Right, so Black Friday is here. Run to your cars, get in line at the mall and spend, spend, SPEND your money! Go wild!

It’s Black Friday, so everything and anything is a good deal, right, and everybody‘s going shopping, so you better shop too, right?

And if someone gets in your way and tries to snatch that 50-percent-off-on-a-box-of-junk offer before you, you better clock’em, ’cause you gotta fight for your right to shop! Right?

Well, no. Not really.

Calm down. Take a few deep breaths. Unclench your fist. Leave your credit card in your pocket for just a little while longer.

Don’t buy junk just because it’s cheap

That discounted thingy you’re about to buy isn’t a good deal just because it’s cheaper than normal today. The quality of stuff isn’t affected by how much you pay for it.

Junk is junk, regardless of price.

So, before you whip out your plastic, ask yourself this: Do I really need to buy this? Or am I just tempted to, because the lower price makes it seem like a good offer?

And if you come to the conclusion that you do need an item like that, is the particular item you have in front of you the right one? Will it last? Or will you have to buy a new one again when it breaks in a few months? Buying quality will save you money in the long run. And not having to get rid of broken stuff all the time will save the environment from tons (literally) of trash.

Stay safe

So, you’ve decided that the item you’ve seen advertised is something you actually need and that it’s a good quality item. To put it short: You want to buy it.

Good for you. No point in paying more than you need for something you’d have to buy anyway.

But please: Stay safe. And don’t put other people at risk.

Just last year, a Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death, a pregnant woman was hospitalized and two people were shot and killed in Black Friday sales frenzies.

That’s just … stupid.

There are plenty of things and causes in the world that’s worth risking your health for. Saving a dollar or two – or a thousand, for that matter – is not among them.

And, as for actually risking or hurting other people’s health to save money … I’ll leave it up to your imagination to figure out what I think about that.

If you want to avoid standing in line and don’t want to get trampled, but still want to take advantage of Black Friday discounts (on quality stuff, of course), you could check out Amazon.com’s Black Friday page.

Since that’s an affiliate link, you get to say that part of your Black Friday shopping went towards furthering environmental work (ie. towards the production of content for this blog) ;-D

No related posts.

If you’re tired of buying clothes that wear out in a matter of weeks or months, you might want to take a look at Howies.

They carry a line of clothes and bags with the focus squarely set on producing high quality stuff from eco-friendly materials and lowering the environmental impact of the whole chain of production.

Most of their products have a casual look, with a slight tilt in the direction of something a well dressed skater/snowboarder/cross country biker might wear.

My particular favorite part of their selection is their Hand-Me-Down products – which are made to last long enough that they may outlast you.

If you’re in the UK, they have shops in London, Bristol and Cardigan, but they ship worldwide from their website.

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