OK so we’re back on a blogging platform here at WordPress. I just set up the Feedburner feed again (since the one from www.leangreenfamily.com didn’t seem to be working) and this is my test post. Now if we all get emails in our in-boxes on Wednesday, December 17th, then we know that we’re good to go.

Thanks for your patience.

I would hate to see anyone have to burn unnecessary gas or lose well-earned money on holidays gifts they gave or received. The worst is getting a gift that’s not right, and then having to struggle to figure out how to return it.

I can still remember back to my sweet 16 party and a sweater I got. It was a cute sweater but a size too small. I wanted to go back to the store where it came from and exchange it, but that wasn’t going to be easy to do.

There were a ton of people at that party–so many that I lost count–and this sweater showed up in an unmarked box. It did have a price tag on it but not one that clearly identified in which store it was bought.

Since not everyone who attended the party gave me a gift (bad manners!), it wasn’t even like I could use a process of elimination to figure out who gave me the gift, and then go back to that person and see if I could get the information I needed to make that exchange. So one day I decided to go to the mall where everyone shopped for gifts, bring the sweater with me, and go to each clothing store in the mall to see if this is where the sweater came from.

I literally visited every single store in that mall, and by the end of the day I was no better off. I still had a sweater that I would have loved to have worn, but it was too small and therefore useless. I think I ended up donating that sweater to charity, but I will never forget the entire day I spent trying to figure out the origin of that sweater.

Which is why when stores introduced the concept of gift receipts, I cried out “Hallelujah.” No longer would I or any other unhappy gift recipient have to struggle to figure out how or where to exchange a gift. The gift receipt would tell you everything you needed to know, except for how much the person spent on the gift. This would eliminate unnecessary trips to the store to attempt a return that may not happen and money lost on an item that the recipient doesn’t like or can’t use.

That’s why in these weeks before Christmas and Chanukah, I’m giving gift receipts my Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval. For gift buyers and recipients alike, they are a blessing.

And while we’re talking about gift returns (which I hope that none of you have to deal with this holiday season), here are five tips from the National Retail Federation for turning any gift returns you (or anyone else) need to make into a stress-free affair:

1. Know the retailer’s return policy before you buy.
Most retailers have return policies prominently displayed, especially at this time of year. Gift-givers should read and remember them. If policies are not clearly displayed, ask a sales associate or a manager to explain them to you.

2. Save and file all receipts!
Receipts are still the key to hassle-free returns. Some retailers will allow consumers to exchange merchandise without a receipt, but without a receipt, a retailer may only provide merchandise credit for the lowest markdown-price at which the item was sold during the holiday season. Make sure to provide the recipient with a gift receipt to save hassle after the holidays.

3. Provide all original packaging and all parts (including tags) when giving a gift.
Some retailers won’t accept returns unless the item is in its original package. If you plan to take back a gift when it is unwrapped, resist the urge to open it or play with it. No one wants to buy someone else’s merchandise.

4. Make online returns easy!
Returns are a part of shopping, no matter where you buy. In addition to the other rules of returns, here are a few things to find out before you purchase a gift online:

- Know the process: Who pays for shipping the return–you or the merchant? Some merchants will pick up the delivery charges for exchanges, but not for returns, others offer free return shipping on every return.

- Where to make returns: Does the retailer have a physical store, and can returns or exchanges be made there? Make sure you have the correct address if you need to mail returns back to the company. Some merchants have offsite service centers to handle returns that may be in a different location from where the merchandise is sent.

5. Be patient.
Remember, the week after Christmas is one of the busiest weeks of the retail year. With people’s frustration high and tolerance low, be patient when returning merchandise.

Do you have any nightmare return stories, a la that sweater from my 16th birthday? Or can you recall when a gift receipt made returning so much easier for you? If so, please post your comment.

I thought I would let you know that before I became the lean, green mom, I was a gift-and-etiquette expert. As such I have a website called Gifts and Etiquette where I offer advice to real-life gift-giving quandaries.

Today, I received a question about teacher gifts–coincidental considering I just covered the topic here yesterday. I thought you might be interested in reading my additional advice on teacher gifts there, along with some of the other advice I’ve offered people who have written to me over the years. I cover everything from holiday gifts to wedding etiquette.

