Wise Ideas

Keepin' It Real

The gym is going to be packed this morning with people I've never seen before.

The endless bombardment of weight loss and smoking cessation ads makes me want to eat and smoke.

And really - who has time to organize their closets?  That's right up there on the priority list with vacuuming behind the bed and cleaning the refrigerator bins.

Ah, New Years. The time of year when we all set ridiculously high goals for ourselves so that, in a few short weeks time, we can all feel crushing guilt when we fail.

I could, right now, go searching for a few links to articles that will argue a)  why New Year's is a good time to make life-changing resolutions, or b) why New Year's is a bad time to make life-changing resolutions.  But one of my New Year's resolutions is not to link you readers to stunningly obvious articles that you wouldn't even read in a doctor's waiting room.

So today - before I go to the gym packed with all those people who will only disappear in a month - I will share with you some realistic resolutions that I think I can keep.

1.  Instead of promising to keep my temper with my two increasingly clever and challenging children - I promise that in the hours after I yell at them, I'll attempt to have a calm and reasoned discussion with them about why I yelled and why they don't really want me to turn into my mother.

2.  Instead of denying myself that piece of chocolate, cookie or beer - I'll just eat or drink it.  Who am I kidding.  If I'm going to work out every day for an hour-plus, I deserve it!

3.  Instead of saving $3.25 by not buying that cup of Starbucks coffee at 4pm on a Thursday afternoon after running the kids from school to guitar lessons to swim team and racing to the store to buy dinner and trying to find a free wi-fi zone in the car to get some work done before I have to pick up the kids again and drive home to fix dinner and get to the PTA meeting at 6:30 --- I'm going to buy that damn cup of coffee!

4. Instead of making sure all the laundry is folded, all my email is answered, my blog is ready for posting and my school auction to-do list complete -- done or not, I'm just going to go to bed by 11.

5.  Instead of pummeling myself if the school auction doesn't meet the fundraising goals set for it last year before the economy tanked -- I'm going to rightly blame the recession and hand over the chairmanship of the 2010 auction to someone, anyone, other than me.

Yes, each of these resolutions sports a certain degree of self-interest, which some might call selfishness.  But having taken it upon myself to run with the "change" theme that's sweeping the country, I've decided that change in my household and my life is only achievable if I am a happier, better rested and more relaxed camper.

Dare I say this might be the case in many a middle class household - where moms have been "giving it all" and are in desperate need of a little more self-generated TLC.  Besides, it doesn't cost a cent. 

Things are rough out there in the real world. And the more realistic our expectations, the better chance we have of achieving them, and the happier we'll all be.

I'm off the gym to meet some new people........check in tomorrow as I get back to blogging about marketing, media, and everything mom.  That is, if I can get it written by 11pm tonight.

The Downsized Christmas

If there was any doubt remaining that Americans were downsizing Chrismukkah this year - it was completely erased with the news that Wal-Mart had as many shoppers this past weekend than Sears, JC Penny, Target AND Toys "R" Us combined.  Backing up that observation are recent statistics from the Pew Center showing that 73% of people survey confirm they're cutting back. 

The NY Times recently featured a special  "Holidays Downsized" section reporting about how people of different ages, faiths and economic status are adjusting and reframing their holiday traditions.  In fact, no matter what newspapers or magazines you read, radio stations you listen to or TV newscasts you watch --- you'll hear stories on exactly how we are putting the brakes on our consumer culture and realigning our values to better fit the times.

Whether it's office parties, the height of the Christmas tree or the amount spent on gifts, people are cutting back.  And it's not unusual to hear the sentiment "it's about time" pop up in these stories.  I couldn't agree more.

But instead of looking at this holiday season as a bleak imitation of years past -- there is a movement afoot to "redefine" Christmas.  "It's not about reinventing the holiday. It's about changing the way we look at gift giving and receiving," says the website Redefine-Christmas.org.  "It's taking money we usually spend on obligatory gifts with little meaning, and creating gifts of charity that give in multiple ways, to the receiver, the giver, and people who truly need. 

