It's absurdly easy to overspend during the holidays, from the usual gift-giving, to Secret Santa exchanges, to parties and feasts, the expenses of the season go on and on.

Lee Simpson, the author of “My Year of Buying Nothing,” has learned to keep it simple.

A couple of years ago, the former magazine publisher now living in Lunenburg, N.S, went an entire year of buying almost nothing, except food and a few other necessary items.

These days, Christmases aren’t spend-free, but they are frugal. There is no giant pile of expensive items under the tree; instead, the holidays are a time of gratitude for simple things like good food and walks in the woods.

“We are determined to have a happier holiday and leave a lighter footprint. And I think a lot of people are inclined that way these days,” she recently told CTVNews.ca by phone.

Gift-giving is kept simple at her home. Each family member receives one main gift and it’s usually something they’ve been putting off buying for themselves. Last year, her daughter got a cow gate (which is exactly what it sounds like: a gate to keep the cows in on a farm). This year, her daughter and son-in-law want a new snow shovel. Simpson herself is hoping for a new ice cream maker, as the last one broke.

Simpson, who is often asked about how she pared down the Christmas shopping bonanza, offers these tips for filling the holidays with memories, not stuff.

Give the gift of service

Simpson’s first tip for a spend-free Christmas is to offer family and close friends the gift of service. That could mean anything from snow-shovelling services for a month, babysitting services for a night, or a weekly gift of home-baked bread, as Simpson made for her son-in-law one year.

Another year, she prepared a dinner for six for her daughter. She cooked all the food, served it with her husband and, most generously, did all the clean-up.

The evening was a ton of fun, she says: her daughter was able to fully enjoy the dinner party, while Simpson kept a polite distance playing professional-serving staff.

“You also get to try out really elaborate recipes. And you get to see people enjoy what you’ve produced and the delight on their faces,” she says. “It was great fun.”

Homemade gifts

Many of Simpson’s gifts to neighbours and friends are ones she’s made herself. She cooks up jellies using berries harvested from bushes on her property, and bakes fudge using locally produced maple syrup.

This year, she pulled out the sewing machine to make a felt Christmas stocking for her grandson. Last year, she used up a bunch of scrap wool and yarn donations from friends to knit up one scarf for every member of her family.

“I made everybody a scarf in the colours of their favourite foods. So it was oatmeal and brown sugar for my youngest grandson; my husband likes blueberry crisp so his was blue; my sister is a salad freak so hers was green. You get the idea,” she says.

The scarves were fun, practical, handmade with love and came with a story to tell.

“I re-used my scraps of wool, and everyone laughed their heads off about it because I am one of the world’s worst knitters,” Simpson says.

Something from nothing

If you’re determined -- or forced -- to spend absolutely nothing on gifts this Christmas, Simpson says it can be done; the trick is all in how you present your gift.

There are lots of gifts which cost next to nothing, but as an avid gardener, one she loves involves old nylons. Cut into strips, discarded hosiery can be turned into stake ties for tomato and bean plants, she says. Wrap them up with a bow and pop them in a basket with some seeds and a few other gardening supplies.and you’ve got a great gift.

Simpson also likes to make fire starters using dryer lint. Yes, dryer lint. Stuffed into a festively painted toilet paper roll, the lint makes “the best kindling you can imagine.” Wrap the rolls up with a bow and anyone with a fireplace or wood stove will thank you, she says.

Regift

Simpson recommends doing away with the notion promoted by ads and magazines that tell you that you must buy new.

“There is nothing shabby at all about regifting something that doesn’t suit you or that no longer has a place in your home and passing it along so it can have another life,” Simpson says.

If you don’t feel comfortable regifting in your own circle, she suggests donating unused items to a seniors’ home or to a rummage sale for charitable causes.

“The worst thing you can do with a gift that does not suit you is to stick it in your drawer where it truly will be of no use to anyone and leave it there for 30 years for your kids to have to get rid of,” she says.

Make your own wrapping paper

Simpson long ago stopped buying wrapping paper, deciding it was far too wasteful and not nearly as much fun as making her own. Now, she uses old newspapers, paper bags and makes potato paint stamps to print out her own fun paper.

If you must buy, choose gift cards for local businesses

If you feel a regifted or homemade gift is not enough, Simpson suggests a gift card instead of a trinket that will contribute to someone else’s clutter.

But before offering a chain store card, Simpson suggests considering a local restaurant or retailer. Most offer some kind of gift certificate and it’s a good way to introduce friends to a place they might not have otherwise discovered.

“It’s buying something, but it’s really just a different version of buying the gift of service,” she says.

Be gracious when accepting clutter

For those committed to living with a lot less, the holidays can be tricky, as well-meaning friends offer gifts you really don’t need. Is it better to decline these items? Absolutely not, says Simpson.

“Sometimes your unkindness of thwarting someone else’s efforts to give is a greater harm. Since kindness always trumps unkindness, sometimes you are going to have to bend,” says Simpson who is now an ordained minister.

There will always be relatives and friends who think minimalism make no sense. Even Simpson’s own father was baffled when she gave him a hand-painted watercolour for his birthday during her year of buying nothing. But though it’s hard for some to understand the desire to live with less, Simpson says it’s really not for us to try to teach them or reject their gifts.

“You do not have the right to be ungracious, or unkind to someone even if you think it’s for a good cause,” she says.

“This is a time of year when kindness is the greatest gift.”