Eco-friendly Christmas cleanup

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By Scott Meeks
easyGREENtv.com

The Christmas cleanup is never fun, but it can be easy and green! Here are some tips that will help you find new purposes for things you probably considered tossing in the garbage!

POINSETTIAS

Your poinsettia is the perfect place to start your post-Christmas green-clean up. That's because there's really no cleanup required. These are actually great plants that will bring you joy all year round. But, if you've had yours by a raging fireplace or a drafty door all December, then it's time to do some damage control.

First, get rid of that holiday-look by tossing the red foil and transplanting to another pot.

Stick your plant in a nice, sunny window.

Poinsettias are tropical plants which means they need warm air, humidity and sunlight. Water regularly and come spring, you can make this plant really happy by putting him outside.

CANDY CANES

Remember when candy canes were just peppermint sticks? Now they come in all sorts of flavors and colors and you've probably got dozens of them around your house right now.

And let's be honest, you can only eat so many candy canes. So we're going to put them to good use.

Break up your candy canes and throw them into a blender and pulse until they become like a dusty sugar.

This makes the perfect decorating sugar for cookies or ice cream.

If you do have peppermint candy canes, a teaspoon or two of your new concoction goes really well in coffee or cocoa!

WRAPPING PAPER

I know you've got more leftover wrapping paper than you care to admit. Luckily there are some really good uses for this stuff.

Scraps can be used to pack away breakable ornaments.

You can run leftover wrap through your shredder to make confetti for your New Year's party.

Pack it away for next year.

Most importantly, never BURN your leftover wrapping paper. It could contain lead or plastic which when ignited will release toxins into your home.

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