According to the blog, Cause Marketing, Redefine Christmas is multi-faceted media campaign involving radio, Church-based outreach, celebrities, social media, and e-greeting cards. It actually launched last holiday season -- when the recession "officially" started but the "experts" wouldn't call it one.

Although the Redefine-Christmas website leads visitors to two other websites (JustGive.org and ChangingThePresent.org) that can help you search and donate to countless charities...there are other participating organizations including Well Good LLC and the Dalio Family Foundation.

But it's one thing, as an adult, to redefine gift giving and downsize personal spending.  It's a whole other can of worms downsizing the expectations of certain members of the household who can't understand why Santa would be at the mercy of something as un-jolly as the economy.

Try explaining to a true believer why just one gift from Santa is all that's going to turn up under the tree this year, when last year he or she got five or six.

I know, I know.  It's all the fault of us parents, who have been spoiling our kids for far too long with far too much stuff.  You could, in turn, blame all our parents, who did the same thing.  It's the American way - working to give your children more than what you had. 

But it's also the American way to find an entrepreneurial end to your goals.  And according to the Wall Street Journal, countless kids are doing just that -- by selling their old toys on eBay and CraigsList to raise the money to buy the stuff their parents can't afford to buy them.  

Call it Holiday 2.0.  Now that's a redefinition of Christmas Santa and Mrs. Claus would be proud of.

Money Doesn't Grow on (Christmas) Trees

Our family made the annual pilgrimage to our favorite Christmas tree lot over the weekend.  A bustling neighborhood corner lot run by three generations of a family from nearby Half Moon Bay (although the trees are from their farm in Oregon).

The lot was jammed with families, couples and groups of college friends - all happy to be surrounded by the smell of pine and the spirit of the holidays.  And trees were being measured, bought and bundled at a brisk pace.  From the outside, it did indeed look like the Christmas tree business was recession-proof - as NPR and a number of local newspapers nationwide have been reporting.

But if you stay among the pines and watch long enough - you will notice that the tall Doug firs and the imposing Nobles are going unsold - serving just as backdrops for snapshots.  The majority of the trees being taken out and loaded on or into cars are the smallest trees.  "Charlie Browns" as my son calls them.

It seems, if our neighborhood tree lot is any indication, that America's downsized Christmas includes their tree.

Christmas is a holiday driven by traditions:  the family heirloom decorations, the cookie recipes, the annual holiday card or letter.  The things that connect us to our past and that we, in turn, pass onto our children.  The tree and all its trimmings are a big part of that.  But at $130 a pop for a 6+ footer, few can afford that kind of expense - especially when it  will be abandoned curbside for recycling in just a few short weeks.  That money would be better spent for something UNDER the tree.

Which is why, I gather, people are cutting their tree expenses in half this season - and walking away perfectly happy with a 4 to 5 foot tree.  It's easier to string lights on a small tree, easier to wrestle it into the stand and then into the house, and just as fun to gather 'round and decorate. Just put it on top of a crate or old table and drape the tree skirt around it - voila!  A 7 footer at half the price!

This could be a tradition that lasts well past this recession.  And literally, a way to teach the kids that money doesn't grow on trees.  Besides, a $50 tree brings the smell of Christmas into the house as much as one twice its price. 

Linus was right - it "really isn't such a bad tree after all."  In fact, I think we love our Charlie Brown tree even more than its predecessors. 

The Office (Party)

Memo to staff:  quit your moaning about the cancellation or reduction of the annual office holiday party.  I haven't heard this much whining since last year, when it turns out the recession actually started, and bosses first started cutting back on canapes. 

According to the Washington Business Journal, "a recent survey by Battalia Winston Amrop, a New York-based executive search company, found that 81 percent of businesses are planning a holiday celebration this year, a record low in the 20-year history of the survey."

Hey - at least you're getting a holiday party.

I work in a business where there is no office party.  In fact, there is no "office."  Just a desk, a laptop, a printer, a phone, and a bunch of stacked papers in need of filing.  I am part of the 20 million or so work-from-home contractors, freelancers, run-your-own-business, stay-at-home parent types who never get the joy - or humiliation - of attending a holiday office party. 

