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| Mon, 06-06-2005 - 12:29pm |
Hi there,
today I finally decided to sign up with a 'cooperative' of sorts. It is basically a small chain of supermarkets selling only organic food, and they offer up to 20% reduction to their members. You give the whole cooperative (for legally this really is one, astonishingly enough) a 'loan' of around 65$ and pay a monthly membership fee of 15$.
To me that looks like a good way to combine to things important to me: My personal goal to reduce my regular costs so I can be debt free some time in the future, and my overall belief in the necessity to help saving this planet. Which can only work when I start with my own attitudes and behaviour, so I try to buy organic food etc. if my budget permits.
Has anyone of you joined similar membership schemes or cooperatives?
I find it very hard to console the two goals mentioned up there. Has anyone of you more ideas how to save money without buying at Aldi's and such stores?
I'd love to hear your opinions on this.
Greetings, Jordis

Hi Jordis,
I'm in total agreement about the difficulty of aligning my beliefs and values with budgetary constraints--I want to support sustainable energy, organic farming, etc., but it's often so much more expensive.
Here is what I've come up with. I have come to the realization that I can effectively give back to the things I believe in only when I am economically sound. So, when our financial situation was dire, we purchased everything as cheaply as we could, with no regard to where it came from or how it was produced. Fortunately, some of the time that meant purchasing at the farmer's market where products were at least local if not organic. That was phase one of our journey, while we were still so desperate that purchasing more expensive products would have seriously delayed our journey to financial security.
We are now in phase two. We have prioritized items, and spend a little bit more for certain things, but still purchase many things cheaply despite their additional burden on the environment. For instance, I won't buy GMO (genetically modified organisms, aka genetically engineered) foods, so I buy corn, soy, canola, and cotton products organic only, because those four items are almost exclusively GMO if they are not organic. Other than that, we try to buy locally as much as possible, but we still buy many items at WalMart, Aldi, etc. because to buy everything organic and "healthy" would take up far too large a portion of our budget and seriously delay our journey to phase three...
When we reach phase three, we will be producing most of our food ourselves, organically and on-site, and we'll sustainably harvest wild (deer, game, herbs, etc.), and what we don't produce or harvest we will purchase from local sources that also produce organically. We are striving toward a permacultural way of life, so that is our end game.
In the meantime, we do what we have to to get closer to that goal. Here's the thing--anything we do, no matter how big or small, leaves a footprint on the earth. By leaving a slightly larger one right now while we get ourselves established, we can later reduce our footprint to *almost* nothing (even a dragonfly leaves something of a footprint after all). The alternative would be to leave a slightly smaller footprint now but never have the surplus resources to eventually leave a *much* smaller footprint.
There are other aspects to this puzzle as well. For instance, we have just begun purchasing "green tags" to support the production of wind energy. It is an extra expense every month, but we are now in a position financially where we can handle it without damaging our ability to move toward phase three of our personal plan. On the other hand, although we started to work toward converting our vehicles to bio-diesel, we ran into some financial and logistical snags that have put those plans on hold for the near future, so meanwhile we continue to burn gasoline.
And in moving toward phase three, I've begun learning to grow our food sustainably (we will not always live on this property, so I haven't begun to plant our ultimate food forest) and to use our property in a permacultural way as much as possible. We spend a lot of time researching alternative building, energy, etc. methods and applications. And we sock away a lot of money so we can eventually be free of the corporate world.
I want to stress, though, that being frugal and being environmentally responsible overlap in more ways than they diverge. For instance, by purchasing less and purchasing with less packaging (for example, in bulk), we spend less money while also reducing our contributions to landfills. By conserving energy and gasoline, we benefit both our pocketbooks and the environment. Wasting little or no food, using what we have on hand instead of running out for the right "gadget," conserving water, and so on--all ways we can help the environment and our budgets at the same time.
This is a great question, and I appreciate the opportunity to weigh in. Good luck in whatever paths you choose.
Many blessings,
Heather
Raw numbers:
All my best,
Danni
Hi there,
thanks for you replies!
Heather, I like your "3 steps" approach. I doubt I'll ever come to the point where I grow my own foodstuff etc. - but we try to minimize our 'footprint' as you called it.
Dani, I did the same calculation in my mind :-)
Yes, I guess one of my non-negotiables is that, trying to buy organic etc. There's no farmer's market near, and the shop is on my way to work, so I figured that it will add up, especially since I already do buy some organic.
So I hope it dies make some sense, budget ways.
Greetings, Jordis
ivy_jordis
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It's interesting that you brought this up, it was mentioned in a book that I just read called "How to feed your family for $12 a day" that was recommended on another board I go to. It was a really good book and gave me great ideas for saving money on food. She said that if you are wanting to buy all organic then this would be the way to do it to save money on it.
For my part I have always wanted to buy organic but the budget really doesn't allow. I do buy organic baby food for my dd, gerber has the tender harvest and that has made me feel better while she is really little. I have always felt that when I am eating well, lots of fruits and veggies and healthy foods, that will help outweigh the problem of nonorganic food. (of course I get off track with eating healthy way too much) I used to buy organic fruit years ago but I realized that it seemed futile since I couldn't get everything organic.
I am learning to be less wasteful, dd has been in cloth diapers for over a month now and I am really proud of myself for that, and it is not nearly as bad as people think, really it is not that big of a deal and makes me feel good to do it. i planted a garden but it never does as well as I wish it to, the tomatoes always do great though and that's my favorite part!!!! I think this summer I will be looking for farmer' markets.
keep us posted and let us know how your club goes!!!
shannon