In my earlier post about how to have a green Christmas, I mentioned that I was going to be using Wal-Mart’s reusable bags as my go-to holiday wrapping this year. Well, I’d like to revise that statement a bit and offer up additional wrapping alternatives that don’t involve traditional wrapping means.

I wrapped one of my daughter’s Christmas presents in what looks like regular old snowman-themed paper, but it’s actually a flannel sheet, part of a set of flannel sheets I’m giving her as a present (I don’t mind telling her that part of the present). Here, I’ve used the flat sheet to wrap the present. (In case you’re wondering about this, I was going to wash the sheets before I used them the first time anyway, so who cares if they get a little dirty sitting under the tree.) And the ribbon I’ve used? Left over from a present someone had received in the past and which I’d saved.

If you can’t get to Wal-Mart to get a reusable bag, why not create your own reusable bag as a gift bag. Get plain canvas bags from a craft store, and have your kids decorate them to their heart’s delight. Then place the presents inside. (This would be a great way to package your child’s gift to family members.) Similarly, you can use one of those brown paper grocery bags that you get at the supermarket (if you’re still taking bags from the supermarket), and have your child decorate that bag as his or her wrapping.

Can you use part of a present as part of your wrapping–like I did with the flannel sheet above? You can take a sweater, scarf or another article of clothing that you’re giving someone, and tuck other gifts inside. Use recycled ribbon like I did, from a former present, to finish off the gift. Or if you haven’t saved any ribbon, visit a local thrift shop to see if they have any “vintage” rolls of ribbon that you can reuse this Christmas.

If you really can’t do without traditionally wrapped gifts, at least consider using wrapping paper made from recycled paper. This Green Guide story on “green wrap” offers ideas on where you can find these kinds of holiday supplies.

I’m sure there are plenty of other ways to go wrapping-free this holiday season, and if you’ve got suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Better yet, if you’ve blogged about this topic and have posted a picture of greenly wrapped gifts, include a link. I’d love to see how your green and creative wrapping techniques come to life.

Yesterday, I did an interview with a reporter about this blog, and she wanted to know if green was my new-found obsession since becoming a parent and moving into my new home. Hardly.

As I’ve written about in the past, living green was part of my mother’s parenting lessons. As a single, twenty-something living in New York City, I recycled regularly, took my bottles and cans back to the supermarket, and used my two feet or mass transit to get around. I never laid a foot on a car’s gas pedal until I bought my first vehicle when I was practically 30!

When I became a parent, I tried to be as green as I could on a graduate student’s budget. (Not easy back in the 90s.)

I nursed both of my babies exclusively for six months, which meant I used no resources to feed them. (Could one say that this is carbon-neutral baby food?)

Once my babies moved on to solids, I pureed fruits and vegetables, and froze them in ice-cube trays for safe keeping. You could always count on finding at least one ice cube tray, with an unidentified, colorful substance defrosting in it, out on the kitchen counter.

With regards to diapers, my husband and I went back and forth about cloth versus disposable for months on end before our first child was born. Would we use more resources having cloth diapers delivered, picked up and washed? Or would we do more damage buying and disposing of store-bought diapers? In the end, we called a truce. Our daughters spent half of their diapered life in cloth, and the rest in disposable.

Once I had two children, I saved resources by bathing them together, having them share a room, and dressing the younger one in hand-me-downs. (Sorry, kiddo.)

I’m sure that many other folks have used clever (and cheap) ways for green parenting of babies and toddlers, and I’d love to hear them.

In the meantime and speaking of parenting, go check out my friend Kathy Sena’s blog Parent Talk Today. Kathy is a smart writer for magazine’s like Woman’s Day and a smart parent, too. Also, I’m her guest blogger today, so you might see some familiar text and pictures over there.

Recently, I was researching yet another green story when I spoke with a company representative who was using the words “recycled” and “recyclable” interchangeably. In the middle of the interview, I finally pointed out to her that something that is recyclable isn’t always made from recycled products. She didn’t realize the difference.

