New Guide to Ending Sweatshops

Co-Op America recently launched their 2008 Guide to Ending Sweatshops. They want to make it easier for you to avoid the worst companies, reward the best, and take action to keep sweatshop labor out of the supply chain.

Be a conscious spender, be aware, make good choice, support Co-Op America so they can help us!

Organic Style Early Bunny Special: Tulips + Chocolate Giveaway

Hey Conscious Spenders! If you are in the market to send flowers, go organic!

Organic Style sent an email out announcing a special flower deal with OrganicBouquet.com - they are offering a FREE chocolate gift with Easter Tulips!


Organic gifty fabulousness!

Kenneth Cole Launches New Fashion aWEARness Blog

Kenneth Cole has always been a trendsetter, not only with his stellar style, but also in his social, political and environmental activism.

Now Cole has an aWEARness (how cool is he?) blog to communicate and generate awareness about social issues and more.

It's about time fashion REALLY met function. Support companies like Kenneth Cole who are gusty enough to flex the art of fashion and the power of media to influence greater good.

Check out the new aWEARness blog by Kenneth Cole.

This YouTube Video put on by the Kenneth Cole team made me cry at my desk. This is what it's about conscious spenders - being aware and learning to care...

Last Day of Patagonia's 50% Savings on Warm Gear!

Hey Conscious Spenders!
If you need (note - NEED) any winter or warm gear that will last through the ages (Patagonia stuff lasts forever!) Then you can still find super steals and deals on fall/winter Patagonia clothing.

The Winterfest Sale ends today!

Shop Patagonia Sale

WorldofGood.com eBay community is LIVE!

I am so excited to share with you all that we have a great new conscious spending resource! WorldofGood, powered by eBay, is an awesome online community where individuals can create positive change through commerce, as part of a global community.

The founders saw the need for education and collaboration so people could be more empowered with the choices they make to better impact people and the planet. World of Good partnered with eBay to marry passion with web power and voila! Super conscious community!

What I love about the site is the people-powered component. It's all about collaboration, trusted information and transparency into how and where products are made.

Three Leaf Cards blogs periodically on World of Good, and I encourage you to bookmark their site and create an account and make a difference!

There was a great interview on Treehugger.co, about the founder - check it out! Treehugger Interview: Robert Chatwani, eBay’s Greenest Rising Star

Give TOMS this Valentine's Day

Conscious Spenders,
Since Valentine's Day is coming, I thought I'd focus my posts on socially responsible companies that serve a greater good (Since Three Leaf Cards is all about making a difference, we'd feature companies in our same camp!)

If you give Tom's shoes as a gift (gifts to yourself are ok too!) every pair you buy = one given to a child in need.

Oh, and let's not forget to mention that Tom is a megababe, we can consciously support cute do-gooders - woohoo!

Be well!

Don't Hate Me Because I am Eco-Beautiful

Eco Friendly Fashion never looked hotter! ShopBop.com has three pages of eco-friendly pages which is a great step towards fashion getting green.

Be a conscious spender and wear what is already in your closet. If you NEED anything else, then buy eco-friendly clothing and make a conscious fashion statement!

You can find other eco-friendly fashion on inhabitat.com

and Stewart and Brown - Organic Fashion Pioneers

and if you want to eco-fluff the heck outta your interior design, then Livingreen is a hot shop!

Sustainable Furniture - New Conscious Choice

When I attended last year's Co-Op America Conference in San Francisco, I walked away inspired and committed to making choices about where my money goes to help make a difference.

My conscious choice of the week was investing in new office furniture, but not just any office furniture, sustainable office furniture!

I am buying National Office Furniture not because it's a cheap deal (oh noooo!), but because they are a company that cares and I am buying (or should I say investing) in a QUALITY product that I will have forever. Plus, my home office will look really sexy and that's a plus too!!!

If you want to make conscious choices, support companies that WALK THE TALK. Need advice on how to find these companies? Check out members of 1% for the Planet. Three Leaf Cards is a member of 1% for the Planet, a very conscious choice that counts to consumers who want to support companies that put their money where their mouth is!