Of course, if you have a gift or etiquette quandary that I can help you out with–and use (anonymously) on that website, let me know.

So get this? Blogger somehow thinks that The Lean Green Family is a spam blog? Why is that? I’m just a green blog. But for some reason Blogger has determined that my blog is spam, which means now whenever I want to post a post, I have to type in this code, like when you post comments. And I have to get permission from Blogger to post. How did that happen?

Any advice?

Just wanted to let you know that All You magazine has picked up The Lean Green Family blog for its blogroll. I hope this helps to more readers here.

In the meantime you guys should go check out All You’s website. I write for this magazine and get it as a subscriber; it’s one of my faves.

While this post isn’t 100 percent green and frugal, I thought the readers with school-aged kids would find it helpful.

It’s that time of the year where parents let out a collective groan–and I’m not talking about the upcoming school-free, winter break, when your kids will be looking to your for their daily entertainment. No, I’m talking about that holiday teacher gift.

If your child is in preschool or elementary school, then you know what I’m talking about. You’re likely in one of these two situations. You’ve got an over-anxious classroom parent who has just started sending secretive messages home in backpack mail about chipping in for the teacher gift, and she hasn’t given you a lot of time to think about how much you want to contribute. Or, you’re anxious all on your own because you have no idea what to buy the person who spends six hours or more a day educating your child, and since no one has reached out about a collective gift for Mrs. Smith, you’re going to have to do some solo shopping.

Fret no more. I’ll help you navigate the etiquette of teacher gifts and come up with ideas that are appropriate, based on your child’s age, and her teachers likes and dislikes. This information should put your mind at ease—and make your gift shopping much easier:

DAY CARE
When my girls were in daycare, we gave their teachers and the classroom aides each a gift certificate for a manicure. I figured that these teachers were using their hands all day long, either changing diapers or doing hands-on projects, and they could use the pampering. Some confided in me later that they’d never gone for a manicure before, and our gift was a wonderful and welcomed present. Best of all, at most strip-mall manicure shops, you can treat a teacher (or anyone else, for that matter) to a manicure for less than $20.

NURSERY OR PRESCHOOL
While preschool or nursery school teachers might enjoy a manicure as well, when my daughters were in preschool, I would give the teacher a book to read or a gift card to a local bookstore. Either way, each gift would come with a personal note. For the book, I might write, “I thought this book was such a great page-turner that I wanted to share a copy with you, in hopes that you would enjoy it as much. Happy reading!” With the gift card, I would write in the card something like this: “I hope you can use this gift card to treat yourself to a book you’ve been dying to read.”

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
I still love the notion of a gift card to a bookstore—especially if I can support a local business. However, these days I might choose a gift card to the local coffee shop instead, whether it’s a chain like 7-11, Wawa, Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, or the mom and pop “Joe’s java” shop near to the school. This is an especially relevant gift if I’ve run into one of my children’s teachers there in the morning, when I stop in to get my daily java. Then I know for sure that they’ll love and use this gift on their morning coffee run—if not this year then when they come back to school in the fall.

Another gift idea is a bit of a twist on the traditional, and I can thank my daughter’s long-ago first grade teacher for inspiring me to give this kind of gift.

Believe it or not, on back to school night in September, she talked about, of all things, teacher gifts. During her presentation the teacher told the parents straight out not to plan on getting her any gifts at the holidays or at the end of the year. “I’ve been teaching for 30 years and really don’t need anything,” she said. What she did need, though, were new board games for the classroom—games that the children could use during indoor recess. She then pulled out a Connect Four box that was haphazardly taped together to prove her point.

That year our family bought a new Connect Four for the classroom, and I believe many other families selected the gift of board games as well. We made the same gift choice in second grade, and we might go back to that gift idea this year if we discover that our children’s teachers aren’t coffee drinkers but instead favor Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders.

MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL
In most instances parents feel that they get off the teacher-gift hook when their kids make the transition to middle school and high school. I think that this is because their kids have more than one teacher throughout the day and the parents don’t develop the same repertoire as they might have with an elementary school teacher who has their son or daughter seven hours a day. In addition, they might feel overwhelmed with buying gifts for seven or eight teachers.

Even though both of my kids are in middle school, I’m still giving gifts. And I know that teachers appreciate it because so few families do.

