See entire November 25, 2010 newsletter

Black Friday? Make Yours Green!!!

Anyone who is a part of Mrs. Green’s world already knows that green is my new black. So allow me to give one big huge pitch for making your black Friday as green as possible.

My obvious first: buy from local stores whenever possible this holiday season. My friend Jim, who is the ULTIMATE comparison shopper, assures me that almost any locally owned business will match big box prices if given the chance. Won’t always work but lots of the time it will. (A short refresher on why this is a good thing: much more money stays in your local community, local businesses give back to charities, and you can actually talk to the owner if you need to! Gotta love that…)

My obvious second: even if you find you can’t beat that big box price and the budget can handle just so much, when you are out shopping, eat in a locally owned restaurant. This, too, builds healthy economic communities. Win/win/win.

My obvious and possibly most important third: please take your REUSABLE bags with you to EVERY store. They are not called reusable grocery bags! They work for everything. Be the trendsetter. Be the change. Be anything except a plastic bag user.  They are disgusting and still fly in front of my car all the time to remind me to rant again. Phew. I feel so much better.

 Other thoughts: Shop at resale stores (like Goodwill); give gifts of time and love; re-gift with caring and forethought; give a service; volunteer; high efficiency toilets; a fuel efficient car. Not sure how I feel about shopping online but if you can’t find something anywhere else, it does save gas and therefore CO2 emissions. And if you are sending gifts, shopping online takes care of the shipping AND packaging for you!

And of course, Mrs. Green would love for each and every one of you to support those sponsors and advertisers who make Mrs. Green’s World possible!