one time. It doesn't mean that absolutely everybody has to get on board. I think there's a lot of beauty in you guys leading the way and going, do you know what? I don't mind if the rest of the family isn't going to do this, but I'm going to put the time, energy and effort into this. And I'm going to see how I can make this work because it's not

always about doing everything. It's just little steps and little steps are still steps in the right direction. Right, Jean? 100%. Finally, I just wanted to say as well that obviously today's show was all about sustainable gifting, but food waste is a massive issue at this time of year. So, if you are entertaining, really just like trying not to go overboard with what you're providing, like don't have enough food for 20 when there's only five of you there. Yeah, just do more planning. Often we end up with a lot of food waste, one, because we get really excited because there's all these really exciting Christmas snacks. And like, who doesn't want cherries at Christmas? So we're obviously getting those. And then in our family, my mum adores prawns at

Christmas. So we always get that. But we need to make sure that we're working out at what time we're eating those. Otherwise they go in the fridge, they go off and then they end up in the bin. And that is not productive, especially at a time when so many people don't have heaps to put on their Christmas tables themselves. So plan a little bit better when it comes to Christmas. So as you said, Jay, you're only hosting five. You don't need to cater for 20. But also maybe have a little bit of think about how you could donate some food this Christmas or give back to people who really need it, because I promise you there are lots of food drives going on. And I think that we could have a real impact this Christmas. But that is more than enough preaching from me. I

think it's probably time to wrap the show. What do you reckon? I think it's time. All right. Well, just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to australia's aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples they're the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn we pay our respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness and remember guys the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision no sir

promise victoria divine is an authorized representative of australia pacific funds management proprietary limited abn 34132463257afsl339151 see you next week guys bye guys bye Thank you for watching.