Truth is, before I immersed myself in green living, the only word I really knew and used was the derivatives of recycle, such as recycled and recycling. But the more you look at today’s products with today’s claims, you realize that there’s an entire lexicon that goes along with green living–and likely not everybody really understands exactly what these words mean or how to use them accurately.

Which brings me to this green glossary. I’m starting it today but I may end up moving it to a sidebar on this blog and keeping it as a running record.

Here are my definitions of some common green words and phrases:

biodegradable–usually organic matter, such as the stuff you would toss in your composter, that can break down under natural conditions (i.e. with exposure to air). Unfortunately, there are many products that are labeled as being biodegradable, such as doggie poop bags, which really aren’t in everyday circumstances. As one expert told me, these kinds of products usually end up in landfills, where there is a lack of circulating air. Biodegradable or not, without air, even biodegradable items end up as trash.

chasing arrows–the triangle shape, framed with arrows, that has come to symbolize something that can be recycled or is recyclable.

compostable–organic matter that you can put in a composting bin. This would include all food, save for dairy, meat and bones. Coffee filters, coffee grounds and paper towels are also compostable.

post-consumer waste–raw materials that started as one thing, were used by consumers, then recycled, and have now been turned into something else.

recyclable–an item that you can recycle through your trash collection company or a local recycling center. Recyclable plastic, for example, usually has a chasing arrow somewhere on it, with a number in the middle. This lets you know which kind of plastic it is and helps you identify whether or not your trash collection’s recycling service can accept. Most will take #1 and #2 bottles, which may also come with these letters on them: PETE (#1) or HDPE (#2–clear and colored plastic). These are things like shampoo bottles, milk jugs and bleach containers.

recycled–an items that whose raw materials started out “life” as something else. For example, stationery made from recycled fabric scraps, or fleece sweaters made from recycled soda bottles.

Please let me know if there are other words/phrases you would like me to add to this glossary.

It was a moment almost right out of The Waitresses 80s holiday song “Christmas Wrapping.” I’d just finished cooking the turkey, had placed it on the table with the corn, potatoes and gravy, when I realized, “Oh damn, we don’t have any cranberry sauce.” So my husband grabbed his wallet and keys, and dashed out to SuperFresh to save the day. Thankfully, this “oh, damn” moment hadn’t happened on Thanksgiving but instead just tonight, which is Sunday.

You see, like so many other Americans, I “earned” a free turkey from my supermarket, based on how much I’d spent this fall. However, since my husband’s mom and her sister were hosting Thanksgiving this year, I didn’t need to cook a turkey. But I’m not one to pass up a free dinner, so last week, when picking up my groceries, I also picked up my free 21-pound turkey (which would have otherwise cost me $22).

After spending the weekend painting inside the house and putting up Christmas decorations, we decided that today would be the perfect day to cook up our free dinner. Thanks to the November 2007 issue of Cooking Light, I found an easy (and healthful) turkey recipe, one for which I already owned all of the ingredients. Five hours later, dinner was on the table (save for the cranberry sauce, which was a last-minute addition).

Now, we are a family of four (plus the dog), so you can imagine how we barely made a dent in this 21-pound turkey. At this point we need to brainstorm creative ways to use up the turkey, and I’m hoping that this week, I can figure out a way to work turkey leftovers into at least one meal a day. For example, tomorrow my husband and my daughters have all agreed to take turkey-breast sandwiches to work/school. I’ll probably have something similar for lunch, too. Tomorrow for dinner, we might have a mixed salad with cold turkey, or I’ll mix shredded turkey with chopped celery, dried cranberries, slivered almonds and mayonnaise to make turkey-salad sandwiches.

The Renaissance Faire folks would be proud of the turkey legs and shanks we have left over, and unless we’re planning to have a Renaissance-like dinner (which we’re not), I’m not 100 percent sure how best to use these leftovers for dinner. I’m thinking some kind of turkey soup, but having been raised on Jewish chicken soup, turkey soup will be a whole new cooking experience for me.

