10 Ways to Survive Black Friday (and Beyond!)
10 Ways to Survive
Black Friday
(and Beyond!)
As a Professional Organizer, I spend my days helping people decide to get rid of stuff they no longer want or need. The relief they feel when they lighten up and let go is immeasurable. So this year, why not think a little differently?
This year, why not think a little differently?
1. Buy Nothing.
The day after Thanksgiving is also National Buy Nothing Day. If you have the day off, resist the urge to hit the mall, and do something meaningful with the family instead. Go hiking or bowling. Help a family continue to dig out from their ruined home. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or hospital.
2. Gift Cards are Great!
If you do want to buy gifts for family, friends, teachers, and other wonderful people in your life, consider VISA/MC/Amex gift cards or gift certificates to a favorite restaurant. Also check out www.SpaFinder.com and www.WellnessPossibilities.com. On the former, the giver determines the amount of the gift and the recipient can choose the location and type of service. The latter works in a similar way, only the recipient is able to choose from a network of service providers ranging from Acupuncturists to Work/Life Balance Coaches.
3. Make Memories, not Credit Card Payments.
Consider gifts of experience instead of just another trinket to put on a shelf or sit in a closet. Great ideas are tickets to a show or an event, membership to a museum, or taking a day trip to a special location.
4. Think Low-Tech.
Kids don’t really need (or even want) all the expensive molded plastic toys and electronics they receive (despite what they tell us). When my daughter was younger, she was constantly receiving Barbie dolls. Know how they wound up? Naked and headless in a heap on the floor of her room!
Of course it’s fun for kids to open a package with their name on it, and it’s fun for adults to watch them with hopeful anticipation, but how many times do they open the gift and then play with the box?! Personally, I think board games are a cool gift. They don’t cost much, aren’t electronic, won’t mess up kids’ eyesight or cause repetitive stress injuries to their thumbs, and encourage social interaction. When the kids outgrow the games, they can donate them to a place where others would be able to enjoy them, provided the games are still in decent condition, of course. In our house, we’ve recently developed a taste for Clue. Mrs. Peacock in the Dining Room with a Rope!
5. Get Grounded, Look Within.
I think there is a definite trend toward back to basics, buckling down, and expressing our core values.
- What do we really need?
- What do we really want our lives to be like?
- What do we value?
- Are we living according to those values?
- What can we live without in order to create the deeply fulfilling lives we want?
Ask yourself these questions before blindly running to the mall and buying the latest gadget. I’m hearing that this economic climate is motivating people to derive comfort and support from their religious beliefs and cultural practices. Now that’s quite a gift, especially for a child. It’s free and relatively easy – it just requires a little extra effort. It may mean checking out books from the library (also free!) on one’s own religion/culture or on a culture one would like to learn about, then investing time to read them. It’s the gift of understanding one another, a gift one can give to the world. It might mean attending religious services once a week or trying a different house of worship or denomination. Create a new tradition with your family. Sounds simple? It is. If you do have a budget for gifts, consider a donation to wherever you worship or practice.
6. Think Altruistic, Go Green.
One of the teachings of many religions is to help others who might not be as fortunate. This holiday season, rather than spending money on “stuff” that accumulates on shelves and in closets, basements, and attics, think of people out there who could benefit from a hand up. Many people affected by Hurricane Sandy and the subsequent nor’easter would really appreciate the opportunity to rebuild their lives. De-cluttering and not sure where to donate the goods? Visit www.justgive.org or call a Professional Organizer to facilitate the process. We are tapped in to a myriad of wonderful charitable destinations. Visit www.naponnj.org to find a PO in Northern New Jersey or www.napo.net for POs in other parts of the country. Another thought: make a donation in honor of the recipient to their favorite charity or a cause they believe in. Give a gift to the Earth. Plant a tree (visit www.arborday.com or www.jnf.org. Sponsor a farm animal to end hunger through Heifer International (www.heifer.org) or a similar site. Volunteer with a clean-up agency. Build a house with Habitat for Humanity. Think of the satisfaction you’ll get from knowing you used your time, energy, and financial resources to better the world rather than contribute to a landfill.
7. Shop At Home.
Hosting the kids and grandkids this holiday season? Go shopping in your house. If you’re considering downsizing in the near future, decide what furniture and keepsakes you might want to take with you, then ask family members to pick out/ID items they would like to have themselves. Their choices might surprise you. If the items are not in everyday use, have family members take their choices with them when they leave. If they are being used every day, earmark them by putting a colorful dot on or near the item, using a different color for each family member.
8. Cure the Paper Plague!
Catalogs are coming fast and furious in the mail. For anyone who already has issues with paper coming into the house, this is especially challenging. Those glossy pictures and “sales” look so enticing, but they are designed to make us part with money we don’t have to buy things we don’t really need. My advice: bring in the mail, sort out the catalogs, and immediately recycle them. Let go of feeling guilty over not even looking at them. Register on www.catalogchoice.com or visit www.greendimes.com to stop them from coming at all. If there really is something you wanted to order from a certain catalog, flip through it, pull out the page showcasing the item, then recycle the rest. Keep the pages in a folder, then schedule time to visit the websites. Set a timer to stay focused on gift ordering only.
9. Do a Talent Swap.
Got a talent for one thing and a friend has a talent for something else? Consider giving each other the gift of your talent and do a Talent Swap. It could be as simple as watching another couple’s young children at your house for a few hours so your friends can have an at-home date in theirs. Or say you love to organize but detest cooking, and your friend is an unofficial gourmet chef. Create gift certificates for your talents and swap them with each other.
10. Easy Seasons’ Greetings.
Got piles of holiday cards to send and little or no time to send them? Check into the services of a Virtual Assistant. The International Virtual Assistants Association says, “A Virtual Assistant (VA)… provid[es] administrative, creative, and/or technical services. Utilizing advanced technological modes of communication and data delivery, a professional VA assists clients in his/her area of expertise from his/her own office on a contractual basis” (see www.ivaa.org). Use a website such as www.SendOutCards.com to upload your contacts to the site, customize real paper greeting cards (100% recyclable), and create campaigns to send them. Another simple way is to send electronic greetings. They might not be as personal, but they save trees, cut down on post-holiday clutter, and ease the guilt of feeling like one has to save every greeting card ever received.
author
Gayle M. Gruenberg
Gayle M. Gruenberg, CPO-CD® is the Chief Executive Organizer of Let’s Get Organized, LLC, an award-winning professional organizing firm based in Bergen County, New Jersey. Gayle is the creator of the Make Space for Blessings™ system. LGO works with busy families to help them find more time, space, money, and energy and connect their lives to their core values through being organized.