Hold off on tossing out catalogs and containers before Christmas. Both may prove useful for the holiday season.

Before you throw away those catalogs, start looking through them for some gift ideas. This is especially helpful for items that you know the cost of the individual parts that make up a basket or themed gift.

A tea company catalog arrived in my email box the other day, rather than just deleting the catalog, I looked through it. Hmmm. Maybe because I keep up with these things, I quickly figured out that a variety pack of 120 tea bags in a container should not cost $30. For a tea drinker in your life, you could buy the same tea and put it into a container for a lot less and even include a dollar store mug.

As I was sorting through some containers and before I put them in the container to donate I stopped myself and thought that I could use them for gifts. Especially for those unusually shaped gifts or to make a gift of tea for someone myself. It may not seem like a big deal but if you gave someone a bag of coffee or a box of tea alone this does not look like an exciting gift. Wrap the gift or add something to it to make it seem fancy and you have elevated your gift’s status from ok to out of the ordinary.

Before tossing out those containers and boxes from gifts past, look at them in a new light and think about the opportunity that you will have to use them. After Christmas, if you haven’t used them, then donate them.