Ask the Readers: What factors influence your purchases?
As the value of the dollar drops, food prices climb and the price of gas edges its way into every conversation, I’ve noticed more and more people trying to stretch their money farther. Of course, Queercents readers have been doing this for a long time and just yesterday Dawn pointed out the Joys of Frugal Living.
And if you’ve missed noticing that the increasing trend towards green life style (again, bonus points to Queercents readers for being all over that), you’ve been living under a rock. For me, there’s also a third factor that I’m constantly trying to be aware of when I make a purchase, and that’s making what I call ethical purchases, for lack of a better term.
While grocery shopping, I needed to pick up some more soap. Though I’m not immune to advertising, I’m not terribly picky about what amazing powers the soap may or may not have; as long as I wind up clean I don’t really care. However, I’ve been trying to stick to my resolution to buy products that aren’t tested on animals. Sometimes, it works out. In the case of V05, not only do they not test on animals, each bottle costs less than a dollar. A victory all around. For some products though, it’s not that easy, and on a student budget it’s sometimes hard to shell out that extra money for an ethical product, like Tom’s of Maine, which is all natural and not tested on animals but costs almost five dollars a container. It also takes time to look at all the labels for the disclaimer, and I typically don’t want to spend more time than I have to in the grocery store. What to do?
Outside the realm of toiletries, The Simple Dollar has a great recipe for DIY laundry detergent that I like because it doesn’t contain all the frightening chemicals of store bought detergent (it’s basically bar soap and borax) and, like the V05, at approximately two cents a load it’s also incredibly cheap. But like the Tom’s of Maine example, this isn’t always the case and when you move out of the grocery store it becomes more and more difficult.
Another big issue for me is trying to find ‘œsweat-free’ clothing, or clothing that wasn’t made using sweat-shop labor. I’ve been looking for a pair of spandex shorts recently (after having weighed the goofiness factor of spandex against people being able to see up my shorts while climbing) and my sister wants a pair too. Her first priority is finding the biggest discount, so sweat-free isn’t necessarily a factor for her. She found a pair for under ten dollars, and I’m left wondering whether I can stand to shell out twice as much to buy from American Apparel. In addition to feeling good about buying sweat-free though, I also feel better know that even though I spent more money, it’s worth it to spend more for a product that generally lasts longer anyway. Again, it depends on your priorities and what you’re looking for. Of course, things are never simple and American
Apparel does have those three pesky sexual harassment suits against the CEO. Sometimes you just can’t win. But since I don’t know of any other company sweat-free American made clothes, I’m stuck crossing my fingers that one day corporations will stop focusing so much on the bottom line and think a little more progressively.
I’ll get off my high horse now and say that I recognize that everyone has their own causes and issues that are near and dear to them, and that many of the people I know don’t think about their purchases in nearly the same way, so I’ll thrown in the disclaimer saying everyone is entitled to buy based on what they feel to be important, especially since it’s not always feasible financially. And I’m not perfect either; it’s hard to know the policies of all the companies on the market, and they can sneak up on you, like discovering Unilever was responsible for both Dove and Axe advertising campaigns, which seems pretty contradictory. In addition to the time, there can be a lack of options and then there’s the aforementioned expense…
Fortunately, these decisions don’t always have to be based on negativity and avoidance. I recently received a great gift from a friend, and was astonished at how thoughtful it was. I had made her a shirt that she had requested–a pink and black tee saying ‘œMy Butch Girlfriend and I Just Beat Up Your Homophobic Boyfriend,’–and as a thank you she got me a jar of jam. Jam doesn’t sound all that exciting until she explained to me that it was a Maine company (since we go to school in Maine) owned by a gay couple. She was buying local and supporting gay business, and I thought it was fantastic, because it was a kind gesture that obviously had a lot of thought behind it. Since I’m also from a very gay town, I love being able to go out and support gay owned restaurants. One store even has a map of all the gay friendly shops in the area and an HRC sticker on the window of any store is enough to get me to go in side and look. There’s a lot of immediate gratification in this one because I’m also getting to know the people I’m buying from, which is always a plus.
Ultimately, for me, a lot of times the hurt in my bank account is assuaged by the sense that in some small way my purchases went to support the causes I believe in (as a recap, no animal testing, sweat-free and, perhaps the most enjoyable, gay friendly/gay owned stores and restaurants). There’s the somewhat tired line ‘œPut your money where your mouth is,’ and though it seems to always be used in conjunction with gambling it also works well with every day purchases. It’s not always easy and it’s certainly not always cheap, so I’m curious to know how much you think about purchases in terms of issues or affiliations. Are there any really great products or companies that are also cheap that we need to be aware of? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Elizabeth: Here are some of my ethical purchases…
1. We buy eggs from chickens that are cage free.
2. One reason that I rarely eat meat is because I’ve always heard that we could eradicate world hunger if we stopped producing grain fed beef.
3. Jeanine refuses to eat fois gras. I’ll admit to ordering it on business trips to Paris.
4. I bring my own canvas bags to the grocery store each week.
5. I try to buy things from local businesses instead of the big box stores.
I have a hard time looking into issues like these because we have a culture where companies feel like we don’t have to know and we don’t want to know and maybe even we don’t care.