Last year I stuck with my tried-and-true gift card to the local coffee joint where I know teachers stop in the morning. However, I did change the amount I put on each of these gift cards because of how many I had to buy. Instead of the $25 I might have spent on the solitary elementary school teacher, this time around I did $10 per teacher.

This year, the money is a bit tighter but I don’t want to let those teacher gifts slip by the wayside. So, since I know that good causes are also feeling the pinch, I plan to make two $50 donations to two education-related organizations in the teachers’ names, and then let them know that in a hand-written card. My causes of choice, by the way, are the local public library and our school district’s education fund.

How are you handling teacher gifts this year?

This past weekend was a Holiday Shop at our middle school. It was an event that I’d organized for our parent-teacher group as a fundraiser to bring together vendors (27 of them) with school and community families who needed to get their holiday shopping done. Many of the vendors had creative displays on their tables for showing off their wares. Others sold items that were designed for one purpose but which I could envision as an eco-friendly wrapping option.

With those inspirations in mind, here are some green-and-frugal wrapping ideas you may want to consider this holiday season:

* Use cinch-sack backpacks to hold gifts
At the Holiday Shop I picked up two of these cinch-sack backpacks–one for each daughter. While the bag is a present itself–my kids use them for bringing clothes to sports practices or packing for sleepovers–I plan to put a smaller present inside each of these bags. They’ll have no trouble knowing which one is for whom once they see them. My daughter Annie has loved purple since she was two. Lately, she’s gotten big into anything with a peace sign on it. So when Annie spies a purple, tie-dyed cinch-sack backpack under the tree, with a peace sign on it, well,I won’t have to say much more. For Jane I got a blue tie-dyed version,with a smiley face on it.

* Stock up on tins for holding just about anything
One display that we did at the check-in table at the Holiday Shop was a tin filled with cookies that I’d made from our parent-teacher cookbook, which we were selling (natch). This tin was from a long-ago Oreo cookie promotion, but that’s now how I got it. This past summer, while doing some of our back-t0-school shopping at Goodwill, I stocked up on cookie tins for about 25 cents each. Currently, I have them as part of my kitchen decorations, but in a pinch they would work as a container for a holiday or hostess gift.

* Get a kick out of using a boot for presents
We all know that part of the Christmas ritual is filling a stocking with goodies. Well, why not take that concept off the fireplace mantle and put it under the tree by filling a boot with small presents? Of course, you could pick up boots at a place like Goodwill or a garage sale (just make sure they’re clean and not stinky), use them for holiday wrapping, then put them aside to use again in the spring for holding plants. I’m thinking that colorful rubber boots, a la Wellies, would work best here.

* Branch out by using greenery to display a gift
One of the Holiday Shop vendors used potted twigs, decorated with colorful leaves and flowers (all fake) to display her jewelry. I’d never seen such a beautiful way of presenting jewelry and wondered if there was a way to adapt it to my own holiday giving. That is, if you were gifting someone with a plant or a home decor piece that had branches on it, wouldn’t it be cool if you could add another kind of gift to it as well–like this vendor did with jewelry? Of course, if your gift has to travel, you risk the jewelry falling off. However, if you’re just putting out a present the morning of, I think this idea would be a lovely alternative for thinking outside the gift box.

Do you have additional ideas for green-and-frugal wrapping this holiday season? If so, I’d love to hear them.

When I was a teenager and working in retail, everyone used layaway. Back then credit cards were only for the old and rich, and cash was king. So if you didn’t have enough in your pocket when you wanted to buy that sweet pair of blue jeans or leather bomber jacket, you put it on layaway.

Then cash got bumped down when credit became king, and soon enough retail stores began phasing out layaway plans. Stores like Wal-Mart decided that layaway plans didn’t make any financial sense–for the store, not the customer.

What a difference an economic downturn can make.

This holiday season layaway has come blazing back onto the retail scene. A recent Washington Post story talked about how K-Mart has brought back layaway for this holiday season, mostly because its customers were afraid of ringing up too much credit card debt. Nothing like layaway to keep your budget on track.

K-Mart isn’t the only store getting back on the layaway band wagon. Sears (which owns K-Mart) and TJ Maxx have reintroduced layaway plans as has Pennsylvania department store Boscov’s (which just changed ownership hands after having a rough year with many store closings. So I’m not sure how much confidence I would have in a Boscov’s layaway plan. Will the store even be around by Christmas? That’s anyone’s guess).