According to the latest U.S. Census figures, approximately 3.6 percent of Americans worked from home in 2005. The statistics show there are a lot of us in cities including Austin, Texas (5 percent); Colorado Springs, Colo. (4.9 percent); Portland, Ore. (5.3 percent); San Francisco (6.3 percent); and Seattle (5.1 percent). 

Maybe we just should have a work-from-home office party flash mob at some bar or, even better, somebody's house!  Just not mine.

Some businesses that are finding holiday flings a bit tasteless in this financial crisis have turned their annual fete into a charity event.  For example, as MarketWatch reports, OfficeLinks, the premier provider of ready-to-use offices and meeting rooms, has chosen "A Night of Giving" as the theme of its holiday celebration this week.  Benefiting from the frivolity will be City Harvest, New York Restoration Project and Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

And before you bosses go and cancel your holiday "do" this year, don't forget that if you do, you're taking money out of the pockets of the caterer, bartenders and whos-its whose job it is to make your party happen.

That was the point former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown made to gazillionaire Gordon Getty -- who recently called off his 75th birthday fireworks bash.  However, as the SF Chronicle's Matier and Ross report, "the Gettys are making good for the companies and their employees who would have staffed a collection of party tents four times the size of the St. Francis Hotel ballroom."  Although there was no shindig, the help will still be paid at a cost to the Getty's of $5 million.

And finally, consider this - which I dug up from a 1966 archived New York Times article titled "The Office Party Is Called Humbug": 

"The Christmas office party-- that delight of cartoonists and bane of personnel managers-- is beating a sober retreat from New York this season.  A number of executives said in interviews that the fundamental reason for Christmas office parties, namely to raise employee morale, no longer seems to apply.  'They're a mess,' declares George C. Whipple Jr., a vice president of Benton and Bowles, Inc. 'Daddy gets drunk and Mommy gets mad.'"

Some things never change...except these days mommy's getting toasted, too.  However, it was this nugget in the same 1966 article which I leave you with this Friday:

"The Christmas office party first flourished in the Depression, when many workers could not afford an evening on the town."

So workers of America -- whether from home or the office -- it's time to party like it's 1929!  Have a great weekend!

Home Cookin'

You can tell from my calm demeanor, list-less coat pockets and slow pace through the grocery store this week that I am NOT cooking Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. 

I have the distinct pleasure of helping my cousins out in the kitchen this year at my aunt and uncle's house in the Seattle-area.  In exchange however, I will be forced to sit next to my two bickering kids while flying to and from Sea-Tac.

But back to the madhouse that is the supermarket on the days preceeding Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

For grocery store veterans such as myself, the crowds at the market during holiday season are a study in demographics.  You can tell by the dazed looks in some shoppers eyes that they are inexperienced in the art of major-meal making.  And you can instantly tell who's just been sent there with a list --- a non-cooker who will likley spend the rest of the holiday consuming rather than creating. 

However, even before the holiday grocery shopping season commenced - I've noticed a change in the crowd at the grocery store.  There are a lot of new faces in there scanning the shelves and reading the boxes.  And they are not just buying deli items or beer.  These are home-cooking rookies - spoiled by years of restaurant dining and take-out - forced into the grocery store by recession.  The last home-cooked meal many of these novices probably had was at mom and dads!

If you don't count McDonald's, Subway and other fast food places - the restaurant industry has been in a downward spiral for more than a year, as people cut back on dining out.  Although millions of people have given up their daily lattes to save money -- they aren't giving up eating.  So it stands to reason that more people are cooking at home -- despite the fact that food prices are skyrocketing as fast as the Dow is falling.

And as these newbies hit the grocery stores - they are at once overwhelmed by the choice they have in brands and looking to save cash.  Which partially explains the spike in business for old familiar brands like Campbell's and Kraft, as well as increased sales in less expensive store-brand items.

This trend even prompted The NYTimes' Jane E. Brody to write a sort-of primer for the home-cooking neophytes - which includes the prediction that "you may just find that when the economic crisis eases, you're not even tempted to return to your old dependence on foods made by others."