Free Envirosax Shopping Bag with a $50 Greenloop Purchase

Need clothes? Buy green! Greenloop has sustainable clothes that look as good as they make you feel AND they are giving away sweet bags with a $50 purchase! Just enter code ENVIROSAX into the Order Comments box under your Payment Method at checkout, and Greenloop will include 1 FREE Envirosax Shopping Bag for each $50.00 of your purchase.

Shop on conscious spender!

Great Site - www.uptownliz.com

Hey Readers,
I wanted to share a new site from my new blog pal, Ramona Russell.

www.uptownliz.com was created in memory of Ramona's 28 year old sister, Liz who sadly lost her life from breast cancer last year. The site that supports giving back through shopping.

Uptown Liz (www.uptownliz.com) promotes products from companies whose proceeds directly give back to charitable organizations.

Check it out and support fellow conscious business people....our dollars can make a difference!

Confessions of a Conscious Shopper

Sometimes it's tough being a wild web woman. You live behind a computer screen, your only interactions with the outside world are via email or web conferencing and you feel all alone in your little wild web world. Now, don't get me wrong...my lack of commute and work flexibility is great, but sometimes you just have "one of those days"...

...And sometimes when the going gets tough, the tough just has to go shopping....

So I was at a meeting (yes, an actual get in the car and meet people in person meeting) and the shopping mall was on the way home...going back to my home office and sitting behind the laptop was not desirable and since I was already in the shopping area, I realize that it would be less impactful to shop now versus make a second driving trip (you are hearing all the shopping excuses already!) back to the mall, so I make a conscious shopping choice to STOP, SHOP and ROLL....keep rolling with me as I confess my not-so guilty shopping sins....

Let me first pat my conscious spending self on the back for taking my canvas bag with me before I started my shopping extravaganza. Go me...ok, rolling on...

First shopping stab - AVEDA. I love Aveda so much I want to marry them. Their products are amazing, the company is cool and most importantly, they are dedicated to making a difference. I try to consciously support companies that do good and Aveda is top on my shop therapy list. Did you know that they are the first beauty company manufacturing with 100% certified wind power?

So, I walk into Aveda feeling pitiful and tired and I am overwhelmed with a stellar customer service "Welcome to Aveda!" greeting. As I sip calming Aveda tea, I get pampered with makeup help (and honestly, I needed some help in the beautification department) a hand massage and overall stellar service. After I look like a naturally glowing goddess thanks to my Aveda superstar, I use my Aveda points (BTW, I am going to Jamaica on Aveda points, mark my conscious spending words!) and as the women are ringing me up, they thank me profusely for bringing my own canvas bag. Getting shopping support when I try to be green really rocks. Then we proceed to talk about their new wind energy movement, my goal to go to Jamaica (a la supporting Aveda) and I'm off....

My seond shop therapy stop was lululemon athletica. I had a gift certificate to the store burning a hole in my pocket and there was no better time than now. Conscious spender note - lululemon has great shopping bags I use as a gym bag or lunch bag and they give you $.50 off when you bring in any shopping bag. I love stuff like that!

I find some great workout wear that is in line with my gift certificate amount and I bought basic black so I can wear this stuff forever. Suggestion for conscious fashionistas - buy classic and the shelf life of clothing will be super long...saves shop time because you have the basics you need and you don't have the trend factors that kill clothing shelf life. lululemon has a great manifesto
that is very pro balance, health and what really matters. Another cool company that I am happy to support.

Once my canvas bag had new workout clothes and Aveda goodies, I was consciously shopped out and wanted to call it quits. I supported two great companies, felt good about my choices and now feel some redemption from my conscious shopping confessional......

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

OrganicStyle.com Offering 10% Discount!

Don't Panic - Organic Style is offering a 10% Discount! I got an email from them today - follow this link to get 10% off (they build the discount in and you see it in the shopping cart.

Skip the Mall - Shop online and support the Breast Cancer Fund!!!

Do yourself a favor and spare some stress this holiday season. Make a cup of tea, get on your computer and skip the mall and do your shopping online - who wants to go to fight the parking wars and shop for silly thneeds anyhoo?

You can shop online AND support the breast cancer fund! If you buy through their online shopping mall, they get a percentage of donation with every purchase.

The Breast Cancer Fund supports science and research to help stop breast cancer in the first place. One of my best friends is a breast cancer survivor, I have seen the impact this disease has and I LOVELOVELOVE causes like BCF that work for prevention!

