Skip Black Friday and go Eco-Friendly Instead

This post introduces the companies listed on our Special Offers Page. I received no compensation for this post ... I simply want to introduce you to companies doing their best to operate in an earth-friendly manner.

Every year, I hear about "Black Friday". Not about great bargains or companies offering folks a helping hand, but rather about customers physically fighting over a limited quantity of this year's "hyped" toy or people battling for position in lines, waiting for stores to open. Stories tell of greed and selfishness ... all for the sake of "stuff".

Ironically, this happens right after Thanksgiving, a day for family and gratitude.

I propose that we take a new approach and think outside of the box.

Gifts aren't always necessary

• Give the gift of time. Arrange a visit with your loved ones or spend an afternoon with nursing home residents who may not have family. Listen to an elderly person's stories of the past or take a walk with someone who doesn't get out much. Time is so much more precious than stuff.
• Invite your friends and family over for meal ... or prepare a meal for a person or family in need.
• Give a service. Offer to clean house, wash a car, or do the laundry for a loved one.

Create gifts with recycled materials

• Fill your mason jars with ingredients for a delicious soup, stew, chilli, etc. Don't forget to include cooking instructions.
• Use old jewelry to create unique Christmas tree ornaments or beautiful memento boxes.
• Turn scrap material into a lovely quilt.

Buy Eco-friendly gifts

• Look for items made with earth-friendly materials and minimal packaging.
• Shop locally.
• Buy quality items which will last.

Support Eco-friendly vendors

Click on image for exclusive offers
and discounts on Eco-friendly products.

By supporting companies who are trying to operate in an Eco-friendly way, we encourage all entrepaneurs to adopt "green" standards. To make that a bit easier, the following companies are offering Reduce Footprints' readers special deals on their products and services:

• Arcadia Power is offering a free month of clean energy.
• doTERRA wants to give you a free sample of Peppermint, slim and sassy or on guard.
• Ecoenstyle is offering 25% off orders over $75 and free shipping on orders over $50.
• ecolissa has a 20% off discount code for you.
• Gina Jordan's Soft Cloth Shop wants to give you 10% off any purchase.
• La Alicia is offering a discount code worth 15% off your order.
• La Francesca's wants you to enjoy a discounted Italian vacation.
• OneDayOneImage Photography has a 25% discount code for you.
• Oz Fair Trade is offering a discount code worth 15%.
• SolarProducts.ME wants to give you 10% off your next order.
• Tasha Hussey Body is offering a 20% discount on your order.
• Get 15% off The Ultimate Do-It-Yourself eBike Guide.
• Violet's Buds has a 20% discount code for you.

For details and discount codes, please visit the SPECIAL OFFERS page.

This holiday season, let's say no to Black Friday and make our gift giving truly thoughtful ... to those we love and to the planet.

Survey Results and 7 Tips For "Greening" Your Celebrations

January's poll took a look at the holidays and whether or not we were able to keep them green. Here are the results:

How Green Were Your Holidays

We only had 16 respondents which isn't really enough for a scientific consensus. However, I found the answers very encouraging. When asked similar type questions in previous surveys, people rarely indicated that they were doing great. This time, the majority felt that they were either extremely green or very green. No one failed and only a few felt that they dropped the ball mid-way through the holidays.

I believe that we are becoming more aware of our actions. We no longer succumb to advertisements which encourage us to celebrate at the expense of the environment. Traditions and green-living walk together to create wonderful family moments.

Can we do better? Of course! Here are some tips:

1. Plan to stay home. If you must travel, choose the most Eco-friendly mode of transportation possible. If flying (one of the least "green" methods of transportation), consider a daytime flight which is more Eco-friendly than "red eyes".
2. Encourage your guests to car-pool.
3. Prepare local foods and minimize the amount of meat served.
4. Avoid disposable items like paper napkins or plates.
5. Use CFL or LED lighting.
6. Decorate your table using natural items such as a bouquet of autumn leaves or a bowl of nuts.
7. If gifts are included, choose Eco-friendly items with minimal packaging ... or make gifts. Wrap them using recycled paper, beautiful scarves, towels or clothing (T-shirts make the most interesting wrapping).

