Promote your book and accompanying DVD as a New Year package, if you can. It is perfectly consistent with new beginnings.

I bought some Corningware on Black Friday and was pleasantly surprised that there was NO plastic in the packaging! Cardboard only, separating all the pieces.

Last year I gave everyone (but the wee kiddies) charitable donations in their name, given as hand-made cards or paper items which represented their gift, and it was a big hit with family & friends. With so many people in the world (esp. my home state of NJ) not having any sort of Christmas at all this year, I feel selfish buying into the whole consume, consume, consume especially when I don’t NEED anything! So, expect more of the same this year.

Thank you. I make all of my Christmas gifts…nooooo shopping for me. Love your blog darlin’. So proud you sold out. And you have inspired my own life changes.

Thank you for an inspiring talk here in Port Townsend, WA last week! Today when I went for a walk on our pristine Puget Sound beach, I thought of you again because of everything that had washed up with the storms and high tides. I wrote about it here:
https://bikesbirdsbeaches.jimdo.com/2012/11/23/plasticity/

We are consumers by nature, but not maliciously. We eat, we use resources for housing, fire (heat, cooking), transportation (boats, shoes). I’m a Buddhist but I think the word mindful has lost its meaning. It has become too passive. We just don’t need to call living consumption just because the press does. We don’t need to become mindful consumers. We don’t need to think of ourselves as consumers at all. We will use things. The more we get connected again as neighbors, communities, the less we’ll feel comfortable consuming selfishly. I’ve been making my children’s Christmas presents since they were babies. They are 22 and 25 now and I have still made nearly everything I am giving them and the new boyfriend is getting cool t shirts from the thrift stores. Congrats on your book sales. I’ve started a business making softies out of repurposed clothing and hope to make this a living as well as just a way of life.

Freecycle https://www.freecycle.org), ususally organized by city or county, is another great way to pass along stuff that’s no longer personally useful, or to get stuff you need but don’t necessarily need to purchase new.

I refuse to shop on Thanksgiving because I don’t think we should be ruining another family holiday due to the commercialism of Christmas. I get irritated that everyone expects gifts for Christmas and birthdays. Feeling obligated to buy someone something takes the whole joy out of the gift-giving experience for me.

The Black Friday mayhem seems insane to me, and I’ve never understood the mentality. The stores use our competitive and impulsive nature to get us to buy a bunch of random garbage we don’t need. We thought about going out this morning to buy some specific items we’ve been wanting for awhile, but just decided to stay home.

Your blog brought the overuse of plastic to my attention, and initially I tried (and failed) to go plastic-free. Now, every time I shop I try to find minimal packaging, and choose cardboard over plastic. There are many occasions which I decide I don’t need an item due to plastic and/or excessive packaging, but occasionally I will cave. I also note what the item itself is made of, the quality (how long it will last), where it was made, if I need it & how often I’ll use it. If I’m not sure, I leave the store and give it extra thought over a day or so. Whether I’m making a responsible or an irresponsible purchase, I do it consciously and just try to find a balance.

I did the Black Friday thing for the first time last year, it was not worth it except that I ran into some of my favorite former students, so oddly, my biggest gain from Black Friday was totally immatterial. I always thought it was kind of silly to try to do “Buy Nothing Day” on Black Friday when no one would notice. I think there is such a thing as mindful consumerism and it is important, it’s a little self serving since my job is to make expensive electric cars, but you have to buy new sometimes, and when you do, it makes sense to know what you are *really* buying. It’s also a lot harder to always buy used, when I wasn’t working so many hours I was good about it, not so much any more. I’m hoping to work up enough energy to work in the garden and surf this year. I will need to buy bedding plants, so I think it will be a green friday, literally, since probably everything I buy will be the color green.

I am choosing not to spend the day at the mall today, because I can’t buy into the madness the is Black Friday. I do think there is mindful consumption. I think moderation is what we need to learn in our country, about everything! Oh, and don’t stress about the book – it would make an awesome New Years resolution item. We are also doing an Experience Christmas this year.

Beth, congratulations for selling out, in the best possible way of course.For years I have not celebrated any holidays and feel the family burden to buy something for someone. When I say i do not want anything I am looked at like a grinch, I just do not want stuff for the sake of stuff or someone’s guilty conscience.

Congratulations on selling out!

I’m still decluttering. Nothing new for us for Christmas if we can convince the relatives. We have decided to have an Experience Christmas. We are going to give each other experiences. Except the kids get new Canadian made Kamik rain & snow boots. I use frecycle lists to locate new-to-us toys and liberate ones we are done with.

When people threaten to give me an object I ask for artisan made earrings. At least they are small and likely metal. We go shopping for stocking stuffers at our food coop – splitting a few hundred dollars between us and buying everyone at least one food item for the stocking.

I am really bombarded this year with “Black Friday” messages. We don’t have Black Friday here. It sounds aweful.

If you have any Canadian readers who need your book, I have a few copies here! http://www.anarreshealth.ca/node/1502