If you can stand the thought of shopping for next year's holidays, now is the time to score deep discounts on Christmas and Hanukkah items.

Between now and mid-January, prices on everything from artificial Christmas trees to Hanukkah gelt will be marked down drastically. Right now, most items are 50 percent to 60 percent off. But as the days go by, the discounts will get deeper -- as high as 90 percent, in some cases.

I know some shoppers who haunt the aisles of Target and the drug stores just waiting for those 90 percent off signs to go up.

Here are a couple of hints to get the most bang for your clearance buck:

It's holiday time, which means more waste is making its way into your home by way of presents, decor and all those holiday goodies. Find out how and where you can dispose of the extra holiday waste with our roundup of holiday recycling programs in the Triangle area:

Chatham County is offering holiday programs to recycle trees, wrapping paper, cooking oil and even nonworking strings of lights.

Free tree-cycling will be offered at the Main Solid Waste & Recycling Facility at 720 County Landfill Road on the following dates:

Don't toss that holiday waste — recycle it with Wake County's Holiday Wrap-Up recycling program.

Residents can drop off Christmas trees (without lights, ornamentation, etc.), wrapping paper (excluding foil and bows), holiday greeting cards, corrugated cardboard, chipboard (i.e. cereal boxes, paper roll tubes, etc.), SBS Board (i.e. shirt and gift boxes), magazines and catalogs at the following convenience centers:

I always like to say I'm frugal, not cheap.

I absolutely don't mind spending on things that are worthwhile. Items that are long-lasting, high-quality, much-needed or long-desired.

But things that are tossed in the trash almost immediately after buying or using -- not so much.

Things like wrapping paper.

I used to wrap on the cheap by purchasing my giftwrap at 90 percent off clearance after the holidays. That saved me plenty of money, for sure.

But what I really wanted was giftwrap that was easy on the wallet AND easy on the environment.

I thought I'd share a few ideas I've come up with -- in hopes of saving you a few dollars and the planet a few trees.

The holiday season, from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day, is also the most wasteful season, as American household waste increases by more than 25 percent. All that added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows, ribbons and more adds up to an additional one million tons a week to the landfills in the United States.

Here's a deal that's bound to make you chuckle: A $1 off coupon on SpongeBob wrapping paper.

The coupon is for $1/1 roll of American Greetings SpongeBob paper. Though it says "redeem at WalMart," it is a manufacturer's coupon so other retailers should accept it.

If you don't like SpongeBob, you can also use it to buy Dora the Explorer giftwrap.

Paired with a sale, this should be a very good deal.

You can find the coupon here at coupons.com. I'm betting these won't last long so print quickly if you're interested. And don't forget, you can print two of each coupons.com coupon.

Are you still searching for that perfect Valentine's gift? Do you have something you've bought and want to give it a bit of a personal touch? Or are you searching for ideas using items already in your possession? Here are a few creative ideas for those wanting to recycle, reuse or repurpose items already found in their home.

Have you ever thought of the amount of waste created during gift-giving holidays from leftover wrapping paper? Cut down on the added paper waste by using reusable wrapping paper and gift bags.