1. Find a BND event.
2. Do the obvious – hang with the family, have a cookie baking day, play games, go for a walk, plant a tree, play dress-up, sing, make some crafts, it’s a great day to find a family activity.
3. Go to a store, but not to shop, instead stick one of these up quietly.
4. Get started on a Buy Nothing Christmas. As BND advocates note, if a Buy Nothing Christmas is too extreme, try selling your family on, “A Buy Less Christmas. Or a $100 Christmas. Or a Regifting Christmas. Or a Green Christmas. Or a Slow-Down Christmas.”
5. Join the New Dream Community (all you need is an email). Once you join you’ll gain access to FREE booklets on the following topics:

• Tips for Parenting in a Commercial Culture
• Good Times Made Simple: The Lost Art of Fun
• Simplify the Holidays
• Back to School Buying and Action Guide
• Alternative Gift Fair Guide

Other good reads: 

• Give the gift of time this holiday season
• It’s not green Friday folks…
• Buy Nothing Day Tips
• Hypocritical me & the stuff issue
• Homemade Eco Gifts You Can Make for the Holidays!

November current events at Tree Hugging Family – themes, reviews, news, and more…

[image via Buy Nothing Day]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Your green challenge, for November 2008, should you choose to accept it, is…

To buy nothing on Buy Nothing Day 2008.

Steps to take:

1. Buy Nothing Day happens on November 28, 2008 for North America and on November 29, 2008 internationally.
2. This small action step challenge consists of you buying nothing on the big day.
3. Another action step you can take would be to spread the word, tell your friends and family. Convince at least one other person to ban shopping on Buy Nothing Day.

Difficulties with this challenge:

For some of us, Buy Nothing Day will be a snap. However Black Friday is seductive to many. Some people are going to have to use massive will power to avoid the sales. To help you avoid caving in, I’ll be writing posts during the month that discuss Buy Nothing Day, ideas for simplifying, how to avoid shopping temptations, and how to be a good green shopper when you do shop.

The end result: 

Of course this challenge is about avoiding Black Friday; but there’s more to the end result than simply that. Part of being an earth-friendly individual is lowering your overall consumption, and buying ethically when you do shop. While Buy Nothing Day is a good first step, it merely kicks off a specific sort of mind-set. It’s not about NEVER buying items, it’s more, in my mind, thinking before you purchase. What the eventual end result should be is a change in your overall thinking; a knowledge that there’s a difference between needs and want, and that living simply can be a worthwhile endeavor, both for you and the planet.

To get started:

1. Soon I’ll be posting about Buy Nothing Day – it’s history, the basic gist, and so fourth. Watch for that post.
2. Start thinking about what challenges you may face on Black Friday – what might make you head to the stores. Let me know so I can provide you with helpful ideas.
3. Start telling your pals. If you participate in Buy Nothing Day, that’s swell, but if you can convince someone else, well, that’s a double accomplishment.

Now, are you going to try and participate in the Buy Nothing Challenge this month? Let me know in the comments. I’ll have update posts all month, including a wrap-up post to see how everyone did.

November current events at Tree Hugging Family – themes, reviews, news, and more…

[image via Buy Nothing Day]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

My ideal answer to the question above would be, “Easy, I could just go.”

My main goal for New Years was to get rid of more stuff. Right now, I have more stuff still than I’d like. I’m not a pack rat or anything, I just do have stuff. Over 30 odd years it builds up. In my case a lot of my stuff consists of books, paper items like notes, saved articles and such, and art supplies. If Cedar and I were to pack it up and travel, we’d need a medium sized storage space (for both furniture and boxes). To me that’s too much. Lately I just want to simplify as much as possible.

I have been working on my goals though. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

Went through my files and recycled about half of my paperwork. I saved obvious stuff like tax and medical files and got rid of most of the rest.

Over the last few days I’ve been going through books. I have about 300 or so. Now I’ve set maybe 100 aside to sell at Powells Book’s. This has been really hard. I love my books, or did, I’m starting to feel confined by them though. It’s time to let go. I’m also going to give some away – the ones that are more used looking. In all I should end up about 200 books lighter.

I think I’m going to try and get my art supplies organized too – but I’m still working on a good solution. Because we homeschool, we do use them all, but I think I want less.

Lastly, soon, Cedar and I are going to go through his toys. While I’m not a pack rat, this kid sure is. He has tons of stuff.

If I bought an RV and Cedar and I took off, or wanted to backpack for a while, it would be easier with less stuff. Since that is in our future plans, it makes my goal easier to work on.

Here are some more resources about having too much stuff:

The hidden costs of too much stuff - MSN Money

Stuff Owns You

The awesome Story of Stuff video.

Two of the most influential books to me about stuff have been Your Money or Your Life and Into the Wild. I highly suggest both – although, I don’t necessarily suggest you take off for the wilds of Alaska quite like the kid in Into the Wild did, it’s still a good example of being less confined. They recently made a movie of Into the Wild – no where near as good as the book, but beautiful, here’s some musical inspiration from that flick.

So, how are your green New Year’s goals going?

Post from: Tree Hugging Family