So if you decide to try layaway this holiday season (there are still 19 shopping days until Christmas), here what you need to know:

1. Expect to give a down payment.
Just like paying for a mortgage over time, it isn’t unreasonable for the store to ask you for some money down. This shows that you’re serious enough about buying the item that they’re not taking a huge risk by removing said item from the selling floor.

2. Have a written plan for your layaway.
Before you leave the store, make sure you’ve got something in writing from the store that lists the item(s) you’ve put on layaway, how much they cost, how much you’ll pay and the frequency of payments. There should be no surprises or last minute red tape when you make your final layaway payment and come to take your purchase home for good.

3. Find out what happens if you change your mind or miss a payment.
Missing one mortgage payment doesn’t put your home into foreclosure, but with a layaway plan, the store could put your merchandise back out on the floor when you miss a payment. And now you’re out the cash and the item you wanted to buy. At the same time you need to know upfront if you’ve got any sort of grace period, during which you could change your mind about your purchase and receive your money back in full. Again, this is where a written agreement about the layaway plan comes in handy.

4. Don’t let a layaway plan tempt you to over shop.
With layaway a shopper’s option again, you could easily go nuts and start putting thing after thing away on layaway. That’s fine if you’ve got money socked away and will have no problem making the payments. However, if there is any chance that you might default on a payment–and then lose the item–or put yourself in financial straits trying to make your layaway payments, then it’s just not worth it.

5. Check out alternative layaway plans.
There’s a company called eLayaway that let’s you use a traditional layaway plan with stores that don’t traditionally offer it–that is e-tailers. eLayaway works with more than 1,000 online stores so people who shop online and want the option of layaway can do both. Instead of visiting a store on a regular basis to make your payments, eLayaway sets up automatic deductions from your bank account. This ensures that you never miss a payment.

What do you think about the resurgence of layaway plans?

Years ago, before kids, I was a gym rat. Pretty much every day of the week you would find me taking a step class or lifting weights or doing yoga. Then my free time got filled up with parental duties, and going to the gym fell out of favor with my way of life.

A few years ago, when I first joined Weight Watchers, I started going to the gym again to help with my weight loss. However, the only class that really caught my attention was a 6:00 (as in a.m.) step class, and I just couldn’t sustain that early rising for very long. So we invested in a treadmill, and I started relying on walking on it–and walking the dog–as my aerobic exercise.

Now six years later I’m looking to switch things up but without making the mistake of rejoining the gym. I say “mistake” because it would be a mistake for me. I am just not a gym person anymore. Plus, with our frugal ways, I just can’t justify spending money on a gym membership.

About the time I was looking to add something new to my workout, a friend of mine, who has been looking extremely fit lately, told me that she’d been doing “The Biggest Loser” workouts. OK, well I’d heard of the show, but they had exercise programs, too?

Well, it turns out that I can get two different “The Biggest Loser” workouts–a cardio max with trainer Bob Harper and a power sculpt with trainer Jillian Michaels, both from the show– for free from my cable provider. They are available via Exercise TV On Demand, one of Comcast’s offerings. Granted, the program I get this way is only 20 minutes long and does not include the full power sculpt workout that you would get from buying the DVD. But, man, do these workouts kick my butt. No wonder people lose so much weight on the show. (I’ll admit that I’ve actually started watching the show, too.)

The best part about Exercise TV is that I get to exercise when I want to, not based on a gym schedule, and I’m not spending any extra money to do so. Plus, not going to the gym means not driving somewhere on a regular basis–definitely good for my carbon footprint.

Understand that Exercise TV doesn’t just have these two “The Biggest Loser” workouts on it. There are at least a dozen different workout categories available, and then at least two different exercise programs within each category. With Exercise TV, you never have to join a gym–and they’re not paying me to say that. I’m just a satisfied customer.

That’s why this week I’m giving the Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval to Exercise TV. If you’re looking to get in shape or supplement your already frugal workout schedule (such as walking, which is free to do), I would recommend you check out Exercise TV.

Tonight, on NPR’s All Things Considered, there was a segment that came on about the possible second round of economic stimulus checks that could be going out to Americans when President-Elect Obama takes office. The commentator on the radio was discussing how the first round of stimulus checks didn’t work as well as hoped, because so many people used the money to pay off debt or they decided to put it in savings. Even the New York Times endorsed using your stimulus check to build up savings.