In fact, beyond traditional Thanksgiving dinner and cold turkey sandwiches, I’m drawing a blank on creative ways to use turkey leftovers in after-Thanksgiving meals–considering my kids picky palates. If anyone out there has some great links to share or recipes to tell me about, I’d love to hear them.

I’ve talked again and again about how to avoid the whole paper or plastic quandary by bringing your own canvas bags for packing your groceries and by choosing to recycle as much plastic as possible. But I’ve never really stopped to think about how many items in the grocery store–from the obvious plastic bags to the way the butcher wraps freshly cut meat–contribute to our collective plastic consumption.

For an eye-opening look at just how plastic food shopping can me, check out this post from Fake Plastic Fish: Store Report: Struggling with plastic at Safeway

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that this year is going to be the greenest Christmas (and Hanukkah) of all time–at least for the folks on my “nice” list. My mission in nearly everything I do and buy this holiday season is to have green in mind, which hopefully won’t cost me a lot of green.

For starters I’m still searching the Internet for the best recycled paper holiday cards. (If you know of a website, please let me know.) Hallmark stores sell recycled paper greetings, but only in single cards, not the boxed kind for the holidays, though you can order (PRODUCT) RED recycled cards for the holidays from Hallmark.com. Worse-case scenario: I print my family newsletter on recycled paper, send it in a recycled envelope, and skip the cards all together (though I don’t think my family newsletter will go over well with my clients).

As far as holiday wrapping goes, I don’t plan to use it this year. Instead, I’m going to hit my local Wal-Mart this week, and stock up on their $1 reusable bags that say “Paper or Plastic? Neither” (pictured above right). These bags will become my default packaging for holiday gifts.

With regard to the gifts, I’m going for items in the simplest packaging, such as CDs, DVDs and video games, which come in containers that double as storage vessels. Also, I found some cool recycled rubber doormats on Target.com which are right in my price range. And, as I’d blogged earlier, I am doing the lion’s share of my shopping via the Internet to save fuel (though the family and I did spend this past Sunday at the mall, and we will be one of those crazies up at 5:00 a.m. and in line on black Friday).

Finally, this year we won’t be sacrificing any evergreens for our living room, though if you must have a live tree, the potted kind that you can add to your garden is the best. Last year after Christmas we invested in a fake Christmas tree, complete with lights. Hopefully, this purchase will last us for many Christmas’ to come.

It’s good to know that I’m not alone in dreaming of a green Christmas. According to the 2007 Cone Holiday Environmental Study, nearly 60 percent of Americans say they are more likely to buy “green” products this year than in the past. More than half of Americans (54 percent) say they would be willing to pay more for a holiday gift or product if it is environmentally responsible, and an equally motivated number (55 percent) say they proactively seek opportunities to buy green gifts and products around the holidays.

Here are some other ways this study shows that Americans are greening their holidays:

* purchasing gift wrap made from recycled paper (42 percent)
* decorating with energy-efficient holiday lighting (32 percent)
* buying products made by companies that are environmentally responsible (29 percent)
* shopping with retailers that have environmentally responsible practices (27 percent)
* giving energy-efficient gifts (27 percent)
* choosing gifts with recycled content (26 percent)
* serving meals or choosing food that is organic/locally produced (23 percent)
* buying apparel made with environmentally responsible materials (20 percent)
* making a donation to an environmental cause as a gift in someone’s name (15 percent)
* purchasing carbon credits to offset holiday travel and/or shopping (three percent)

So what are you doing to make your green Christmas dream a reality?

Donna Summer didn’t have it quite right when she sang “Dim all the lights, sweet darling,” in her 1979 disco hit called “Dim All The Lights” (though installing dimmers can significantly cut your energy use, so says the National Geographic Green Guide). No, if you really want to save money on your electric bills, you’ve got to take a two-pronged approach, which our Lean Green Family has been doing and is living proof that this approach works.