I've not news for Ms. Brody:  I've been home-cooking for my family for going on 12 years now -- and all I really want is a break!  What Brody doesn't address is the boredom of coming up with a dinner idea 365 days a years...and the time it takes to shop for all those meals.

Which again, explains my calm demeanor and slow pace through the grocery store this week.  For once - I'm NOT cooking dinner tomorrow night.  And this Thanksgiving -- that's what I'm really thankful for.

Happy Turkey Day to you and yours! 

A Less-Bloody-and-More-Green Era in Packaging

What Christmas is complete without dad screaming the F-word as he stomps around looking for an ax to free some Bratz dolls from their manufacturer's prison.

We've all been there - whether it's trying to peel the plastic back from and untwist a bunch of tiny My LIttle Pet Shop accessories, or prying open an impenetrable plastic clamshell to get at a pair of high-tech headphones. 

Without fail --- someone ends up getting hurt.  It's a Christmas tradition!  And it apparently even has a name:  wrap rage.  I think the (now legally-challenged) high tech executive Mark Cuban said it best on his blog, after drawing blood while opening a Seagate hard drive from its packaging:  "WHO THE F*** DESIGNED THE PACKAGING ON THIS THING AND WHY DO THEY STILL HAVE A JOB !!!!!"

Well, it seems some manufacturers AND one online superstore are trying to staunch the holiday blood flow with some new packaging ideas that just might become trends.  As CNET reported recently, a packaging company called MeadWestvaco has redesigned the traditional plastic clamshell enclosures in which most high-tech toys are sold. 

According to CNET, the new packaging, called Natralock, "is better for the environment (half the plastic of clamshell); isn't totally impossible to open; and won't put you in danger of slicing yourself."  CNET's Josh Lowensohn even made this nifty little video and posted it on YouTube, demonstrating the "ease" of Natralock packaging - although there was a small struggle as you can see for yourself.

On its website, Natralock claims to be a much greener packaging solution than the old clamshell, because it uses "50-60 percent less plastic on average than clamshells—enabling manufacturers to achieve bolder graphics, reduce production costs and improve the consumer's experience without compromising security, durability or visibility."

Also looking to green his image and reduce wrap rage, is Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, who recently unveiled a multi-year "Frustration-Free Packaging Initiative."  “I shouldn’t have to start each Christmas morning with a needle nose pliers and wire cutters,” Bezos, the father of four little kids, tells the NYTimes.

Starting this month, Amazon is working with some of its major retailers including Mattel, Fisher Price and Microsoft- to ship some of their best-selling products to Amazon in plain, recyclable cardboard boxes, which will in turn be sent to you.  Oh so simple, oh so green...or brown as it were.

I'm willing to bet scores of other companies won't be far behind in finding that shipping sweet spot between anti-theft and anti-consumer packaging. Frankly, I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner - as I wrote in my old blog, The Kitchen Think, more than a year ago in a post I called "Packaging Gone Wild!"

But I must admit, there's a little part of me that's  going to miss that point on Christmas morning when the blood flows and the swearing starts.  That's when I usually creep quietly off to the kitchen to get a calming nip of Christmas cheer. 

I guess I'll have to find another excuse this year - perhaps when the sibling bickering begins.  That's something no-one will ever find a solution to.

A Charlie Brown-ier Christmas (or should that be "Joe the Plumber?")

Enough about Joe the Plumber.

Let's talk Christmas.  Or Hannukah.  Or Kwanzaa.  Or whatever holiday you happen to celebrate in December.  The point is - I'm pretty certain the upcoming spending season has already crossed your mind as you watch the Dow dive on nearly a daily basis.

And even if you haven't given the holidays much thought yet - you can bet worried retailers have.  New figures out yesterday show that the bottom fell out of retail sales last month.."their longest slump in at least 16 years," according to Bloomberg. 