Slowly as I hear stories, I limit my purchases. I was shocked to hear about chocolate, for example. Most chocolate is made from cocoa beans harvested in such a way that the land is ruined after three years. That really hurt me because I love chocolate. When I heard that some companies use only cocoa beans grown in the shade of the rain forest, which is better for the soil, doesn’t destroy the rain forest, and in fact gets the farmers invested in keep thing rain forest, but which is more time consuming to do, I was very happy. Still, sometimes I accidentally buy evil chocolate and remember later, (Oops! I got the chocolate chip flavor!)
Most fish harvesting is horrible, too, scraping the ocean floor and ripping everything up. But some companies use better fishing tactics.
I buy only hormone-free milk, but I still buy regular cheese and other dairy products because of the huge price differential. Although, you know, I think I’m going to switch to hormone-free yogurt and sour cream (if available in fat-free versions) now that I mention it. I have this really awesome sharp cheddar that I love that I’m not going to quit buying, though.
I’ve also started looking for eggs from free-range chickens, hoping those poor stupid little birds can be a lot happier.
I seem to have developed some sort of skin allergy, and people are often allergic to perfumes, so now I get only perfume-free shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, and laundry detergent. That’s not easy.
Also, I don’t get antibacterial soap (very difficult to find). Just washing with regular soap washes away the bacteria if you rub long enough, so it’s not needed. And if it’s anything like antibiotics, it’s just training the bacteria to become resistant. Or maybe it’s more like alcohol, which I think doesn’t have this effect. I don’t even know.
I try to get clothing and wood furniture used. Oh, and cars. And I like high gas mileage because it’s correlated with lower pollution. I walk to places that are nearby and take a bus to work.
I clean most things with water, vinegar, and baking soda now, so that’s both cheap and environmentally excellent.
I try not to get things whitened with bleach (like paper towels and tampons). I don’t even care if they’re white, but at least some companies use hydrogen peroxide instead.
I try to buy only paper products made with recycled materials. I’m good with paper, envelopes, and paper towels. I’m not yet super happy with the choices for toilet paper and tissues, but I still only buy those. (Kleenex started having some that are 30% recycled, and they are in such pretty, pretty boxes, but I’m still not buying it because brands that are 100% recycled are available. Boo hoo!) Paper mills are poisonous and smelly.
So are computer chips, but I still buy those. I love those! Love, love, love! It’s no fair that I was raised to love such evil, horrible things. (I might be a little bitter.)
I still buy plenty of non-organic food, meat (much less environmentally efficient for feeding people than plants), nasty building materials, and who knows what else, but gradually I’m trying to do better.
I must take exception to your post concerning the part about Chocolate.
Cocoa is NOT harvested in any way that will ruin the land in three years.
Cocoa comes from a Tree often referred to as an “understory”..meaning it must grow in the shade of other taller trees as it cannot withstand the severe tropical sun or strong winds and requires rather constant warmth and very high humidity.
They also grow rather tall….upwards of 50 feet and some plantations have trees that have been producing cocoa beans now for upwards of 75 years and some for close to 100.
Their natural home is the Amazon where they grow in the rainforest shaded by canopies of 200 ft. plus tall hardwoods.
With such a long tree lifespan and time investment in the plantations I don’t see any farmer mistreating either the trees or the land…..Now the workers may be another story…but not the cocoa trees.
~ Roland
Debbie M definitely hits some of the main areas that the conscious consumers pick up on. I’ve been a vegetarian for many years now, so that resolves the meat problem. Jared Paul (a slam poet) also has an interesting piece about meat and consumer consciousness called “ABC’s for Roger,” which you can find on YouTube. It is worth checking out. I also try and reuse any plastic as long as I can, and instead of paper towels, use rags or a bandana (also works as a tissue, though some people are a little put off by this). Often though, it is an issue of prioritizing. Most people I talk to hate wal-mart, but I still shop there (though not for clothing, because they don’t have the best sweat free policy) because they have a great hiring policy for disabled individuals, and that’s something I support.
Ethical buying or conscious consumerism is a complex topic though, and a big factor is often price. It’s simply hard to find such products for cheap. Multipurposing products helps, but I’m still looking for better alternatives.
Great post! I also try to shop in a way that is cruelty-free and good to the environment, although my first priority is to avoid as many products as possible that test on animals. Haley’s Cleaning Hints is a great book I bought for DIY house-cleaning tips and tricks; it helps save money and the environment. I also try to buy only beauty products that are listed on http://www.caringconsumer.com/. If I must eat eggs, I only buy cage-free and I’m trying hard to become vegetarian. It’s hard, but it’s worth it. Bed,Bath, and Beyond currently sells a ton of cruelty-free and environmentally sound products! You should check it out if you haven’t already. Even Target has started their own little environmentally responsible/cruelty-free corner in the cosmetics section. I’m glad I lived to see this; it was beyond my wildest hopes.
I love it. Thanks for the links, I’m definitely interested in the diy cleaning supplies, especially since I hate being around all those chemicals.