General Chat

Well I have been out today to post cards for family abroad and bought a dozen second class stamps
Cost me over £11.

I will be sending cards to folks I know won't see my Facebook post

But it is getting too expensive which is why I am opting to donate to Charity

We give each other cards and we exchanged ours this morning, I like to do it early so we get value from looking at them. I am pleased to say that he does choose lovely cards with lovely verses. (He does go to one of the cheaper shops though which is great because they do cost a lot of money some of them. I of course make my own for him and always take a lot of pleasure in doing it.

We do save gift bags and they circulate round the family but not wrapping paper. As long as it is not metallic we can recycle wrapping paper in our area. I think saving brown paper and string goes back to the war, my mum used to have a drawer full of stuff like that saved.

Saving reusable wrapping paper was the norm. for Mum too....likewise brown paper and string.
When we sorted out her bungalow about 10 years ago, we found some paper from my 21st birthday. By now, I was a grandmother, so it had been tucked a way a long time.!

I've sent my overseas cards, but have yet to write most of the UK ones.

My husband maintained that a card was instead of a personal face to face greeting, so there was no need to send Christmas cards to work colleagues, who you met daily.
We never gave each other Christmas cards, but did exchange birthday and anniversary cards, so I'm not sure of the logic there..

It took our daughter several years to persuade her husband to smooth and fold neatly large pieces of wrapping paper rather than scrunching up and stuffing in a plastic (!!!) garbage bag. :-\

I think he's finally got it .......... after 17 years!



We went to the local Dollarama this afternoon to buy 6 gift bags of different sizes, a pack of holiday tissue paper, and a box of 14 cards ........... spent the grand total of $10.10 (under £5). The most expensive item was a large gift bag for $2.

The box of cards (for neighbours) cost $1.25 :-0


........... and then OH appeared from downstairs about 15 minutes ago with 2 boxes of (unknown number) cards that had been stored away, so I wasted $1.25 :-( :-D

I did notice that one of those boxes contained a few UNICEF cards, that had cost us $23.00 for 10 cards 4 or 5 years ago :-0

Ironing paper was a standing joke in our household until about 10 years ago. Mind you, I’ll still salvage large pieces if no one is looking. Watch out for the missed bits of sellotape!

It’s interesting how some money saving practices pass from one generation to another. Our youngest was wrapping a present at our house, to keep it a secret. She was quite happy to use a home made ex-card tag & says she does the same herself!

Speaking of ironing lol Florence, this was the norm in our house, to iron the good bits of the paper for next year :-) I think one small piece which was too small to be of any real use travelled with us for about 40 years before it finally got used :-) We also held on to brown paper and string !

I think particularly for older people who can't decorate for Christmas and who are on their own , a mantlepiece with some cards on is cheering, and makes the day a bit different from all the others. Nice as a phone call is, you can't look at it again and think "how pretty" :-)

Sylvia just re read your comment on saving the wrapping paper and it reminded me of my grandfather asking us to "unwrap the presents gently." grandma then said oh for heavens sake, would you like me to fold and iron the good bits so we can use them next year? :-) :-) :-) :-)

Florence
in the hebrides

AustinQ its ok, I didn't think that at all. Everyone has different ideas and views.
I looked in a box today and found last years gifts bags ready to recycle, just as perfect as if new.Im sure they go back and forth in the family a few times!

My children loved cutting up the cards after we had taken them down to make the tags. It was a good sat afternoon job if it was raining.

my Christmas this year is hugely different as I shall be on my own til Wednesday.For me getting lots of cards will make me feel I have my friends and family around me even though they are hundreds of miles away. I shall be phoning them of course xmas morning as we always do.

Happy Christmas to you all
Florence
in the hebrides <3

I also make gift tags from cards, and use them in future years ....... I've been doing that for at least 25 years, and daughter now does the same thing!

We also re-use wrapping paper or gift bags if it's still in good condition.

Florence- I've just re-read my post and realise it probably sounded a little 'bah humbug'!!
Reading your post I felt I ought to add I do send letters to a few friends and family, and of course, Christmas, for most, is the ideal opportunity to catch up. Receiving a letter from friends and loved ones is a vital lifeline for some, and an enjoyable gift for most.
I love the idea of recycling cards for present tags and will certainly save any I receive this year.

Have a happy Christmas Florence

I do think it is good value for money. Sending a card south for less than a pound or pay £300 plus to fly down in person!

Many of my old friends only contact me via card/letter at xmas. I get to read their news and they mine and yes elderly people may not have the internet.

My grandparents always sent over 100 cards and received as many. So I ve always sent around 80-90. This year I written 85 but not all have been sent as I do work people too.

I also cut the cards and recycle them for tags for the future, comes in handy that.

My cards are bought from charities such as the RNLI,RNIB and local charities here. So altho I send cards, I'm still donating to good causes.

Florence
in the hebrides :-)

I never send cards. I think it stemmed from my work place which always encouraged a small donation to charity rather than a card to every staff member.

I no longer work at the same place but have continued to make a donation to charity rather than buy/ send cards. In the last few years more of my friends have decided to do the same.

Your costs are higher than ours then, Sylvia

Once upon a time you could buy stamps at a reduced rate at Superdrug but that got stopped. Pity as it was very useful.

Lizxx

Liz .............

We only have 1 level of postage, and Canada Post prices in smaller weight amounts

our weights are ............

Canada,
0-30gm 85c
30-50gm $1.20
50-100gm $1.80 (=~£1.00)

US
0-30gm $1.20
30-50gm $1.80
50-100gm $2.95 (=~£1.70)

Overseas
0-30gm $2.50
30-50gm $3.60
50-100gm $5.90 (=~£3.40)

I've done a rough conversion only for the higher weight, so you can compare it more easily with your 0-100gm range.

Sylvia, First class post up to 100g is 65p and second class 56p. To send an item up to 20g to Europe is £1.17 or first class up to 100g is £1.57. To send the same worldwide is £1.40 or £2.27.

Lizxx

It costs us the equivalent of about 70p ($1.20) to send a card and 1 sheet of letter paper to the US ........... as long as it is a very thin card.

Sylvia, it is 56p second class within UK. I don't know how much it will be this year but last year a card with one sheet of letter paper in cost £1.80 to US :-0

Fewer cards to send this year :-(

Is the 56p second class what you pay to send an overseas card?

If so, it is one heck of a difference from the approximately £1.25 that we have to pay

We don't have the option of second class.

Liz, I wish I had a like button to press. That is how I feel about cards. I think, on the whole we get good value from the post office, most of the time it gets to people in a couple of days. I guess we were spoilt in the days before it was privatised, now, like any other business it has to make a profit. The sad thing is it is use it or lose it and some people would be lost if the service got trimmed any more because of loss of use.

Well, at one time when Mum and Dad were alive, we would 'compete' over the number of cards we received -over 100- and usually sent.. That's obviously changed over the years, with many older friends and relatives dying but with new-made friends and new-found rellies being added. I even get a letter each year from American friends' cat, telling me what the family has been doing. It's the only link with some people who aren't on the internet so I love getting cards and news. I got a message several years ago from an old pal, saying she wouldn't be sending anymore cards but giving to charity. She only lives a mile away but I never see her as she and her hubby go away a lot. We have known each other since 1971. I still get a birthday card and her birthday is next week so I send a card and pop a small Christmas card in too but I can never get her on the phone so know nothing of the way her life is going.

When you think of the distance a 2nd class stamp can take a card or letter for 56p I think it's quite good value although it does mount up if you send lots. For someone living alone, it can bring cheer to have happy mail to open instead of just bills and they can re-read the cards if they feel a bit low.

Lizxx