Numerous stores have already decked the halls and launched the deals they hope will save their bottom line from the Economic Crises Grinch.  It's already been a horrible year, with a number of the nation's most familiar stores in bankruptcy, as you can see on the NBC Nightly News.  And as USA Today reports, because the holiday season brings stores most if not all of their annual profits, it's "likely to be a make-or-break one for many small retailers and those that were struggling before the economy's dramatic slide."

All the trees and tinsel - which are already up in some stores in an attempt to spur spending - can't cover up the panic.  Shoppers will notice less inventory on the shelves and fewer sales people on the floor.  Conversely, stores will undoubtedly be seeing fewer shoppers.

According to USA Today, a recent survey of 1,000 Wal-Mart shoppers found that "39% indicated they will shop earlier and make other changes to help stretch their holiday cash, 39% said they plan to buy less-expensive items, and 35% said they planned to buy gifts for fewer people."

And while this is really a bad time to be selling cars, electronics, and cashmere sweaters ---- it's apparently a great time to be selling toys.  As The Hackensack Record reported recently, "executives from the country's top toy companies were as giddy as kids in a toy store as they gathered for an industry holiday preview in Manhattan, saying they believe they have strong products and a level of consumer demand that is recession-resistant."

So while higher gas prices and lower spending are expected to impact sales this holiday season -- toy bosses believe mom and dad are more likely to buy something for the kids rather than for each other.  Wal-Mart is making that bet, too, by luring parents into stores now by cutting prices on popular toys, as is Toy R Us, which sent me this eFlyer last night.

"Given current conditions, some (shoppers) need to spread out their Christmas shopping over a longer time-frame than they may have last year," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Linda Blakely tells Reuters.  

I feel bad for all the businesses and in turn, all their employees, that probably won't survive much past this holiday season.  It won't be good overall for the economy - and bodes poorly for a recovery in the near-future. 

But let's take a step back from the economic precipice for just a moment, and ask a question:  would it really be such a bad thing to have fewer gifts under the tree this year?  Haven't we all complained over the years how the holidays have grown too materialistic?

The Grinch may steal our Christmas this year, but we can always look to Linus to remind us what the holiday season is really all about in the first place.  And that's even something Joe the Plumber could probably get behind.

Spooky Economy Not Scaring Halloween Spenders

I took the kids this weekend for our annual pilgrimage to the Halloween Spirit Store, and the scariest thing I saw there - beside the sexy costumes for little girls and the Abu Ghraib-like hanging man decoration complete with screaming sound effects - was the fact that people were in line at the cash registers 10-deep charging up their credit cards like there was no tomorrow.

All this spending, in spite of the fact that "consumer spending for the quarter just ended will almost certainly shrink, the first quarterly decline in nearly two decades," The NYTimes reports today.  However, fourth quarter statistics may not be quite as frightening.

Over the past decade, Halloween has become a behemoth holiday for retailers rivaled only by Christmas.  In fact, since 2003, spending on Halloween has nearly doubled, according to Advertising Age.  But I would have thought that this economy, and particularly the financial nightmares of the past two weeks, would have scared people off this year.  Not so.

My anecdotal evidence can be backed up by recent statistics from the National Retail Federation, which expects Halloween spending this year to reach $5.77 billion dollars.  That's a heckuva lot of plastic vampire teeth!

According to the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, more Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year, as compared to last year (64.5% vs. 58.7%).  Apparently, says the the NRF, “consumers--who have been anxious and uncertain for the past several months--may be looking at Halloween as an opportunity to forget the stresses of daily life and just have a little fun.”

And while any consumer spending helps jump-start our dismal economy --- this Halloween spending spree we're all on doesn't bode well for that other, more cheery holiday that's just around the corner.  Anxious retailers are stocking less for the upcoming Christmas season, and if you believe a new poll out by American Express Publishing, even the wealthy are reportedly planning to spend less. 

I guess if the Economic Grinch steals Christmas, we ought to be thankful the Great Pumpkin is saving Halloween. 

Still - the whole mess scares me more than any mummy ever could.

Nation in Need of a Vacation

FROM THE ARCHIVES of The Kitchen Think, July 5, 2007

I see you're back at work again, either in your office or your home office, after taking the 4th of July off.  "Of course I'm back at work again," you say, "since the 4th fell in the middle of the week.  What'd ya expect?"

