Friday; November 27

I am curious to see how Black Friday is going to work out this year. Traditionally, this is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, but in the midst of the pandemic, it remains to be seen how it with play out. Many of the stores and online retail outlets have been preparing for the day by advertising special deals of an extended period of time. While the logistics of shopping may have changed, one thing I know for sure is that virus or not, we’ll still be buying a lot of stuff in preparation for the Christmas season.
It would be hypocritical of me to criticize someone else’s shopping this time of year, but the other day I got to thinking about gift-buying and came up with a few suggestions for this year:

1. Buy something someone can use. If you are like me, you have probably purchased something just because you needed to buy a gift, not because someone else needed or wanted it. Rather than merely buying something to meet a quota, let’s be thoughtful shoppers – and if we can’t find something they need, there is no shame in buying nothing at all.

2. When buying for ourselves, make room for it before buying another one. I have a room full of old laptops and electronics that I don’t use, so they just take up space. I am not opposed to upgrading stuff, but maybe we should be asking if there is a way to donate what we aren’t using to someone else before getting another one for ourselves.

3. Consider making memories rather than buying stuff. Most of us have enough “things”, what we could use is quality time spent doing things with others. This may be most needed by children and older people. They may never tell us directly, but they may be more impressed by our presence than by our presents.
Happy Shopping! Stay safe and be smart!

Think About It!

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