First, train yourself (and your spouse and your kids and your pets–wait, my dog doesn’t have opposable thumbs so he can’t help in this regard) to turn off the lights and nearly every other electrical appliance in use when they leave the room and are done using it. Why? To save energy. I’m sure your mom told you the old saying, “The last one to leave, please turn out the lights?” Well, mom was on to something, and it’s a wise saying I believe we should pass on to our modern-day families.

Second, invest some time and money in removing all of the incandescent bulbs from your lamps and replacing them with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Sure, CFLs cost a bit more upfront but your pay off will come in the long run. Studies show that CFLs last 10 as long as traditional light bulbs, meaning a bulb you install in your living room today might not need to be replaced until 2012. At the same time, Energy Star says CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs.

OK, so this sounds like a “yadda yadda yadda” commercial for light bulbs and whatnot, but here’s where the real-life proof of changing bulbs and turning off lights comes into play: yesterday, we got our PECO electricity bill. And since making the concentrated effort to change our lights and turn them off, our electricity bill has gone down.

This month, our bill was $153.00.

The month before that, it was $213.00.

As far as kilowatt use goes, this month we used just over 900 kilowatts.

The month before that, we used just over 1,350 kilowatts.

Except for a spike in August, when it was really hot, our kilowatt use has been going down steadily since we moved in six months ago.

I’m sure it’s helping now that, with cooler weather, we have neither our central air nor our pool pump running, but the bottom line is this: we’re using less energy and saving money to boot.

So maybe this year your holiday gift to your family, though not very sexy, should be a series of CFLs and a concentrated effort to make sure that if you are the last person to leave the room, you really do turn off the lights.

As a way of keeping my home in order and myself organized, I subscribe to FlyLady.net, a free list service and website that offers tips and tricks that busy perfectionists like myself can use to avoid C.H.A.O.S. (that’s “can’t have anyone over syndrome”). Thanks to FlyLady, cleaning has become a game. Several times a day, her reminders and challenges “ping” into my in-box, and if I’m not busy doing story interviews or writing articles, I’ll drop what I’m doing, set my timer for 15 minutes, and get busy with whatever task she suggests.

On Fridays I have come to expect her Clean Car Boogie reminder. A Clean Car Boogie (basically, cleaning out your car) is an awesome way to take back your car after a week of carpooling. If you’re a soccer mom, working mom or over-scheduled mom, you know how your car can suddenly grow clutter as the week goes on. By Friday, you’re lucky if your passengers’ feet can find the floor.

Right about now, with gas costing more than $3 a gallon, we could all use a Clean Car Boogie to keep our cars free of clutter. Why? Because a cluttered, loaded-down car is a heavier car (no, duh there), which means it has to use more fuel to get from point a to point b. Meaning that in the process you’re getting worse gas mileage and probably emitting more fumes because you’re using more gas.

So earlier today I did my Clean Car Boogie, and you would be amazed at how much came out of my car–and how much I estimated each thing weighed. Here’s a small sample of what I found in just the trunk:

* 3 folding spectator chairs (Total weight: about 7 lb.)
* 1 bag of practice soccer balls–that’s about 12 balls (Total weight: about 20 lb)
* 2 cases of bottled water–yes, it’s evil but it was my contribution to an end-of-season soccer party that ended up getting rained out (Total weight: about 50 lbs)

When I just went to pick up my eldest daughter from her basketball practice, I couldn’t say that my car, now with an empty trunk, felt like it had more get-up-and-go, but at least I know that I’m not hauling around nearly 80 pounds of useless weight–and burning excess gas in the process.

When was the last time you cleared out your trunk of that gas-guzzling junk? If I found nearly 80 pounds stuff in my trunk, let me know how much you find in yours.

