act local, yo // my PSA for the year... and some really cute kiddos.

i'm not huge on resolutions.  but alas, january rolls around & i get just as excited as the next guy to ship shape my life back in order & make a few goals.  aside from the obvious eat better & get into shape goals, one thing i'm really trying to do more of this year is spend my money at locally owned businesses.  it's the third month of the year & i could definitely be doing better... but this goal has gained some steam in the last week.

recently a super cool local toy store went out of business.  commenters on all of the newspaper articles & facebook posts went on & on about what an indication this was that everything is going to hell in a hand basket.  that the city is falling apart & how worried they are about the state of our downtown.  and then a number of productive & thought provoking posts actually popped up, too.  one of them really struck a cord with me as it went on & on about how we should consider locally owned businesses before patronizing a chain.  it specifically called out popular national brands {think red robin, applebee's & starbucks} and named places here in my city that could replace & exceed the quality of those places.  they said "if you are worried about the state of your downtown, the best thing you can do to help it is to go there & spend money."

as much as i like to think that i do a good job of supporting the little guy, there's so much more i could be doing.  and heck, now that i AM the little guy with my own small business, the need is even greater.  did you know that when you spend money at a locally owned business, almost half of it stays right in your local economy?  it's true:

// for every $100 spent at a local business, $45 is reinvested locally.  for the same $100 spent in any national chain, only $13 stays //

so elliot, parker & i went out & did our part today.  it was cold & rainy & instead of hitting up the starbucks drive-thru, we went downtown.  we got some hot chocolates & banana bread & then walked down the street to one of our favorite specialty stores.  i let each kiddo pick out a toy under a few bucks & we went on our merry way.

it really wasn't much.  but if becomes part of our routine to consciously choose small business over bigger chains it eventually will be.  just something to think about.  and thus ends my public service announcement for the year.