Dan and I took a week-long vacation recently to visit family and friends in Maryland and Virginia. Of course, when we travel we try to do as much as possible unchained. On this trip we stayed with friends in Maryland and family in Virginia. When you stay with people who don’t always hold to your unchained values, we can run into some problems. Sort of like a vegetarian who travels… Continue reading | 2 Comments
Archive for the ‘Shopping’ Category
Unchained Vacation – Viriginia and Maryland
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
After Christmas Sales
Sunday, January 10th, 2010Dan and I just got back from our after Christmas sales shopping sprees. We went to our two favorite clothing stores in town. For me, it’s Orange Blossom, a wonderful women’s boutique with stylish clothes, great service, and great sales. For Dan, it’s The Town Squire, a traditional men’s clothing store conveniently located two doors down from Orange Blossom with high quality clothes and incredible customer service. (They… Continue reading | 2 Comments
The True Meaning of Christmas
Saturday, December 19th, 2009It’s almost Christmas and Dan and I have NOT succumbed to the shopping frenzy. But that’s really not new this year for us – we have never indulged in the Christmas shopping frenzy that has taken over America. We have always exchanged a few Christmas gifts depending on our economic status of the time, which usually isn’t much since I work in the non-profit world!
And last night as… Continue reading | 1 Comment
Subversive Shopping – Or How to not buy from Corporate America
Thursday, December 10th, 2009As our year of living without chains has progressed, I’ve become equally disenchanted with corporate America and the mass quantity of goods they are foisting on us with the hopes that we will continue this vicious cycle of needless consumption that has taken over America. And of course this is now on my mind more than ever due to the Christmas season.
While it may seem crazy and hopeless… Continue reading | 1 Comment
Shop Local – Support Cleveland’s Montessori Kinder
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
Wow! What a great concept. Between the dates of November 14 and November 21 if you shop at the following locally owned stores in Cleveland you will not only get a discount on your purchase, but that discounted amount will be donated by the store to Montessori Kinder International School! Awesome! We all know how important it… Continue reading
Christmas Is Coming — and with It Junk Mail Catalogs
Monday, November 9th, 2009I know Christmas is just around the corner because the slow trickle of junk mail in the form of the Christmas catalog is coming in the mail. Slow because since we don’t use catalogs, we don’t receive many. But the average household receives many a Christmas catalog each day which accumulate and then are thrown in the trash.
A few years in a row I purchased Christmas floral gifts… Continue reading
A Saturday of Shopping in Independent Stores
Sunday, November 8th, 2009Saturday was a typical errand day for me, just like a lot of women in America. Off work and that means I have lots of shopping errands to complete. But my shopping experience is about as different as it gets from the average American housewife who spends her bucks in chain stores and may never step foot in a locally owned store in her town.
[caption id=”attachment_505″ align=”alignleft” width=”150″… Continue reading | 2 Comments
Our Day at the Nashville Farmers Market
Saturday, October 17th, 2009This is how I know we’ve changed over the last ten months of our experiment of not shopping or eating in chains.
Dan has been bugging me to go to Nashville on one of his rare weekend days off and we finally hit a day when we both didn’t have work commitments. Since I’ve been to Nashville many times, I said, “Go to their tourism website and decide what… Continue reading | 1 Comment
Shopping in Chains – Cheap or Not Cheap?
Monday, August 3rd, 2009For the most part, I find it easy living the unchained life. It’s hard to believe its been seven months since we started in January!
One of the things people ask me is “don’t you find it expensive?” They are of, course, referring to the fact that I’m not shopping at the discount stores like WalMart, Target, Big Lots, TJ Max, Tuesday Morning, etc., that have taken over our… Continue reading | 1 Comment
Shopping Local at the 5 Points Farmers Market
Sunday, July 12th, 2009It’s not everyday that you can say that your work and your personal life completely converge, but yesterday that happened for me when the 5 Points Market was launched at the Museum Center at 5ive Points here in Cleveland, TN.
It’s also not often that a history museum gets to be the site of a farmers market. But thanks to our great downtown location and… Continue reading | 1 Comment
