I put my new thinking to the test over the holidays while we were on vacation in Oregon. We spent ten days with family in the town I grew up in which has struggled over the years to survive. It's a small rural community with a population of around 4,000. There are new chain big box stores (with exception of a Safeway and a few 'name brand' gas stations) and you have to drive 20 miles to find the nearest shopping mall.
I boycotted Black Friday this year. I couldn't come up with ONE thing I felt my family or I "needed" and I wasn't interested in fighting the weather (it was very cold and majorly blustery), wasting gas and bumping elbows with people just to "find out" if I was missing anything major on sale. Nix! Nah! Nope! Didn't wanna do it!
Instead, my mom and I shopped "local" - very local! We picked two antique stores (aka junk shops) and spent a few hours picking through some great things that took us down memory lane at times and provided awesome entertainment. I ended up 'investing' in my little home town economy a couple of different times. How fun it was. Some of my 'finds' were:
-beautiful yardage for quilt making (no sales tax! Woohoo!) at well under the regular retail prices
-some fabulous old postcards with postmarks dating back to 1910!! These will make wonderful Valentine's Day cards and the like
-vintage glass - collectible which I may keep or sell for profit
We went out to dinner for New Years and I saved money by sharing a meal with my daughter. We were both stuffed! Go figure!
We used gasbuddy.com to find the cheapest gas along the drive home.
This last week I did some shopping - 99c Store of course and Eco-Thrift. My grandsons were with me and they entertained themselves at the stuffed animal bin for almost 45 minutes. Eight (8) stuffed animals for 99cents! They were in heaven!
We went to the movies - matinee of course - bought my tickets online and earned movie points. We shared a large popcorn and large drink between the three of us and were stuffed when we left! I got an invitation for movie premier next week while in line at the concession stand! Yeah! Free movie for two!
I cashed in points on Swagbucks for two $5.00 gift cards to Amazon.com - I coupled those with a gift certificate from my sister and her family and was able to pick up four items off my Wish List - free shipping!
I didn't renew my Franklin Planner pages this year - extra paper and too expensive. I found a 16 mth pocket calendar that is purse sized and a small lined notepad for 'to do' lists. I'm training myself to use my "smart phone" calendar and notepad with alerts, etc. We'll see how that goes.
What I managed to bring 'new' in the house was balanced out by a trip to Goodwill this weekend dropping off some "old" (but still usable) items. I like Goodwill as they do not charge sales tax and any 'donations' you make help support employment and other training programs for the community.
I am looking forward to my new "Year of Jubilee" and all that it is in store. I'm moving forward with the pretense that frugal is good, free is fabulous but not at the expense of waste to my time, my resources or the environment.
I encourage you to subscribe to my Get Your Green Jeans On blog and join my endeavors for more responsible consumerism.
Cheers!
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