Michael Rock’s Grandmother Was Green Before It Was Hip

I'm not a fan of cards.

The worst are Valentine's Day cards.

"Honey, here's a heartfelt feeling that means so much to me that I paid Hallmark $9 to write something nice about our relationship."

I tend to like Christmas cards because of the modern approach that personalizes them with family photos.

Birthday cards seem like a waste of money to me. I mean, any money that you drop on a birthday card for me, I'd rather have you add it into the spending on my present.  Kidding/not kidding.

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That's why I appreciated a great idea that my grandmother had years and years ago.

The concept of saving the planet was just getting warmed up when my grandmother came up with this idea that would save her from buying dozens of useless birthday cards.

Some time in the very early '90s, my grandmother quietly implemented a policy she had on birthday cards for my father. It was a tradition that would last more than 20 years.

Instead of going out and buying my father a birthday card, then tucking some money inside only to have my dad throw away the card and keep the money, my grandmother decided to start recycling the exact same card.

She'd watch my dad open the card and take out his money. Then, she'd put her hand out looking to collect the card back so that she could put it into a drawer so it would be ready for next year's birthday.

This practice went on for more than 20 years.

Imagine how many cards (and how much money) would be saved if every family put this into practice.