My dear readers, I think I have finally solved the problem on this blog with leaving your comments. It's been confusing, because some people HAVE been able to comment, but others kept writing to me and telling me they couldn't, or they'd have to do it twice. The problem seemed to be that only people with google accounts or blogger.com accounts could easily leave comments, all others had to work too hard. So if you've tried to leave comments in the past and had trouble, PLEASE try again. I would love to hear from you and get your feedback.
Also, I've been talking a lot about gifts lately, how to stick with The Compact and be creative and buy used and that type of thing, but I also wanted to give another mention to Global Giving. It's one of my favorite charities, and it easily lends itself to gift giving. When you give someone even a small gift card for $10, they can go online and pick out how they want to help- there are categories like children, animals, disaster relief, HIV/AIDS, and several others- and then they choose a project like buying malaria nets for a family in Mali or purchasing schoolbooks for girls in Afghanistan who weren't able to go to school under the Taliban. It really makes people feel involved and part of the solution, and the money actually makes a real difference. Also, right now Global Giving is offering matching funds on their best women's projects, so your dollars will go twice as far.
Please tell me about your favorite non-commercial, non-consumer, non-material gifts...
About Me
- Angela
- On January 1st, 2009, I joined The Compact and pledged to Buy Nothing New for one year. It sounded like the perfect way to converge my desire to live on less money with my interest in living a simpler life and trying to lessen my carbon footprint. The experiment was so rewarding that I'm continuing with it indefinitely. This blog documents my journey in non-consumerism.
Blog Honors
6 comments:
I went to some local gardens yesterday and it made me think how nice it would be to get a year's pass as a gift, particularly the family pass as a couple's gift.
Same would go for museum or park passes.
And the extra benefit is that the proceeds go to support things like maintaining green spaces, art, historical artifacts, etc.
Yes- my mom gave my husband and I a membership to the Norton Simon Museum for the year. It's only five minutes from our house, and they have lovely gardens. And we can just pop in and look at a few of our favorite pieces of art anytime we like.
I think it's a brilliant gift, and as you said the money goes to support the museum, so it's all good...
Hey Angela,
Thanks for the shout out, and awesome description ofGlobalGiving. We appreciate your support and contributions!
On a personal note - here's a question for you - so what happens if a fundamental item in your life "dies?" Your refrigerator, car, ipod :)?
I like the concept a lot...
Donna @
GlobalGiving
Hi Donna-
Yes, I love what you all are doing at Global Giving. My family really appreciated the gift cards last Christmas.
Yes- that is one of the questions I'll be dealing with- which things just aren't possible to buy used. For example, I've been buying used cars for 30 years and with a lot of research and always buying Toyotas, I've been very lucky. I think you could certainly buy a used refrigerator. The iPod- that's something I talked about awhile back- you're taking a chance if you buy used electronics. So I guess the thing to do would be to try to get a hand-me-down iPod from a friend when they "upgrade."
It's not a perfect system, but I'm trying it out to see if I can do it for a year. Then we'll see about the long term...
Thanks for coming by!
Angela
Please tell me about your favorite non-commercial, non-consumer, non-material giftsThat's why I learned to knit. I needed a birthday gift for my grandfather. Grandfather lived in a small apartment (stuff bad), blind (can't see pretty things) but had all the useful blind stuff already. He was old enough to be cold a lot, so I learned to knit and made him a vest.
Anonymous- I just saw your comment. Thank you, and I love your gift of a vest for your grandpa. He must have put it on every day and thought of you and felt loved. That is so sweet.
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