s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g

So, this Holiday Season I've found myself buying a lot of stuff. I'm not a crazy consumer because well, I'm generally poor. But I've got a big list this year and several gift cards for my birthday to redeem.

One practical thing that I recently needed was a water filter. So I figured the best place to find one was Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It was a terrifying and vulgar place with horrible lighting. The "Beyond" part is like an outer ring of hell designed to make you feel really bad about the state of contemporary man. But the filter was cheap and made by a socially-responsible company... I think.

Between trying to figure out what purchases are socially responsible and dealing with the mania of actually going to the store, I'm tempted to just make everyone mix cd's. But I don't think my mom would really enjoy the new Timbaland. And I can't see my mom washing dishes humming along to Sigur Ros.
So I looked into it and found some some ways to shop responsibly with less headache.

1. What's with all the stuff, anyways? Why not buy someone the gift of an experience? Take someone to dinner, a play, or a movie. Plan it right, and the memory will last longer than whatever disposable thing you get.

2. Don't drive all over town buying stuff at a lot of stores. Try and find as many things as you can online through one supplier you trust. And select ground shipping- it's six times more efficient than overnight air shipping which means less pollution.

3. CD's are to the new millennium what cassettes were to the nineties- DEAD! Almost everyone's got an mp3 player now. So why buy someone a CD that they'll burn to their Ipod and then store away until it ends up in a landfill? Apple has just introduced a higher quality mp3 through it's ITunes Plus. (And the new shuffles are only 79 bucks. So if you know some poor, unfortunate shlub with no mp3 player, buy them one!)

4. etsy.com is a great place to shop for handmade things from suppliers and craftspeople from around the globe- clothes, jewelry, toys, art...You name it, it's there. And they have a great forum where you can connect with other buyers for advice and information.

5. If you're big on online shopping, what do you need the catalogues for? The websites will be more up-to-date with more recent sale prices. So go to Catalogchoice.org and cut down on the pollution and clutter. The service lets you select the catalogs you don't want to receive and within a couple of months, your mailbox will be empty of unwanted catalogs.

There's plenty of advice over at www.itsyournature.org & www.simplesteps.org. They've also got some pretty smart ideas about holiday food buying, energy-efficient holiday lighting, and conserving energy in the kitchen cooking all those casseroles, Jell-o molds and gingerbread men. Have a very Merry whatever you have, but please... if you must go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, drop a Xanax first.