Buy Local – How Spending Money Locally
Benefits You & Your Community
Sure, the convenience of those big-box stores is nice because you can
get almost everything you need (and a bunch of stuff you don’t, if
you are anything like the average person – myself included) in one
place, but do you know where your money goes after you give it to the
clerk? It heads right back to the big-box headquarters, paying out
giant bonuses and perks to the bigwigs while leaving the workers to fight for
minimum wage and meager benefits.  I fight the urge to buy everything at the
big-box stores as much as the next person, because of convenience and price, but
when I think about where my money is going it does make it a little easier to
try to search out smaller shops.  When I lived in New Mexico, I lived in a very
small town where most of the stores and restaurants were locally-owned, and I
tried to make it a point of buying from them instead of driving the 63 miles to
the nearest Target Superstore. (There was a Walmart in my town, but I never shop there
for reasons I won’t get into here and that you guys have heard before) 
Sometimes it took going to 2 different stores to find what I needed, or spending
an extra $.50 over the price it would have been “down the hill”, but it was
worth it because there was a local human behind the storefront.

These people worked very hard to keep their small businesses alive in
town, and as a resident of the town, I wanted to support them as much as I can.
And even though I now live in a major city again, I still prefer to patronize an
independent coffee shop or diner when I can, so that I know my money is staying
in my community and benefiting my friends and neighbors.


There are several reasons why supporting local small businesses is so
important for our communities:

1. When stores are kept in business, it keeps jobs in
town.  That might not seem too important to you if you live in Los
Angeles or NYC, but in small-town America, every job counts. Believe me, I have
seen it first-hand.


2. Money spent in your town in a local small business usually stays
in town.  It goes into the local bank, where it is loaned out to local
residents, and it circulates within the local economy. Money spent at the
big-box stores leaves town immediately and goes to the headquarters of said
company, never to return to the local economy again.  One 2004 study found that for every $100
spent at a local businesses, $68 remained in the community versus $43 for chain
stores. That’s a big difference.


3. You get better customer service from small businesses.
Have a problem with something you bought?  Walk in and talk to the guy that sold
you the product.  Try getting someone to truly care at Target or Walmart!


4. It keeps your community alive. Instead of having a busy big-box store down the street and empty store-fronts lining your downtown, keeping local business owners “in business” keeps your town alive and kicking. If Taos, NM didn’t have a local economy, the town would not exist. Period. We had 1 Walmart and 1 Applebees there (other than
fast crappy food); the rest were privately owned stores, restaurants, dry
cleaners, coffee shops, etc. Starbucks?  Yea right – thankfully we had 4
independent coffee shops selling great coffee to locals and tourists alike. 
Keeping the economy alive also helps with local events, which small businesses
are more apt to sponsor and support.  Big-boxes usually just take the money and
run.


Supporting local businesses is a way of living mindfully and giving
conscious thought to where you are spending your money and where it goes after
it leaves your wallet. Sure, there are times when I need to pick up a
few things at Target because I cannot get them at a small shop nearby, and
that’s fine with me. It’s getting harder and harder to find Mom and Pop shops in
big cities, but I do my best to try to support them.  Besides, I like
saying “hi” and knowing the face behind the counter.


Do you have a favorite small town store you frequent instead of just heading
to the closest big-box store?
This story is published by David from My Two Dollars

Consignment Shopping - Used is the New "New"Far from the experience it
was just a few years ago, consignment shopping has become a way to both save
money and save the earth.
Consignment
shopping, once thought of as embarrassing and shameful, has now become the chic
and fashionable way to shop. No longer do we have to hide and sneak our used
purchases from our friends and family. We can now hold our heads up high and
proudly exclaim to all the great bargains we have just acquired.

Back in
the day, consignment shops were dingy little stores with low lighting and dusty
merchandise. The tightening of the purse strings has led to an evolution of the
consignment business. Many of the new resale stores are more like boutiques.
These places usually accept only new or very gently used items that are
up-to-date and trendy. Items are usually priced at one-third of the original
cost. You can get a lot more bang for your buck.

Getting a bargain is
only part of the appeal of the consignment store. Not only do we save money and
get great things, we can also make money by taking in our clothing and furniture
and other items that we no longer use. Most resale shops give you 30-60% of the
selling price once your items sell. That's a lot of cash just for getting rid of
things that you no longer want!  To stretch that bargain even further, you can
then turn around and buy things that you DO want from the same consignment store
for a discounted price.

In addition to the bargains and the money,
another huge appeal is its impact on the environment. The state of the
environment is on everyone's minds these days. Everywhere you turn you hear
about reducing your carbon footprint and how to make things more "green". When
you buy and sell on consignment, you are doing your part to try to reduce the
amount of waste that ends up in our landfills. Why throw away a perfectly good
sofa or pair of jeans that you just purchased last year and are either sick of,
or they just don't fit anymore? Hundreds of thousands of tons of our unwanted
goods and gadgets gets thrown away each year. Recycling your unwanted items and
buying others' diminishes these numbers vastly.

Most importantly,
consignment shopping is fun and exciting! It's like going on a treasure hunt.
You aren't looking through rows and rows of the same boring stuff that you would
find in the malls. Most are organized by size, color or style. Each item that
you look at is different from the last. These stores often receive items that
were originally purchased from all parts of the world and somehow landed in your
neighborhood. You could be the only person on your block to own one of these
jewels.

There is no other place you can shop, earn money, be green and
have fun at the same time! You can find your local consignment shops by going
online or looking in your area yellow pages. They are so popular these days,
most cities and towns have them, and new ones are cropping up everyday.
By Buzzle Staff
Published:
8/27/2010