Not me. I did my part in stimulating the economy by cashing in my stimulus check for Shop Rite gift cards. That move allowed me to grocery shop for free for a couple of months.

Back to the radio program, though. Eventually, they got around to saying that this time around, the government should figure out a way to make the stimulus checks with “strings attached” to ensure that they get spent, not socked away.

And that got me thinking.

What if the government sent out economic stimulus gift cards? Then citizens would have no choice but to spend them in the retail environment.

Imagine not only what these gift cards would do to entice people to shop, but how much they would help the companies that issue gift cards? I’m thinking specifically of VISA and American Express. Would this be a win-win for both Wall Street and Main Street?

I know that in the past I haven’t showed the love to these bank-issued gift cards, but I’ve changed my opinion on them. That’s because I recently realized that, in the past, technology hadn’t caught up to bank-issued gift cards, which made them difficult to use.

These days, though, technology is on the same page as bank-issued gift cards, making them as easy to use as a credit card. You step up to the checkout counter, you swipe your card, you hit the “OK” or “Accept” button, sign the slip and you’re done. If you don’t have enough on your gift card to cover your purchase, technology knows to debit that amount first, then ask you for a second form of payment. Then you’re done.

So while I try to avoid stepping up on my political soap box here on this blog, I just have to say this: I think it would be brilliant of the Barack Obama administration–the first presidential campaign to harness and use technology to its advantage–to consider delivering the next batch of economic stimulus checks in the most technologically advanced and retail-centric way it can. And that would be in the form of gift cards.

What do you think about the idea of economic stimulus gift cards?

My friend Jen Singer runs a website called MommaSaid.net, which tagline is “the stay-at-home mom’s coffee break.” I am one of her columnists, and she recently put up one of my posts, which originated here. It was the post on how to be frugal without being miserly.

I know that you probably already read it here, but you might want to check it out over at MommaSaid–and then check out what else is on Jen’s site. Her site is fun and very addictive. Enjoy!

A Goodwill Industries blog posting gives The Lean Green Family a thumbs up in a post about holiday gift ideas. Plus, it’s got some nifty suggestions that even I hadn’t thought about. Go check it out.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping to pick up a few things we needed–with list and meal plan in hand, thank you very much–and spent only $90. Woohoo.

But this post isn’t about my successful shopping endeavor. It’s about what I discovered in our “overflow” refrigerator when I got home and was putting away some groceries.

There in the take-out containers that we’d used to take home our meal were leftovers from Thanksgiving. (We had Thanksgiving at a local restaurant.)

Good thing I didn’t decide to heat them up for lunch. According to the USDA website, turkey leftovers are toast after 3 to 4 days. Well, today is day 6 since we all gave thanks for whatever we are thankful for, so those leftovers are seriously past their prime.

Sure, we’d all like to be frugal and make sure that we use up all of the food that we have in our refrigerator, but not at the risk of getting sick. So if you haven’t already done so, toss any and all Thanksgiving leftovers in the trash. The only caveat? If you happened to have frozen your leftovers immediately after the big meal, then you won’t need to toss them for another six months.

Now go take care of those leftovers!

As you may know, throughout the month of November, I had a survey up on this blog’s homepage (it was in the upper righthand corner in most web browsers). I wanted to get a sense of which regular features on this blog readers like yourself liked the most–and which ones you could do without. Now that the survey has closed, I thought I’d share the results with you.

Of those surveyed:

* 74% like the “10 Tips/5 Ways Postings” the best.
This doesn’t surprise me given that most blog gurus say that the way to drive traffic to a blog is to offer service-oriented information that readers can use–as opposed to just spouting off on your soapbox day after day. When someone stumbles upon interesting advice, they’re more likely to link to your blog, which also drives traffic and ups your rankings in Google.

FYI, if you want a quick way to figure out if someone has linked to your blog or website, type the following into your web browser address box (without the quotes): “link:yourwebsiteaddress” You’ll be amazed at the results this search brings up.

* 30% of you like “Random Reusables” and “Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval” equally well.
I’ll be sure to keep writing those.