Tomorrow, November 15th is America Recycles Day, sponsored by the National Recycling Coalition. Not sure what America Recycles Day is? Well, in my opinion it should be every day, when Americans don’t have to think twice about recycling, but in case you need a primer, here’s how the organization describes the event:

“America Recycles Day (ARD), November 15, is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and to buy recycled products. Celebrating its 10th year, it has grown to include millions of Americans pledging to increase their recycling habits at home and work and to buy products made with recycled materials. Through America Recycles Day, the National Recycling Coalition supports local communities and raises awareness by educating citizens about the benefits of recycling. Volunteer America Recycles Day coordinators are positioned throughout the country and work to organize recycling awareness events in their schools and communities, and in conjunction with their local municipalities.

On November 15 each year, millions of people become better informed about the importance of daily recycling and buying recycled products. The purpose of America Recycles Day is to continue to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling and encourage more people to join the movement toward creating a better natural environment.”

So what can you do tomorrow to participate? As FlyLady always says, take baby steps. So choose one thing you can easily blend into your day.

* Bringing your plastic bags to a supermarket for recycling would be a good first step.

* If you’re still unsure how your trash collector handles recycling, give them a call and ask.

* Got stuff you need to get rid of? Don’t toss it–Freecycle it.

* If you’re stopping in to the grocery shop for a few things, bring your own canvas bags and maybe think about buying the toilet paper made from recycled paper, not virgin wood.

Also, spend some time looking around the American Recycles Day website, and let me know if you uncover any surprising recycling tips. You can also search for recycling events by the state where you live.

It is American Education Week at my daughter’s school, and parents were invited to observe classes today. I wanted to make sure I had enough time to get settled in her 5th grade classroom and figured I would just drive to the school to stay on schedule. But then I remembered this Associated Press story I’d read yesterday in my paper, and I rethought my decision to drive.

Here’s the basics of that piece (I found an online version of this AP story at Yahoo! Green, in case you want to read it I didn’t even know there was a green version of Yahoo!).

If Americans spent 30 minutes each day walking instead of driving, we would achieve the following:

* cut the annual U.S. emissions by 64 million tons
* save about 6.5 billion gallons of gasoline
* shed more than 3 billion pounds

I already walk each morning for my daily exercise, thanks to my dog (a recent American College of Sports Medicine study of dog ownership showed that dog owners walk longer than canine-free walkers–and that dog owners tend to be trimmer). However, I was not going to risk not fitting into my Levis, just for convenience’s sake. Besides, with gas near its all-time-high where I live (about $3.30 a gallon), I’d rather not waste away gas on short hops like these. I was not taking the lazy-person’s way out. Plus, the school is about 8/10 of a mile from my home, which really isn’t too far to walk. In fact, in New York City terms, where one north-south Manhattan block equals 1/10 of a mile, 8/10 of a mile (or about eight city blocks) is not very far at all.

(Addendum: A kind reader pointed out that my math and scale above is incorrect. One north-south Manhattan block is actually 1/20 of a mile, which means that in walking 8/10 of a mile or .8 miles, I’m walking the equivalent of 16 city blocks.)

So given all of this–walking being good for you, gas being so expensive and the school not being really too far a way–here’s what I did: I just built in some extra time to arrive at the school when I was scheduled to be there, and in doing so I built in 30 or so extra minutes of walking today–about 15 minutes there and 15 minutes back.

Where I used to live, my nemesis was the recycling pick-up guy. There were many Fridays (garbage day) when I would put out bags and bags of paper, and he would pick and choose how many he wanted to cart away–in the process, leaving many behind. Eventually I called the trash removal company about this problem–and they removed this guy from my route. Now, I know that we probably recycle more than the average bear (or Behre), but that doesn’t mean that we should be penalized.

This is one of the reasons I’ve started trying to think outside of the recycling bin so that I’m not relying on my trash collection company only in taking away my recyclables. I realize that it’s more important to reduce my use and reliance on certain items–you know, the old reduce, reuse, recycle–but if you’ve got stuff you no longer need, it’s better to reuse or recycle it than to throw it away.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far (some of which I’ve mentioned before):

* Taking boxes to the UPS Store. I just got finished writing a story for which I received a lot of product. And what did that product come in? Cardboard boxes. Since our trash company doesn’t recycle cardboard, I’m loading up my car today with all of the leftover cardboard boxes and taking them to the UPS Store. I realize that I will not receive a financial benefit in doing this–such as a discount on a future shipping service, though that would be awfully nice–but it will make me feel better to know that these cardboard boxes will be reused instead of relegated to a landfill.

