Money or, more accurately, saving money, influences everything we buy or even think about buying, often with no relation to income level. More often, with little to no consideration for the cost to our lives, the lives of others and the environment.

Price (dollars and cents) vs Cost (quality). There’s a lot to consider. And nothing demonstrates this as readily as the process of greening our lives. In my experience, “saving money” is the most common objection to buying organic food or clothing, fair trade products or local goods from independent stores.

I was raised with the same misplaced values - get it on sale, make sure it’s a bargain was the house rule. My mother spent hours every Sunday clipping coupons. Consequently, as I grew up and left home, I moved into green thinking far before my budget did. I knew better but still resisted buying smart (instead of cheap) initially - doing the calculations and then rationalizing my way back into some cheaper, conventional purchase. And I noticed two things. First, I did save money - but just a little. Second, in the end, it didn’t feel so great to save that money, whether it was on food, furniture, clothes or hardware.

As Jerry always reminds me, “the truth shall aulde” (be revealed) and that’s what happened to me, I suppose. What I saved in dollars, I lost in quality, integrity and  satisfaction. Instead, I was sometimes left with a haunting feeling of selling out, of being “part of the problem”. It wasn’t exactly guilt, more like a feeling of baffling disappointment.

So, I sucked it up. I made new commitments in my shopping habits. Sometimes it meant a creative balancing act with my checkbook, but one that was simpler than I expected. I bought in bulk, stayed away from packaged food and cut back on soy lattes at the coffee house as well as video rentals. I’ve since found many other ways to cut out unnecessary spending - for instance, I now make my own toothpaste and cleaning supplies. The end result? I eat healthier, drink less caffeine and read more books. It feels good to shop consciously and I haven’t subjected myself to a mall in almost 10 years.

One friend accepted my challenge to make the switch to organic food. After doing the math, she was surprised to find out that she actually spent the same or less overall, attributing it to the fact that she didn’t as readily give in to junk food impulses or extra quantities that often were wasted.

Used or new? Big or small? Independent or Corporate? Name brand or generic? Sweatshop produced or Fair Trade? Organic or conventional? Choosing wisely makes what you save in dollars pale in comparison to what you save for:

1. Your/Our planet

2. Your/Our health

3. Your/Our happiness

3. Your/Our future

Tags: activism, community, culture, food

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Green Misc.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.