* Only 17% of you like the “Q&A” posts.
This surprised me a bit. Oftentimes when I write and post a reader Q&A, other readers post the most comments in response. But given this feedback, I guess I won’t stress out about soliciting questions from you guys for Q&A posts in the future.

Or is it the Q&A format of the post that you don’t like? Because these posts often end up with a ton of service in them. Maybe I’ll just change up the format.

In addition to taking the survey, a number of you posted comments on what you’d like to see me cover in the near future. Here are two of those comments:

“I’d love to see something on giving from the heart for the holidays – gifts that we can create with our own hands and love rather than adding to already stretched out wallets. Any suggestions?”

I’m definitely going to post some ideas on handmade gifts. In fact, today I’m heading into NYC to tape an interview with the TV show “Inside Edition” on why homemade gifts from the heart make sense this year. I’ll just be talking about it, not doing a demo. But maybe I’ll do a videoblog posting with some homemade/handmade gift ideas.

“How about the real tree/fake tree issue? I’ve heard arguments supporting both sides.”

See the newest survey that I just put up, which asks the kind of Christmas tree you use at the holidays. However, even before the survey ends, I’ll write a post on the pros and cons of each choice.

Thanks for the suggestions and for your readership. Now I’ve got to go catch a New Jersey Transit train into Manhattan…

Whenever I need to send someone I know or love a food gift, I toggle over to Dancing Deer’s website. This Boston-based bakery has some of the best baked goods I’ve ever tasted. Not only are the products freshly made, but they’re certified kosher (great for Hanukkah gifts) and packaged in recyclable containers. Ever since a client of mine sent me a cookie assortment as a thank-you gift, I’ve been sending Dancing Deer treats.

Recently, though, I starting to think again about this notion of eating locally (locavore) and how maybe I should apply this thinking to food gifts I might be buying and sending to folks this holiday season. Plus, in this down economy, where we hear so much about how Wall Street is hurting but Main Street is hurting even more, I think it would be a great idea to figure out a way to gift and shop locally.

So if you’re considering sending food gifts this holiday season, here are three resources that can help you support local businesses–either local to you or local to the recipient–and send something delicious to those special food lovers on your list:

1. LocalHarvest.org
Most people know Local Harvest as a resource for finding CSA memberships and local farmers markets. But in addition to that seasonal information, the website also has an online store locator that provides links to locally grown food and gifts that you can get via mail order–or in the case of holiday giving, send to people. In addition to edible items, the 21 categories also include soaps, pet needs and lavender–mmmmm.

Unfortunately, the “store” page does not allow you to choose products locally. However, you can find that information is a quasi backdoor way. Go back to the Local Harvest home page and find the “what are you looking for?” box. Select the “online store” button, enter your zip code, and click on “search,” and you’ll find all of the local businesses on the site that offer online shopping.

If you’d rather just shop for holiday gifts, you can visit the Christmas specials page.

2. Regional Best
I learned about Regional Best, a guide to local foods, through my subscription to Help a Reporter Out or HARO. HARO is a free, media leads service for journalists, experts and PR people alike. It’s thanks to HARO that I got featured in these stories about frugal living in Business Week and The Christian Science Monitor.

My mouth started to water as I perused through the 11 different categories of Regional Best’s local gift offerings–from artisans cheeses to whole grains. Better yet, I was able to shop by region so I could make selections that wouldn’t endure too many food miles.

One piece of constructive criticism: I wish the Regional Best folks would tweak the “results” pages, when shopping by regions, to make it clearer where in my region each of the companies was located. Obviously, Maryland Blue Crab Express is in the Old Line State, but I’m not really clear where Tait Farm Foods is headquartered. (Google helped me figured out that it’s in central Pennsylvania.)

3. NRDC Eat Local Guide
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) website allows visitors to find out what is in season in their state in any two-week period of the year. Just use the pull-down menu to select “state” and “season” and, voila, up comes information about fresh food you can buy locally. Though it doesn’t provide direct links to local growers with holiday gifts, you will find links to other local resources that can help you in your quest for the perfect locavore food gift. Or you can check out the NRDC’s Green Gift Guide for additional ideas.

And by all means, if you live in the Boston area and are sending a gift to someone else in New England, do support Dancing Deer–I’d recommend the Sugar Cane Lime Cookies. The recipient’s taste buds will thank you.