* Bagging up paper to drop off at my daughter’s school. As I’ve blogged about before, my daughter’s school participates in the Abitibi Paper Retriever program. This encourages local residents to recycle their paper by bringing it to the Abitibi “dumpsters” on the school’s campus, and then the school earns money based on how much gets recycled each month. I’ll be loading up bags of used magazines, newspapers and office papers, along with shredded paper from the shredder, to drop off today.

* Bringing plastic bags back to the supermarket to be recycled. Not only can you place plastic grocery bags in the recycling bins you find outside of supermarkets but also dry cleaner bags and deflated plastic air pillows that are used in shipping.

* Donating magazines to doctors’ office. It didn’t dawn on me to take my already-read magazines to my chiropractor’s office until I realized that all he was planning to stock in the waiting room were car enthusiast magazines. So last week I slipped in a few back issues of Gourmet. This week, I’m probably going to drop off the House & Garden issues I know I’ll never get to (and with the magazine folding last week, there’s really no hurry).

I would love to hear other people’s ideas for how to think outside of the recycling bin.

A few years ago, we had as many phone lines in our home as we did people living here. There was our home number, my business line, a fax number, and a line dedicated to dial up.

When we got out of the dark ages and signed up for broadband cable, we were able to get rid of that dial-up phone line, bringing us down to three lines. Then when we moved earlier this year, we decided that, in this day-and-age of PDFs, we rarely needed to send or receive faxes, so we no longer needed the fax phone line.

Now we’re down to two phone lines, which I know Verizon knows because I’m billed for only two lines each month. Why is it, then, that this past Saturday, I arrived home from my daughter’s soccer game to find eight new phone books tossed on my driveway? We now had four full-sized white-and yellow-paged phone books, and four mini-me versions of the Yellow Pages.

What a waste of paper and resources it is for the phone company to be so careless with phone book delivery. Also, it feels so clueless that the phone company would be spending time and money on a physical phone book when it’s so easy to go online to Switchboard.com (full disclosure: I used to write a marketing newsletter for the company) or SuperPages.com.

I’ve got enough clutter issues in my house without figuring out what to do with eight new phone books, plus the three I have from before my move. So we’re putting some of the phone books in the recycling bin and tossing the others in the kindling pile. We burned one of the books last night in the fireplace, and it stayed aflame for a good hour or so.

One positive part about my multitude of phone books: I discovered that there’s an entire section of coupons to local businesses in the middle of the book–things like a chimney sweep, the local pizza parlor, Mr. Rooter, etc. There are also “fun”-related coupons to a music store, the local zoo and the minor league team nearby. So I’m tearing out those coupons, and then getting rid of these books, for which I really have no phone-related purpose.

It feels so horrible to be throwing stuff away, but like the gift you receive that you don’t like, can’t return, and have no use for, sometimes you’ve just got to toss it in the trash. That’s better than letting your guilt make you keep something you really don’t want or need.

Now I’ve got to figure out if there is some number I can call or website I can log onto at Verizon to opt out of physical phone books in the future.

Probably one of the best ways we could save our budget and save the world would be to slowly adopt the notion of reusing or recycling clothes, or basically not always buying new clothes. In the fashion circles, it would be considered “vintage” or dressing retro. In my world it’s a way to save me from the mall.

