Free Shipping Day Today!

8 days to Christmas.

If that sentence has you in a cold sweat because you're still behind on your holiday shopping, take heart that all day today hundreds of online retailers are offering free shipping on their merchandise with delivery by Christmas Eve.

In addition to keeping a little more padding in your wallet, free shipping means that you save gas money and emissions from driving all over town.

A few retailers who are participating include:

• 1-800-Flowers
• Adidas
• Apple Store
• Anne Klein
• Kiehl's
• Overstock.com
• Origins

Check out www.freeshippingday.com for a complete list of retailers

Banish Your Paper Trail

According to the non-profit organization 41Pounds.org, the average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year. With retailers unleashing a flurry of holiday catalogs, ads and offers, now is a great time to declutter your mailbox and keep them at bay for the rest of the year.

You can reclaim your mailbox, and help save a few trees while you're at it by starting with just a few easy steps.

• Register your address on the Do Not Mail List, and they will take your name off of the mailing lists that arrive at your home. The best thing? It's free.

• Call your credit card companies, and ask them not to send you any more offers, or visit OptOutPreScreen.com, which allows you to remove your name from lists generated by the four major credit bureaus--Equifax, Innovis, TransUnion and Experian.

• Ask companies who send catalogs that you never order from or read to stop sending them.

• Enlist the service Green Dimes to help stop your junk mail. For an initial sign-up fee, they will stop your postal junk mail, send you two energy-efficient light bulbs and a reusable bag.

• Sign up for online billing. Not only is it now incredibly quick, easy and effective, many companies send you reminders when a bill is approaching the due date, which can save you from future moments of "did I pay that?" panic.

Check out the video below presented by NBC on how to stop junk mail from popping up in your mailbox.

Holiday Green Tip: Reusable Shopping Bags

This season, why not give two gifts in one?

As you (should) already know, plastic and paper bags are very harmful to the environment, but luckily, some of the damage can be offset by bringing your reusable shopping bag with you whenever you head out to buy produce or gifts this season. Now that reusable shopping bags come in so many fun and different designs, why not try something a little different this year and wrap your gifts to friends and family in something that will last all year?

ChicoBag offers a bag that is made out of 99% recycled content, with 73% of the total weight from post consumer recycled materials that could tie nicely over presents, and online retailer delight.com offers great RuMe Reusable Holiday Gift Wrap bags that are as festive as they are useful.

For more great ideas and tips on how to wrap your gift with a reusable bag, check out the video below from reusablebags.com.