My mother recently returned from a trip to New Orleans with her Methodist Church. They were there to rebuild homes, which, unbelievably, are still in shambles more than two years after Hurricane Katrina hit.

While my mother is retired and therefore can take a “vacation” anytime she wants, her trip fell into a new niche called “volunteer vacations” or “voluntourism.” And it just so happens that I wrote about this trend towards giving back during your time off in a new article in Executive Travel magazine, which is out now.

I’d like to go with my mom next year if she goes back to New Orleans to build houses. That seems up my alley, especially since my husband and I spent this past Thanksgiving long weekend redoing our upstairs bathroom (we got as far as hanging new dry wall). I’m not sure I could handle the “pee in a pit” experience that some of the folks I’d interviewed for my story had had, though. That’s roughing it a bit much for me–I joke that for me, camping = sleeping with the windows open!

Have you considered taking a volunteer vacation? As I mention in my piece, a recent Travelocity survey of people interested in volunteer vacations showed that 33 percent said conservation and the environment are their choice causes. Given who reads this blog, I’ll bet that represents a good chunk of you guys.

Let me know what you think–about my story and the notion of volunteer vacations.

As you probably already know, today is CyberMonday. It is the online retailers’ version of Black Friday, a day when online shoppers tend to place the lion’s share of their holiday orders.

I imagine that most people back from the long Thanksgiving weekend aren’t ready to get right back to work, so they log on to their favorite websites and finish up their holiday shopping (which I’m sure is totally illegal at some companies). In fact, a Shop.org survey, conducted this weekend by BIGresearch, shows that 84.6 million consumers plan to shop online from home or at work tomorrow, up from 72.0 million in 2007 and 60.7 million in 2006.

I got a jump start on my CyberMonday shopping over the weekend by taking advantage of Lands’ End’s free shipping offer (which I believe ended yesterday). And I could have sworn that tons of other people were doing the same–my Internet was slower than it’s been in a long time, making me think that all of my neighbors were online as well.

Nonetheless, e-tailers are not going to let CyberMonday pass them by without offering deals to lure shoppers to their websites. According to another Shop.org survey, this time conducted by Shopzilla (the comparison shopping site), here’s what shoppers can expect to find today–and they don’t even need to wake up at 4 a.m.:

* 83.7 percent of retailers will have a special promotion for CyberMonday, up from 72.2 percent last year.

* 24.5% of retailers will be holding one-day sales.

* 22.5% of e-tailers will offer free shipping on all purchases.

So how will you find all of your CyberMonday deals? I would recommend checking out CyberMonday.com, a website that Shop.org launched two years ago, and which features holiday promotions and special savings from more than 600 retailers. Starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern, CyberMonday.com will feature steals and deals from various online retailers.

Here is a breakdown of the day’s offerings, all of which you can access via CyberMonday.com’s homepage:

7-8 a.m.
KBToys.com
$5 off an order of $35 or more

8-9 a.m.
Overstock.com
Save $120 on Dyson Vacuum (Overstock is also offer free shipping on many purchases.)

10-11 a.m.
Sierra Trading Post
20% off with no order minimum, plus free shipping (excludes bikes, boats, and sport optics)

11 a.m.- 12 p.m.
eToys.com
$5 off an order of $35 or more

1-2 p.m.
Discovery Store
Receive 50% off plus free shipping when you purchase items from these Discovery Channel shows: the Planet Earth DVD Set, the When We Left Earth, The NASA Missions DVD Set, and the Blue Planet DVD Set

5-6 p.m.
Red Envelope
20% off sitewide (a couple of my girlfriends rave about this site for its unique gifts)

7-8 p.m.
eBags.com
Buy one, get one 25% off, plus free shipping (check out this site’s cool collection of reusable shopping bags)

8-9 p.m.
ProFlowers.com
20% off sitewide on holiday flowers and gifts

I’m sure other CyberMonday deals are going to pop into my inbox this morning, and I will be sorely tempted to check them out. Yesterday, Target and Circuit City both emailed me about their CyberMonday specials. Given that we’ve budgeted for holiday gifts and bought most of them already, I’ll probably just hit “delete” on all of those tempting emails. I’d really like to end this holiday season in the black, and right now we’re on track to comfortably do that.

Anyway, let me know if you score any great deals today.