For example, a couple of years ago, my daughters were all crazy for these Self-Esteem, Fang and Eyeshadow brand fashion t-shirts, which would set me back at least $20 every time I stepped into a department store. So I stopped stepping into department stores (but didn’t tell them) and started shopping for these shirts on eBay. In no time, I was buying lots of five and six “gently used” shirts for the same $20 that would have gotten me one new shirt only. As one daughter grew out of the shirts, I handed them down to the next daughter. Now that the youngest is growing out of them, I’m not quite done with them. If the shirts are still in perfect wearing condition, I sell them right back on eBay, along with jeans, sweatpants and any other articles of clothing that I’m confident people will bid on. What doesn’t sell, goes to charity. (Notice, none of this goes in the trash.)

This past Halloween, we went the recycle/reuse route for costumes, with one daughter dressing up as a lady at a masquerade ball, all with props we currently own. The other daughter wanted to be a hipster from the 70s, so I took her to a local thrift shop where we purchased an authentic 70s polyester blouse and white go-go boots. She used her own white tights, mini skirt and headwrap, and borrowed a pair of big-as-your-head sunglasses from a 70-year-0ld aunt, who wore those big-as-your-head sunglasses on her head in all seriousness in the 70s. Final cost for the costume? $17.50.

Lots of thrift shops are getting into the “vintage” game, such as a Washington, DC Goodwill location, which has actually hired a fashion consultant for the shop and who organizes fashion shows to drive business. The Washington Post recently wrote about the shop along with the local Salvation Army, which also held a recent fashion show to improve its image in the eyes of fashion-conscious Washingtonians.

Back to the 70s, though. If you’d rather not wear “vintage” 70s attire but are in the mood for a good laugh, you’ve got to check this out. It’s a trip down memory lane, circa 1977 (I was in elementary school), courtesy of a JC Penney catalog posted on a blog called 15 Minute Lunch. Fair warning, there is some foul language–on the blog, not the catalog pages that are shown. Other fair warning: do not eat or drink while reading this blog. You are sure to spew.

Ask my husband about our dog, Buff (right), and here’s what he’ll tell you: “He was the most expensive free dog I’ve ever owned.”

You see, we rescued Buff, then four years old, from a small dog rescue place in New Jersey. (As a golden retriever/cocker spaniel/beagle mix, 40-pound Buff was the biggest small dog they had.) We’d originally spotted him on Petfinder.com, a website that provides a one-stop-shop for pets up for adoption. Or, as the Petfinder site says, “The temporary home of 264,124 adoptable pets from 11,296 adoption groups.”

We weren’t just being frugal when we decided to get a “free” dog–we were going with our conscience.

Bill and I were brought up to believe that dogs should come from pounds or places like the ASPCA, from boxes in front of supermarkets, or from families that can no longer keep their pets. They should not come from pet shops or puppy mills–which is where Americans buy nearly 1 million dogs each year. I read any article today about a woman who had had her $800 schnoodle (schnauzer/poodle mix) stolen from her during a walk. I’m sorry she was robbed but I’m really sorry that she paid that much for a puppy. (The dog has since been recovered and is fine.)

Before we got Buff, collectively we had acquired pets as strays off the streets of Brooklyn, puppies being given away in front of Waldbaum’s supermarket, and found on a front lawn after being tossed from a passing car window.

* Truth be told, we ended up paying $200 for Buff, the “suggested donation” for the rescue group, which was fine with me (perhaps not Bill). We were told that this fee, er donation went to cover spaying and neutering of animals, and to pay for their care and housing while waiting for adoption. OK, so Buff was already neutered and from what they told us about him, Buff had only stayed with this rescue group for a few days. But I’ll bet Buff was one of the lucky ones, in that he came to them fixed and got out fast.

Now, it seems that folks will get to see exactly how much time, work and resources go into finding homes for pets like Buff (and why rescue organizations have to ask for these donations), now that Animal Planet is going to have a show based on the Petfinder.com website. We’re already big Animal Planet fans as it is–we love “The Planet’s Funniest Animals” and “Animal Precinct,” though both shows often leave us in tears (for different reasons). Starting in 2008, we’ll have to add “Petfinder” to our Tivo season pass.

Maybe once viewers get the inside scoop on how many adorable, adoptable pets are out there, then the puppy mills and pet shops will all go out of business.