If you’re reading this right now, you’ve probably already missed the biggest Black Friday deals. Or, given that they started last night at midnight, you may already have gotten them and are only now waking up from your post-consumer binging slumber.

Either way, the shopping madness that follows Thanksgiving Day is a boon for some, a bummer for others. It offers not-to-be-missed price reductions on much needed consumer goods, or represents just one more indication of our society’s inevitable downfall.

There are always alternatives, though. Here are a few.

Buy Nothing Day: If one of society’s biggest problems is over-consumerism, then the solution it simple — don’t participate. Buy Nothing Day dates back to the early 1990s, when social activists decided that post-Thanksgiving shopping was simply a step too far in everything that was wrong with us. This year’s Buy Nothing Day may be more symbolic than most — the folks at Adbusters, an alternative Canadian magazine responsible for branding and publicizing the day, are also the ones that planted the seed that became the worldwide Occupy movement. This year, the two have come together — Buy Nothing Day is Occupy Xmas.

Really Really Free Market: Speaking of Occupy DC, the K Street campers are putting on a Really Really Free Market today at their McPherson Square home base. What’s that? Simple — if you have something to give, come on down and give it. At the same time, someone might have something to give that you want, and it’s there for the taking.

Record Store Day: If you’re still into vinyl, today is the day for you — it’s Record Store Day. The City Paper has all the details and local participants, but if you’re looking for one of 60 limited edition recordings by artists ranging from The Doors to the Kings of Leon, steer yourself to your local indie record shop.

Shop Local First: There’s always been a tension between big box retailers and your local mom-and-pop stores — the former may offer the better deals, but the latter are what offer our neighborhoods and cities the diversity and vibrancy that makes them what they are. This year, you can split the difference and offer your business to both. Tomorrow is Shop Local First Day, when local business throughout the city encourage you to spend your dollars with them. (Of every $100 spent, they argue, local businesses return $68 to the community, while national retailers only manage $43.) An additional plus? Local shop owners probably won’t pepper spray you. Also: Small Business Saturday.