litchfield magazine

Articles:

Buy Local

A One Tank Trip

Profiting From The Green Movement

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Lexington

ContentsFrom The Editor 5

Showers 10

Kitchens 12

Profiting From the Green Movement 13

Umbrellas 14

Pillows 17

Sunrooms 20

Wardrobes 22

Barter Is Smart Business 23

Fans 24

Books 26

Time To Refinance or Buy!? 28

Chandeliers 29

A One Tank Trip 32

Curtains 33

Flags 35

South Carolina Firsts 36

Outdoors 38

About North Charleston 39

Carolina Girl Gear 41

South Carolina Wedding or Event Planners: Career Outlook 42

Beds 44www.Litchfield.sc Online Magazine | 2009 3

Buy LoCaLPromoting local business is as simple as having other companys business cards or brochures posted on a board in your store. In an effort to promote your area, we are distributing decals that say Check us out at www.Litchfield.sc, in hopes that local shoppers will visit the site to find local restaurants, clothing, specials, coupons and more. We are doing our part, so please join us, and promote your local merchants, and everyone will benefit!

top ten reasons to think LoCaLBuy LoCaL - Be LoCaL heLp LoCaL Businesses

1. Buy LoCaL -- Support yourself and Litchfield. Many studies have revealed when you buy from an independent, locally owned business in the your own area, rather than a nationally owned businesses, considerably more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses. Local businesses continue to strengthen the economic base of the local community. These include case studies showing that local owned businesses generate a premium in enhanced economic impact to the community and our tax base.

2.support LoCaL area Community Groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller Litchfield area business owners than they do from large companies.

3. keep your area unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun -- all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind local businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character. Local tourism businesses also benefit. When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace. ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust.

4. reduCe environmentaL impaCt: Locally owned businesses in your area can make more local purchases requiring less transportation. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

5. Create additionaL JoBs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in the community, provide the most jobs to local residents.

6. reCeive Better serviCe: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products and services they offer, and take more time to get to know customers.

Cont. next page

From the editor

www.Litchfield.sc Online Magazine | 2009 5

www.Litchfield.sc Online Magazine | 2009 6

From the editor - Continued

7.invest in your Community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, and they are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the communitys future.

8. put your taxes to Good use: Lo-cal businesses require a relatively little infra-structure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering your area.

9. Buy What you Want, not What BiG advertisinG BudGets Want you to Buy: A South Carolina marketplace com-prised of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products and ser-vices based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, promises a much broader range of product choices.

10. promote LoCaL prosperity: An escalating body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, en-trepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

Larry Local

www.Litchfield.sc Online Magazine | 2009 8

CEO Dennis Stewart

EdiTor in ChiEFLarry Local

CrEATivE DirECTOrDaniel Holliday

ArT DirECTOrAmy Coats

WEB DEvELOpErs Matthew Coats

AdMinisTrATion & MArkETinGVivi MorilloAngie Woods

WWW.LiTChFiELd.sC onLinE MAGAZinECopyright 2009South Carolina Internet Authority.All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs.

3290 Ashley Phosphate Road Charleston, SC 29418Phone: (843)720-9604Fax: (843)725-4734Info@Litchfield.sc www.Litchfield.sc

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If you can organize your kitchen, you can organize your life.

Louis Parrish

proFitinG From the Green movementBy Zach Hanebrink

People in South Carolina are active in going green and doing their part to save the environment, save money and promote the local economy in the process. There are many green initiatives in the state from local blogs getting the word out to green businesses, green home builders and homes, recycling programs, as well as, organizations designed to promote South Carolina agriculture and SC products. Surely you have heard the buzz on going green and if you want to start getting involved and doing your part, here are some tips to get you started:

Avoid letting your cAr idLe - Every second you spend idling your cars engine means needlessly wasting gas, as well as, adding wear and tear on your vehicle. Idling over 10 seconds wastes more gas than is needed for startup. Overall, Americans idle away 2.9 billion gallons of gas a year, worth around $78.2 billion.

turn off your computer - Save energy and wear and tear on your machine by shutting down your computer when you are done using it and in the evenings before you leave work. Youll save an average of $90 of electricity a year. The Department of Energy recommends shutting off your monitor if you arent going to use it for more than 20 minutes, and the whole computer if youre not going to use it for longer than two hours.

Cont. next page

www.Litchfield.sc Online Magazine | 2009 13

Dont sit under an umbrella waiting for it to

rain

proFitinG on the Green movement- Continued

Ask your power compAny aBout Green enerGy - More than half of all electricity consumers in the U.S. now have the option of purchasing green power from their local utility. Find out how you can purchase green power by visiting the Department of Energys state-by-state list of providers. You can also check with your own utility to see whats available. Palmetto Clean Energy is a local South Carolina green energy program http://www.palmettocleanenergy.org/default.asp

keep sensible tAbs on your thermostat - It is to your benefit to pays to pay close attention to your thermostat, since most South Carolina households spend 50 to 70% of their energy budgets on heating and cooling. For every degree you lower the thermostat, youll save between 1% and 3% of your heating bill. Do the same thing in reverse with air conditioning.

wAsh your clothes in CoLd Water - An easy way to clean green is to turn the dial on your washing machine to cold. Most laundry loads do not require hot water, and 90% of the energy used by washing machines goes into heating the water. The higher the water temperature, the higher the cost to you and the planet.

enroll in online billing - Save natural resources, as well as late fees, by registering with online bill-paying options. Paperless billing not only saves trees; it also reduces the fossil fuel needed to get all those billing envelopes from them to you and back again. Plus, youll save money on stamps.

get rid of junk mAil - Approximately 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water are used to send junk mail to Americans annually. You can eliminate 75% of unsolicited mail by registering on the Mail Preference Service on the Direct Marketing Association website (for a fee of $1). Within 90 days, most unsolicited mail will stop.

print on both sides of paper - Most software programs give the option for double sided printing, but yet most still print only on one side of the page. Consider this: the U.S. alone uses 4 million tons of copy paper annually, about 27 pounds per person. Save dough and South Carolina landfills.

cArpool! - If your commute to work is 25 miles each way and at least half is in typical stop-and-go traffic, youll save roughly 10 percent of your monthly carbon emissions by carpooling. Not to mention saving money on gas!

buy certified south CaroLina produCe - The Certified South Carolina program is a new, exciting, cooperative effort among producers, processors, wholesalers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) to brand and promote South Carolina products. Our goal is for consumers to be able to easily identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

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