Take care of the Home Folks.
I like it.
I’m in.
That’s the great thing about the free market, you have the opportunity to make the choice.
I hate the holidays
Well...make sure to not buy CHINESE products rampant in your local stores also.
Yeah... Me and mine like to patronize local privetly owned restaurants instead of going for corporate food.. With the slight exception of Chick-fil-a.. :)
Your proposal is OK I guess.
Except that I cannot “get” a lot of the stuff I need locally. So, I have to get in the car and drive 40 minutes to the nearest asupplier—where they don’t have it in stock. They can “order it for me.”
And they probably will get it from Amazon and jack up the price 40%.
Does your plan include avoiding big box stores who have put the small local stores out of business too?
You see, the plan sounds good—but chances are you are not going to “save” anyone. The marketplace has spoken. It has spoken loudly.
Capitalism is a brutal master.
I quit buying gifts a while ago.. Everyone’s an adult and they don’t need anything..
So I make candy and send that.
We try to buy Made in America first and foremost.
The online stuff isn’t always such a great deal either.
I like being able to shop and see the stuff I’m buying so prefer brick and mortar stores but some things just can’t be had that way.
One thing that helps is that with stores, you can catch sales. Do your Christmas shopping all year long. Get an idea of what you want for each person and keep your eyes open for it during the year. Then by Thanksgiving, your Christmas shopping is basically done and you can go into the holidays with far less stress and you don’t have to fight the insane crowds in the malls.
My wife runs an online store. Her operation is apple pie.
Store fronts are very expensive. Her costs would be doubled.
The actual product is what is key. I only wear things that come from countries who at least like us.
Sounds very nice, but also very time consuming.
We really don’t do Christmas any more, regarding presents. We have the grandkids over and make stuff (if they are young). If they are older we go out for a meal some time.
The whole big deal about gift giving is more of a 20th century thing that has outlived its usefulness. We’re back to celebrating why the event exists in the first place.
My 2 cents:
I do that also but will not buy from any establishment where they refuse to say “Merry Christmas”.
Political correctness closes my wallet faster than you can say ‘happy holidays’.
In general, buying local and banking local is the best policy. Even if the goods are made overseas, the labor are the home boys so at least that money stays local.
i always try to buy local gifts. but my kiddos are grown women and know what they want.
We’ve always done that as we never had a budget that allows on line shopping.
We save our change for the year, kids as well, and put it in the “Christmas Jar”. In November we take it to the bank, find out how much is there and divide it up into envelopes. They draw names and we take a day to go to town and they pick out gifts for their secret Santa. It keeps Christmas low key and they all have reasonable expectations for gifts because they know the budget limitations. The most we ever had was just over $60/kid. No one wants any money spent on shipping;-).
When we are less strained financially I suppose I will face the temptation to shop online, but we use mostly cash anyway due to Dave Ramsey’s envelope system.
I never gave it a thought-we shop local almost exclusively year round. Homeschool curriculum is the exception.
My wife and I chatted and agreed about this over coffee. We already attend the Christmas festivals and plays, but will do all of our shopping brick and mortar this year. Speaking of Christmas plays, last year we attended an excellent one-man production of “A Christmas Carol” starring Charles Dickens GGGrandson, Gerald Roderick Charles Dickens. He travels about, performing this show and other Dickens works, and if you have the opportunity, definitely attend! It was excellent!
My wife and I chatted and agreed about this over coffee. We already attend the Christmas festivals and plays, but will do all of our shopping brick and mortar this year. Speaking of Christmas plays, last year we attended an excellent one-man production of “A Christmas Carol” starring Charles Dickens GGGrandson, Gerald Roderick Charles Dickens. He travels about, performing this show and other Dickens works, and if you have the opportunity, definitely attend! It was excellent!
I’m leaning toward making gifts as I can, buying American made from independent businesses be it local/drivable or online. Lots of great small in home manufactures/artists of all sorts of things that would make great gifts, clothes, household goods, foods.
Sure if you are wanting electronics or machinery and the like, or specific designers/makers items, than this idea likely won’t work.
My Husband does that every year.. Christmas is the only time of year he can stand people.
I can’t find what I want locally. Small area, limited shops. Ex. Galco holster. I shop exclusively on line but not much on Amazon..