Buy Nothing Day: An Eco-Stepper's Answer to Black Friday

Here it comes again... that day of post Thanksgiving, deal-getting, stuff-buying, early-bird-door-busting, trampling, gotta-have-it shopping.  For many of us in the United States, that day is known as Black Friday - the biggest and busiest shopping day of the year when many retailers give shoppers the "best deals" possible for the Christmas holiday season.  How can that be bad, right?  Well, our spending and consuming have reallly put us in a financial bad place.  The average American adult will rack up nearly $1000

 on his or her credit card during the Christmas shopping season.  For two adult households, that's $2000 in credit card debt.  To use Annie Leonard's terms, our Story of Stuff has now become our Story of Broke.   The good news is, each of us has control over how much we spend.  We can simply buy less.  Luckily there is an answer to Black Friday.  It's called  Buy Nothing Day. 

Voluntary Simplicity: Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich

 (Title Borrowed From:  Voluntary Simplicity: Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich) 

Mother Earth News

Lately, it seems that there are several recurring themes in the quest to live a fuller, more purpose-driven life AND be kind to Mother Earth at the same time by being less materialistic and less "stuff-focused."  One of these themes is Voluntary Simplicity.  It can be described many ways-- frugal, authentic, minimalist, and a whole host of other adjectives that fall under the umbrella of taking "eco-steps" to living better, being happier and helping the environment.  And while many may think that choosing to live a simpler, less complicated life means "giving up" or "going without," there is plenty of evidence out there to support the exact opposite.  

Stephen Colbert's Interview with Annie Leonard: The Story of Stuff

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Re-Run: Small Eco-Steps to Live Better, Preserve the Planet, Save Money and Be Happier

We hear it everyday: Reduce our carbon footprint, eat less meat, turn down the thermostat, put on a sweater, recycle, stop drinking bottled water. If we don't want to literally melt the Earth, we have to do all of these things, plus keep up with our jobs, our daily lives, running the kids here and there-- combining as many trips as possible to avoid emitting CO2. It can be overwhelming to mentally juggle all we already had on our daily plates, let alone throw some more "helpful" ideas to save our planet.

But does it need to be that hard? Well, in a nutshell, no. It does not. Let's face it, no matter where we fall on the "green" spectrum, there is always room for improvement! And that's where this Blog comes in. The objective here is to help people help themselves, help the planet and maybe get a little happier in doing so. So, here is a list of 10 small "eco" steps you can take to do your part for the environment. It's not long, and you can probably pick just one, maybe even two things for starters. But, if you're feeling bold, do them all. It can only help.