Your Stimulus Check - If You're Going to Spend It, Do it Locally

The other day I suggested in a post about buying locally that if you are intending to spend your stimulus check that you consider spending it locally. When you spend money at local businesses, much more of it stays right in your own community than if you shopped at nationally owned businesses.

We got our stimulus check later that same day, and my husband and I immediately started talking about all the ways we could spend it. When I mentioned that I thought we should spend a lot of it right in our town and its surrounding communities, he was willing to consider it. We haven't decided exactly what we're doing with it, but here are some ideas:

• Spend a lot at the farmer's market - don't just buy fruit and veggies, but spend some extra on local meats, cheeses, flowers, etc.
  
• Donate money or supplies (bought at a local store) to a local animal shelter
  
• Eat at independently owned, local restaurants
  
• Make the big purchase your eyeing - that tv, new frig, etc. - from an independently owned appliance or hardware store.
  
• Buy a piece of local art.
  
• Buy tickets, or a season subscription, to your community theater.
  
• Take a class at your local art studio, yoga studio or adult community center.
  
• If you happen to still have an independently owned gas station in your area, buy gas there instead of at the national station, even if it is 2 cents more a gallon.
  
• Buy something from the neighbor kid selling things for a school fund raiser.
  
• Take that thing you've been meaning to have fixed to a local repair shop finally or hire a local contractor to come to your house and do it.
  
• It's vegetable planting time, buy your plants locally instead of getting them from the garden center at a national chain.
  
• Hire someone local to prepare your vegetable bed!
  
• This week, May 5-9, is teacher appreciation week. Buy some treats from a local bakery and take them to the teacher's lounge at your kids' school.
  

I could probably come up with a much longer list, but my five year old is beckoning. But I'd love for the list to get longer, so please add to it in the comments. I'm especially interested from hearing from people who live in a city. I'm sure that there are many other ideas for spending locally in that environment.

Happy Local Spending!

Green Challenge Update

We're a little more than half way through our week. I can proudly say that I haven't taken a single plastic or paper bag. I've had a few cashiers look at me like I was some sort of crazy hippie. The girl at Target when I said I didn't want a bag for my DVD really didn't quite understand, but I left without a bag.

I'm also reading Affluenza. I'm not as far as I'd like to be because I'm also committed to reading another book (Chasing Daylight - it's amazing how these two very different books seem to be shouting some of the same messages to me). But in the first 50 pages, I've already learned an awful lot about consumerism in America and how explosive it has become. I'll do a book review when I'm finished reading the book.

So how is everyone else doing with your challenges. I know Allison checked in the other day in the comments. I'd like to hear from the rest of you.

Weekend Green Reading Roundup

Hi everyone - The farmer's market opened today! I'll have more about that in Monday's post. In the meantime, here are some things I've read in the past week that might interest you:

The Environment is What You Eat over at Planet Save - some information on the various eco-labels you find in the grocery store

Home Depot Stops Selling Harmful Pesticides...In Canada over at The Lohasian - but of course, not in America

Vegetable and Herb Gardens Fact Sheets and Bulletins over at Rutgers - a boat load of free downloadable pdf's with useful home gardening information

I know that's not a lot, but I'm trying to get through the book Affluenza in one week so there's not a lot on my online reading list.

The Importance of Buying Locally

When we were in Arizona, we spent the majority of our time at my sister-in-law's house. There wasn't any reason for shopping, except to run to the grocery store a few times to get food to feed the 25 or so people who were there every night for dinner. But one day, we took a drive out to see Montezuma Castle. 

On the trip out, we needed lunch and stopped at a local deli in a small town. On the ride back, we stopped at a roadside stand run by Native Americans for freshly cooked fry bread (yum) and to look at original art. I didn't buy any art, but if I had been struck by something, I would have. 

I'm a big proponent of buying locally, even when I'm not home. I think it's important that when you're somewhere, you contribute to their local economy. 

What good does buying locally do?

It stimulates the local economy - A  2002 study done in Texas showed that for every $100 that was spent in a chain bookstore, only $13 of it was put back into the local economy. But that same $100 spent at a local, independently owned bookstore put $45 back into the local economy. Think of that next time you're deciding to get your coffee from Starbucks or the local corner coffee house.

It helps locals keep their jobs - Most people who work in local businesses live locally. By buying from these places, you help your neighbors keep their jobs and that benefits your whole community.

Local businesses give back locally - Do you know who sponsors the little league and softball teams in your town? I do. The local corner coffee house, the corner bar, the independent ice cream parlor (is it beginning to sound like I live in Mayberry? Actually, I kind of do!). I also know who donates gift certificates and baskets when the PTA is holding an auction or someone is holding a beef and beer night to raise money for a local cancer patient. It's the same businesses who sponsor my sons' sports teams. By supporting these businesses, I help ensure that they can support the community.

It's good for the environment - Less auto emissions occur when you're going only a few blocks (you could even walk or ride your bike) for what you need that traveling miles away to a big box store. If enough people buy locally, it could actually prevent a big box store, which usually devours open space and requires new roads to be built, from infiltrating your community. 

If you're buying locally grown food, its really good for the environment because you're helping the small farmers to keep their farms operational instead of shutting down and selling to developers. There are so many reasons to buy locally grown food that I'll have to write a separate post.

It promotes a sense of community - If you want to get to know your neighbors and others in your community, supporting the local businesses is a great way to get to know others. Going into my local coffee house is like walking into Cheers. I know the baristas and they know my name, there's one guy who is always there who always knows more about what I'm talking about than I do (or so he thinks), I run into other stay at home moms during the day (there are more of us out there and happy about it than Hillary wants to admit!), and the coffee is really good.

Most of us are about to get our government stimulus checks (I'll give you a major shout out on this blog if you can explain to me where exactly the government is getting this money to give to us). The powers that be hope that people spend that money to help stimulate the economy. Now, I'm not saying you should spend this money, but I'm suggesting that if you do, you spend some of it right in your own community.

Challenging Yourself to Generate Less Trash

I've started writing for Naturally Savvy. Check out my article on Challenging Yourself to Generate Less Trash. I'll be doing an offshoot of my Primal Parenting column, Green Like Me, on Naturally Savvy monthly. I'll be sure to let you know when new posts go up.

This is Brilliant!

My favorite flowers are sunflowers. They just make me happy. Treehugger is reporting that today is International Sunflower Guerilla Day. Basically, all over the world, people will be going around to public places and surreptitiously planting sunflower seeds, then going back to water them periodically. 

How fabulous is this? My boys and I are definitely going to be doing a little guerilla flower-fare after school today.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Conserve!

Today is day one of our week long Mini Eco Challenge. If you've taken up one of my five challenges, it's time to start. And, if you want to join in, but haven't, just pick one and start today. Let me know in the comments section and I'll add you to our list on the side.

I've pledged to take NO paper or plastic bags, no matter what, this week. That means that if I forget my reusable bags, I will only carry out of the store what I can carry in my hands. I've also pledged to begin reading Affluenza. I've even got an hour of reading scheduled into my editorial calendar today (for you non-writers, an editorial calendar is simply a list of writing you must get done each day).

Do Good!