Black Friday

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by Bob_VT

Brian ....... you are making it sound like ANY fuel use is no good.

I never said that, Bob. I only said that the poster's statement that shopping online uses no fuel was inaccurate.

Originally Posted by Bob_VT

If you do not shop on Black Friday how do you save resources when you do shop for holidays?

Buy Nothing Day isn't so much about saving resources as it is an exercise in 2 things:

1) Thumbing our noses at the entirety of gluttonous consumerism which, by proxy, screws up all of the retail forecasting for the holiday season as it is based on Black Friday sales.

2) Having a personal epiphany that most of us do indeed actively spend money each day of the year, and that we simply do not need to. Going for 24 hours without actively spending a penny is something most of us have never done. Think about it... no Starbucks, no eating out, no online shopping, no retail shopping, no grocery shopping, no beer runs, etc... just for 24 hours. How hard can it be, right?


To expand on your second question, we do what we can to conserve resources throughout the holidays. From a mostly local and totally organic Thanksgiving to only spending a maximum of $50 on each other for Christmas, to getting each other and the children well-made and durable goods, combining shipping (the only thing we ship is the gifts for my children, who live with my first wife), reusing gift wrap and boxes, etc. As an example of the kinds of gifts we give each other here is what I received from my wife last year:

- Hand-crank flashlight so that I don't have to buy disposable batteries for my old Mag-Lite anymore

- Hand-crank radio with NOAA channels in addition to FM/AM, and a port for using the crank to charge cellular phones

- Dryer balls that are good for 500+ uses, negating the need for harmful fabric softener or dryer sheets

- A multi-blade sharpener so that I can keep things like knives and scissors sharp long past their expected service life. This has already saved one knife and 2 pair of scissors from the landfill.

- An autographed copy of a book that a local associate of mine wrote on permaculture gardening



Here's what I got her:

- 2 cute all-metal bookmarks so that she doesn't have to go through the short-lived paper ones from the library anymore

- A flower and leaf pressing kit which has already netted 3 beautiful additions to our wall decorations

- Some beautiful candles made locally from bees wax, and hand decorated by a lady I know

- A hand-made glass candle holder from a local artisan

- Some leather driving gloves so that she can be more comfortable in the mornings, as a reward for her agreeing to no longer perform a warm-up idle

- A small wooden bird feeder kit because she loves Hummingbirds, which came from a sustainable forestry project and included soy-based paints

- A gorgeous coffee/tea cup carved in granite from a local quarry



I already know what I'm getting her this year, too. I can share it here as she doesn't read these boards:

- A special kind of fruit jam that she loved as a child and has not seen since her family left South America when she was quite young. I found a local farmer's wife that produces it in small batches each year, and reserved 2 jars for her last Spring which I can pick up shortly after Thanksgiving.

- A glass tea set made by a local artisan, which I will combine with these totally neat hand-sewn "blossoming" tea flowers that a local lady creates and sells at the Fall craft fair on the Indian reservation.

- An ornate toe ring made by a local artisan from silver mined locally in Virginia City that she's had her eye on since Summer.


I have asked for a credit card and money clip that I spotted in Virginia City last Summer (at the same place she spotted that toe ring) which is also made by a local artisan from silver that was mined locally. This will come in handy as I don't use a wallet anymore due to it hurting my lower back and sciatic nerve, but keeping things in my front pocket causes the magnetic strip on things like credit cards and drivers licenses to quickly wear out and become unusable. It is priced at $49 so it will likely be the only thing I get this year, and I am fine with that as I don't need much.