the “who did i support?” budget

It’s easy to forget that there is great power in every penny we spend.  In living simpler, I’m going to have a lot less income and I want to make (nearly) every penny count.  Rather than tracking daily expenses in the usual budget categories, this year I started tracking a daily “who did I support?” list.  Looking back on the day, I evaluate the choices I made and this influences my shopping in the future.

My vote with my $ includes:

• Buying local at farmers markets.
• Choosing organic products from smaller companies rather than supporting agri-business.
• Buying fair trade coffee beans and chocolate.
• Buying cruelty-free body care products.
• Buying environmentally-safe household cleaning products.
• Bringing attention to all my shopping by looking at where an item is made and researching companies online to avoid supporting sweat shop laboUr.

The outcome has not been that I spend more $.  It’s that I buy less stuff and I buy stuff I’m more likely to appreciate and that won’t end up unused.    It’s a budgeting choice – I believe I get more for my $ and I ultimately feel good about my purchases.  From large expenses like hiring an independent local company for home renos to small purchases like buying one handcrafted wooden mixing spoon rather than a bundle of cheaply-made ones.

For example, an actual list* of my out-of-pocket expenses for one week in June 2014 (pre-SL) looks like:

• Café at work: great to see they’ve posted a list of local farms they support!
• RFI – Starbucks: they’re working on it, but I don’t think they’re at 100% fair trade coffee yet. Hey, how about remembering to take your ceramic mug to reduce waste?
• Whole Foods.
• Massage therapist.
• RFI – Chipotle: not great for my waistline, but at least they emphasize environmentally-sustainable, organic, local, hormone-free ingredients. Find out why they use foil lids on the take-away containers though (update to self: the lids are made of 95% recycled material).
• 2 farmers markets: 3 small veggie and berry farms, soup maker, organic cheese maker, flower farm (good for bees!).
• Local bake-at-home pizza shop that emphasizes local, organic, seasonal ingredients.
• Local Mexican grocery store.
• iPic Theater: Maleficent – showed Hollywood we would pay to watch a movie with a female protagonist.

As I become more intentional with my shopping, I slow down and am more likely to make a good purchase/no-purchase decision. It is natural to feel overwhelmed by which cause(s) to support.  And it’s easy to think that the shopping choices I make – one person – don’t matter.  They do.  I won’t spend every penny ideally, but I am viewing shopping more and more as economic, environmental and social activism.  “Who did I support?” is a powerful budget for me now and in preparation for simpler living.

* The list certainly shows areas where I can cut back expenses for simpler living – like eating out!

*

References:
SL = simpler living
RFI = room for improvement