How Can We Be Frugal and Socially Conscious Consumers?

Posted on 14. Oct, 2009 by Forest in Featured, General Articles, Saving Money & Finances

We are frugal for many reasons but most of the people that I have met that consider themselves “Frugal” also have a deep love for environment and the world around them.

Many of us frugalists grow some of our own food and keep over consumption low along with many other things that have a positive impact on the environment. But we all too often consume and jump at a deal the moment we see it.

For example, last year I needed some new Hooded Sweaters. I was in a Christmas Store in Vermont and they had some on sale for a measly $6 each. I grabbed two and was very happy. Not at one point did it cross my mind to see where the items were produced or what kind of conditions they may have been produced under! I just saw a good deal and jumped for it.

I’m not writing this post to rant, rather to get some feedback and opinions. I am completely guilty of this whole thing. I am sure almost all of the items in the $1 store come from factories with squalid conditions but this could also be said for high ticket items too!

So what do we do about this? We need to stay Frugal but also want to be responsible for our actions.

Here are some ideas that I have come up with to be socially consious and stay frugal. But I would love your opinions and input too.

1. Buy Pre-Owned

When you buy pre-owned it does not mean that the item was not originally produced in bad conditions but it does mean that you are at least making sure the item gets a full use and not contributing one more sale to the bad situation. You can buy clothes, kitchen items, cars and pretty much anything in good condition.

2. Trade With Your Neighbours

Trading is an awesome way to share stuff locally. You cut the carbon footprint of things and increase each others wealth by helping to save everyone cash. Say you need to cut your grass a few times a year. You could borrow your neighbors mower and give them some free computer lessons in exchange. If you need produce, someone in your area may have an apple tree or tomato plant that overproduces for their family. You could swap some services or produce that you have that over produces. Trading is a fun way to be environmentally friendly and save a ton of cash!

3. Make Your Own Things

If you need something new, first see if you can make it yourself. You easily and cheaply make anything yourself and often from salvaged goods. This will cut down immensely on the amount of goods from the store that you need to buy. Screws, and wood and things could have still come from a terrible situation but at least you will be buying less. Even with things like clothing. You could buy a bunch of items from your local Salvation Army and dust off the sewing machine to create something new and totally original.

4. Visit Knowmore.org Before Making a Purchase

This won’t necessarily save you cash but it will allow you to vet a company before making a purchase. This could help you decided how you feel about giving money to the company, no matter how cheap the deal is. Just look up Coca Cola on Knowmore.org and you may reconsider the next time you grab a can of the icy cold sugar sludge! This goes for bottled water too!

There are many things you can do and none of us can be perfect but I think that it’s worth bearing some of this in mind and making small changes. If everyone makes a small change then big things can happen.

….One more thought, the flip side!

I have been talking about boycotting products from factory’s due to their human rights abuses and poor pay structures. However some people believe that if you stop buying these products then people in these nasty situations will be worse off as they will completely lose their incomes!

As you can see I am confused and interested in these issues. So please, please leave a comment…

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8 Responses to “How Can We Be Frugal and Socially Conscious Consumers?”

mike

14. Oct, 2009

knowmore.org sounds interesting… thanks. Mike

Reply to this comment
Sim

14. Oct, 2009

Especially buy pre-owned (near you if you can) and trade.
(In Quebec we have two local website for saling pre-own and trading stuf.)
its not always easy to trade services with neighbors that don’t have a frugal philosophy, but finding those with who it is possible is a start.

Build your stuff..I say yes but don’t get crazy. This years so many times
I said that I could built it my self and end up with a giant to do list.
I think its relative of your time.

But I do agree that these are the way of the future and conter act the major corp corruption abuse and aggressive capitalism.

The main thing is to Don’t do all the change at once. But like you said one
step at a time take a good habit and after a while accumulate those habit so it become casual.

and slowly others will do the same and so generation that fallow us.