Support a great cause, find great gifts and if you still have not sent cards this year, it's not too late. You can send nature-inspired, video holiday greetings online through Three Leaf Cards. 10% of every annual membership purchase goes to the non-profit organization of your choice, you can choose The Breast Cancer Fund.

Happy Holidays and Here's to Conscious Shopping!

Give the Gift of Feeding a Child for a Year

Blake Mycoskie (the absolutely handsome) owner of TOMS Shoes, sent out an email today announcing the FEED BAG PROJECT.

For every bag purchased, one child is fed for 1 full school year through the World FOOD Program. The FEED bag is designed to raise awareness and funds for hungry children and to help them get into school and out of hunger. Each FEED bag sold will provide a school year of meals for one child in need and give them the hope of an education and a regular meal. Whether you tote your FEED bag to school, work, play, or shop, remember that your bag helped to FEED and educate one child for one school year.

Need a cool gift? Buy these! Everybody needs a new grocery tote (saves paper and plastic) and it's for a good cause!

Great Conscious Spending Oprah Segment

I was surfing the web for conscious spending resources to keep the motivation for conscious holiday spending in the air and I came across a great clip from Oprah.

See Oprah's Conscious Spending Segment

It's an older TV segment, but the tips are still valid. It's about spending money with thought and reason.

There is a conscious spending quiz and video clips.

Invest in yourself for the new year, revamp your conscious spending savvy!

Green Gifts - Don't let your gift giving kill you

It's the time of year where we max out our credit cards in the name of "holiday cheer" and go crazy buying "thneeds"
four our friends, family, coworkers, contact and loved ones.

I am going to be on my green gifts soapbox until the holiday, so I thought I'd kick off my rant by suggesting how you avoid buying holiday gifts period.

I worked in retail (Saks Fifth Avenue) for years and spent my holidays selling, wrapping, selecting and taking returns for all the thneeds that people bought over the holidays. The stress kicked in, conscious spending went out the door. It never failed, I watched people get Christmas coo-coo every year and as much as it made my commissions soar as a shopgirl, it started my loathing for stupid holiday shopping and my start of scaling the madness.

Here's how I started saving my green for the holidays:

1. I stopped the gift exchange stupidness - who needs to buy a gift to get a useless one in return? It ends up in the trash (bad for landfills) or takes up space OR you give a nice gift and get one that is so-so in return. Stupid, done, off the purchase list.

2. I asked my family to stop gift exchanging and give to charity instead. This took my parents years to break the habit (but you know, two years after getting a card that says "I donated to charity" that was not attached to a gift and they come around). I live in a teeny condo, this change has saved my wallet, my space and my stress. It's tough to get this in place, but it is SO worth it.

3. Give gifts to kids under 15 ONLY. The holidays are for kids anyways! Some on, put your moolah into giving to the lives that love this time of year - the smiles you get in exchange are so worth it.

4. Give the gift of connection. I try to take my holiday cash and put it into visits and dinners with family. We don't need a damn thing for the holidays, treat the ones you love to conversation and a great meal. So worth it!

5. When you do give, GIVE GIFTS FROM CONSCIOUS COMPANIES. I give client gifts as I am so grateful for my great work partners and I give gifts from companies like Aveda (Aveda candles are a PERFECT gift)!

Make the holidays meaningful - start by being a conscious spender! Be green and save green!

Be a Conscious Shopper - Use Reuseable Bags!

I am sure a lot of us are frantically doing last minute Turkey Day Shopping. Before you get in the car, make a conscious choice to use reusable bags to reduce your impact on the planet!

Co-Op America awarded their annual People's Choice Award prize this year to ReusableBags.com, a member of their Green Business Network devoted to helping society overcome its addiction to the ubiquitous petroleum-based plastic shopping bag.

"Our ongoing mission since day one has been to change the status quo of society's use-and-toss mentality by providing sound, practical ideas and products," says Vincent Cobb, founder of ReusableBags.com. "We were thrilled to be nominated the past two years, and are incredibly honored to win this year's award."

In addition to being a GREAT company, the eco-friendly shopping bags are great. They are durable, make transporting goods easier and make the planet less landfill-y (it's late, I made that word up)

Buy a few eco-friendly shopping bags and store them in your car, then you never have an excuse to forget and you will spread the conscious spending love!