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

You're just like a growing number of Americans who are choosing work over time off.  Or, as ABC's Good Morning America calls it, "The Death of the American Vacation."

According to a new survey by the travel website Expedia, while the number of per year vacation days American workers are given by their employers has increased from 12 to 14 days in the past year...the majority of us are only using 10 of those days - and just letting those other four disappear into thin air.

While the Expedia survey found that 35 percent of workers forgo vacation days due to job security (or lack of it), the majority of them (65 percent) blame stress.  Not the stress of their jobs, per say.  But rather the stress of preparing to go on vacation, the stress of the actual vacation, and the stress of returning to piled-up work following the vacation. 

And those who actually take their vacation time - often take work with them.  You know the types:  twiddling with their Blackberries by the side of the pool watching the kids having fun, but not doing so themselves.

A survey conducted last month by Yahoo Hot Jobs had similar results.  As you can read here at MSNBC, nearly half of the workers it polled did not take all their vacation days last year despite feeling "burned out" on the job.  And get this:  39 percent said they "were too exhausted" to plan and then take vacation.

Boy, aren't we just a bunch of sick puppies.  We won't take time off because it's too "stressful," and we're just too tired to go online and make reservations.

Sad when summer vacation becomes a thing of the past.  But I'm not going to stress out about it.  I'm just going to start packing for our mid-July week-long family camping trip now. I'm not about to let my vacation pass me by.

Mother's Day Hangover

There is no crueler Monday than today...the Monday following Mother's Day.

Less than 24 hours after being pampered with pedicures, manicures and massages...after soaking away stress in new bubbles and bath salts...after eating out with millions of other moms or sitting back and watching our kids and spouses cook us a meal...and after actually reading the Sunday paper on Sunday - we are thrown headfirst back into business-as-usual.  Which for most moms means a juggling act unmatched by even Cirque du Soleil.

This return to reality is not unexpected, but - be honest - it is not fully embraced either. 

This rude awakening after your day of leisure finds you throwing together your 400th (200 x 2 approx.) school lunch of the year, breaking up another breakfast bickering session over who gets the cheesy toy in the cereal box, filling up the van with $78.32 worth of gas to get through another week as kid-taxi, and trying to jam 8 hours of work and chores into 4 so you can better "balance" your work and family life. 

Whoever came up with the Stepford-like mantra that "everyday is Mother's Day" was sooooo wrong.  Taken literally, if every day were Mother's Day, we'd all be a lot more relaxed - and our skin would be softer, too.

It does NOT make me feel better than people like Virginia financial adviser Ric Edelman actually attempt to come up with a Mother's Worth Index, stating flatly that this "lighthearted annual study" finds that "the job-market value of the role of a mother has increased to nearly $803,000," or that a CareerBuilder.com survey finds that 43 percent of working mothers would take a pay cut to spend more time with their kids.

Motherhood as a marketing tool is nothing new...but over-use or flat out mis-use does seem to cheapen our intrinsic value.  In fact, one person who actually protested the commercialization of Mothers Day back in 1948 was the women credited with creating it - Anna Jarvis - who according to Associated Press became "bitter about what the observance had become and wished she would have never started the day because it became so out of control." 

Jarvis recognized, as do most of us, that a mother's worth cannot be measured only by what she does day-in-and-day-out, but who she is and how she chooses to live her life and pass on her values to her family.

So instead of putting a price tag on motherhood, or taking insipid surveys about what moms really want, or using Mother's Day to sell everything from mattresses to flowers to phones (a $15.8 billion holiday according to the National Retail Federation), how about instituting a Mother's Week.  Imagine, an entire 7 days in which moms across America could put their feet up and wallow in appreciation en masse...without gifts yet without guilt. 

After 7 days of that- and just before the world spins off its axis as a result of a week without moms running things - we'd all eagerly jump back into making school lunches, taxi-ing the kids hither and yon, and getting dinner on the table and homework done at a decent hour.

I mean, how much gratitude can you really stand?