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Joan

14. Oct, 2009

Hey Ian,
I think you’ve got some valid points here. I do wonder about the idea of making your own things. What kind of things did you have in mind? Are you purchasing new items to create the final product? If so, this may not be the most efficient or effective use of materials or your time. There is also the long term impact on the economics of a global production system that does provide badly needed jobs for some third world countries who are dependent on international commerce. This ties in to the point you make in the last paragraph.
How about posting a list of those factory’s / countries with the worst working conditions and letting the individual consumer make the choice of “to buy or not to buy”.
Joan

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Sue

15. Oct, 2009

The people in the sweatshops won’t thank you for boycotting the goods they have slaved to make, without your custom they would have no job at all, as you pointed out. The changes have to come from above, probably because of pressure from us lower ranking objectors!
There are many who feel they have no choice but to buy these goods because of their situations, so the system cannot change over night.
All you can do, as a single person in a very big wheel, is decide when and where it is appropriate for you to spend more to get an item that has been made conscientiously, or make your own.
I love the fact that you have mentioned re-purposing. In my day it was called make do and mend, but the effect is still the same, less goes to the landfill, and more money in your wallet!

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Plastic Sleeves

15. Oct, 2009

I have been using a few of these ideas as well. I find that I can remain frugal and reduce my impact on the earth by going to yard sales to purchase items that have been lightly used. By doing this, I am not ordering the manufacture of more products and consuming more resources.

I suppose that I can continue to do more, but it is a start. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Best regards,
Neil

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Overnight Cash Advance

15. Oct, 2009

Hello Forest, I think your ideas of being frugal are great and very important. I love the one about trading with your neighbours; This summer I would go to the Farmers Market place in down town Salt Lake and do some trading. I picked up some amazing organic fresh tomatoes for some home made wine that my husband made. It really was a fantastic trade and so worth it. Keep up the great posting and I look forward to your next one!

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Forest

17. Oct, 2009

Hey everyone, thanks for the comments so far.

@Simon, Hey thanks for stopping by. “Don’t do all the change at once”, that’s sensible advice and we all need to make sure we don’t take on too much at once. The ToDo list situation is the same as mine! Not enough hours in the day. As for trading, most places have a LETs scheme in place. Not sure in Montreal if they have one, but it’s a system where people trade services for other things. So someone may need a self portrait from you and you get credits (agreed by you and the person who needs your service) and you can spend these credits with other people in the LETs scheme. Like money but not quite

@Joan, Thanks for the comment. The domino effect of boycotting is definitely a large issue at hand here too. As you say entire economies rely on certain products and if we stop buying many locals could be worse off than they already are. As for a list, that is something I will try and get together. In the meantime Knowmore.org is a great resource.

As for making things, for a start Food. Almost any dish purchased frozen can be made better homemade. Then there are things around the home and garden. DIY shows were all the fad for a few years and in general people are a lot more handy than they used to be…. Or at least think they are. Me, I am pretty useless at certain things but always willing to have a try .

@Sue, Joan said the same thing about boycotting and it’s a hard subject. If we didn’t need the crap they produce in the first place then these people would still have farmland on the sites of the factories and such! However they are there now and there does need to be a way to simply improve conditions. However for the long term survival of the planet we need to look at how this over consumption is affecting everything!

Here in Egypt I am shocked at the level of comsumption and overuse. I assumed it was very much an American thing (Ok and the UK too ) but the Egyptian’s could go toe to toe with any American in a useless shopping competition!

One thing that is good about Egypt though is the grass roots recycling system. There is a place called Garbage City where all the trash ends up. The residents sort through all non-organic waste and work out what can be re-purposed, sold on, used for something else and whats not. Much less actually ends up in the landfill than you might expect.

@Plastic Sleeves, Yes yard sales are an excellent way to make sure items get their use. Too many people throw things straight in the bin when done with them!

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Forest

18. Oct, 2009

@Overnight Cash Advance – Hey thanks for the comment. Yeah trade is great and as far as I know the tax man can’t gt involved (not sure about Alcohol though!).

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