Any celebration can be green. It just takes a bit of thought and planning.

What are your green tips for celebrations?


Sneak Peek: Money talks! Our next post will discuss voting for green, with our green!

Image courtesy of stockimages, / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Also posted at Natural Family Friday

Reduce Footprints Is Back!

Happy 2014 and welcome back to Reduce Footprints. I hope that you enjoyed the holidays, kept them green, and are ready for an exciting new year!

Before leaving for my hiatus, I asked you to give me your Reduce Footprints "Wish List": suggestions, ideas, and a general critique of the blog. Many of you obliged me with wonderful comments, which I have taken to heart. Here are the ideas which we are implementing this year:

Meet and Greet

The purpose of the Meet & Greet link-up is to grow our community, get acquainted with each other, and support green blogs and sites. It's also an opportunity to get a bit of blog visibility, both via visits from other participants and the possibility of a feature on Reduce Footprints. A weekly "party", however, doesn't seem to meet our goals. So, we're going to make this link-up a monthly event. On the second Monday of each month, we'll publish the link-up tool which will stay open for the entire month.

Recipes

I love food! I love vegan food! Rather than offer you a recipe once a month, we're going to search out yummy dishes and publish recipes more often. Some will be my own creation and some will come from "guest chefs". If you have a vegan recipe which you'd like to share, please drop me a line (reducefootprints@gmail.com). And, as always, you'll find all of the recipes which we've published on the Recipes Page.

Images

Awhile back, I joined a photography club. Participating in discussions on how to improve our skills taught me a lot and encouraged me to see the world differently. Spending a day in nature with a camera and capturing the details which I notice is, for me, pure pleasure. Unfortunately, that pleasure doesn't seem to translate into images for this blog. Go figure! That said, I will make an effort to offer you interesting images with posts.

Holistic Nutrition and Wellness

This year we're going to discuss holistic nutrition and wellness, and how it ties in with green living. Stay tuned ... it should be fun!

Reviews and Special Offers

Some of you enjoy these pages ... others don't. Since some people find them helpful, and because I believe that supporting Eco-friendly products, services, and companies is an important element of living green, I'm going to keep these pages going. It should be mentioned, however, that the greenest option is always NOT buying. But when purchases are necessary, they should be as Eco-friendly as possible. My goal is to give you additional information about products which you might be thinking about ... and to offer you discounts, freebies, etc. Click on the tabs above to visit both the Reviews and Special Offers pages.

Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)

We'll continue with our weekly challenges, hopefully finding new and unusual tasks to perfect our green-living efforts. If you have a challenge which you'd like us to take on, please let me know. The CTWW page contains the current challenge as well as previous activities and also offers tips and ideas.

Guest Posts

I will continue to accept guest posts this year. Green living is a vast, complex topic. Listening to people "speak" on their area of expertise broadens our understanding of the issues. At the very least, it gives us something to think about.

On Being Vegan

Many of you have expressed an interest in my vegan life. So this year I'll share more about how I became vegan, why I chose to do so, and how it works in my day to day activities. I'll talk about eating out, traveling, food choices, etc.

As always, I thank you for your ideas and suggestions. This should be a fun year.

Okay, let's get things started with a poll. I'm curious about how green your holidays were. Did you avoid waste or was your bin a little too full? Did you burn fuel traveling or did you conserve by staying close to home? Did you give Eco-friendly gifts ... or perhaps, avoid gift giving? Did you eat local foods or indulge in delicacies from across the globe? We want to know.

Please answer the poll and then, using the comments section below, elaborate on your answer.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Sneak Peek: Children are our best environmental hope. Our next post discusses a charming way to encourage them to live a green life.

Images courtesy of Sura Nualpradid & Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net