Saturday, January 22, 2011

Green, Money Saving Gift Giving Ideas - Part #4

This post is part 4 in the series. Each post contains 2 green gifting ideas. Click here for part 1, here for part 2, and here for part 3.

Green, Money Saving Gift Giving Ideas
10 Gift giving ideas that will save you money, reduce waste and save resources.

7. Bake or cook something yummy from your garden or from a farmer’s market
For those of you with a garden or who make regular trips to the farmer’s market, make a yummy, organic, healthy treat to give. In the spring, the garden and market overflow with organic strawberries and raspberries. Around here blackberries grow wild everywhere and are even considered a nuisance, but that’s free food! In the fall, pumpkins are on every corner and are even pretty easy to grow in your own garden, compost pile or flower bed. Go berry picking or to the pumpkin patch and then make a pie to give. What’s better than giving something as practical as food and as yummy as a pie? You know the recipient will love it and when it’s used there’s nothing to find store on a shelf or in a closet and it will never end up in a landfill.

8. Shop at a used book store or thrift store
Used book stores have to be one of my favorite places to shop! There are so many treasures hiding on those shelves! I usually scour the clearance sections several times per month and pick out the books that are still in near perfect condition. I’ve found books that still crack when you open them, so they are absolutely as good as a book in a new book store. And because everything is much less expensive I can give a lot more books for my gift giving dollar. I’ve found whole series’ of books for just a few dollars that were in perfect condition. And once again, by buying something second hand I’m not contributing to the creating of a new product that uses our earth’s resources. That makes me feel good!

Thrift stores are a great place to shop as well. The trick to shopping in a thrift store is to take lots of time to inspect every item for any flaws. Some items may have rips or tears or stains, but if you spend the time to weed these out you are left with awesome deals. As with the used books, I’ve found new items in thrift stores: clothing that still has tags on it, shoes that have never been worn and household items that are still wrapped in their original plastic. And all of these items were sold to me at a fraction of the original cost. Thrift stores are not places where you can just run in and grab something, but if you have the time and take the time you can find some real gems.

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