Clutter-Free Shopping Ideas

Photo by Yuriy Trubitsyn

With another Thanksgiving behind us, the Black Friday shopping deals are in full swing and boy is it hard to resist buying a bunch of things I don’t need. The week before Thanksgiving, I love looking through the “leaked” Black Friday ads even though I have no intention of stepping into any stores this weekend.

Instead, I made a list of a few things we’ve been waiting to buy and Friday morning, I pull out my laptop and buy them online. Then I hang out with the family the rest of the day. We desperately need a new computer and I’ve been eyeing an internet connected thermostat to add to my “smart” home. There are definitely some good deals to be found this weekend but I really hate the madness that I see on the news every year on Black Friday.

Anyway, I thought I would give a few suggestions for gifts this season that don’t require you to stand in line at 4 am and won’t fill your house with more clutter. Note that some of the following links are affiliate links.

1. Everyone (I hope) uses Soap. There are all kinds of unique options from locally made goat’s milk soap to the girliest of stuff available at the mall. Here’s a couple.

   • For Men:
     
     • Duke Cannon makes manly soaps in “big-ass bricks” with names like “Smells Like Victory”. Aside from soap, they also sell shaving cream, shampoo, lip balm, and the ever popular “Bloody Knuckles Hand Repair Balm“.
   • For Women:
     
     • I can’t give any personal recommendations here, but I see Amazon is having a sale on “luxury beauty” items right now. You could go for some mineral bath salts, or look around for something locally made.

2. An Audible subscription from Amazon is a great gift for a book lover especially if, like me, they spend a lot of time in the car. The cool thing is that now, for many books, you can switch back and forth between reading and listening without losing your place.

3. I love Coffee. I’m thankful that in my small town I have two great options for buying it. Check around where you live and you can probably find something locally roasted. If I buy it online, I love to buy Mystic Monk Coffee. Roasted by Carmelite monks in Wyoming, the money raised goes toward their living expenses and charitable works. It’s also delicious. They have a variety of flavored coffee (my favorite is Royal Rum Pecan) as well as teas, chocolates, mugs, coffee brewing equipment, and religious gifts.

4. Depending on where you live, there are likely some locally made products that you can get to put together a gift basket of consumable products. Here in Michigan, I love to buy jams, honey, coffee, wine, beer, etc. I can find a lot of it at the grocery store but farmer’s markets and specialty shops are another good place to find things like that.

5. Experiences always make a great gift. Give them something they can tell a story about for the rest of their lives. Have you ever been on a hot-air balloon ride? My wife lined up one for us to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary many years ago and it was a lot of fun. To reduce the amount of toys coming into our house at Christmas time, we ask my in-laws to buy us gift certificates for different hotel/resorts. Usually it’s for a hotel with a water park and we use it in January or February when it’s cold outside. Other suggestions along this line would be gift certificates for a movie theater, an indoor rock-climbing place, a shooting range, or an amusement park. The list goes on and on.

6. Don’t forget the most valuable thing you could possibly ever give someone: Your Time. Gift certificates are fine but they can’t replace you. Here’s an idea. Get someone an experience gift certificate, and then go with them.

   That’s it for now. If I come up with more, I’ll let you know. Thanks for reading and good luck if you’re shopping this weekend.

   I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.

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