Conscious spending

As you can tell, the human exploitation problem in this world is something that God has been impressing on both of our hearts.  But it is such a big, scary problem that it is overwhelming!  How can one, insignificant girl like me make any difference?

One thing that we have been convicted about is how we spend our money.  It turns out that a lot of common, mainstream brands are owned by big companies who are not socially responsible.  They sell cheap clothes because they buy their products from sweatshops in India.  They sell cheap food because they don't even pay minimum wage to their harvesters.  It makes sense if you really think about it, though up to this point, I never had.

When I first started thinking about changing what companies I buy from, I got all defensive.  First of all, how am I ever going to know how companies operate?  I still struggle with that.  Second of all, how is it my problem?  I mean, I'm not directly sending money to the owner of the sweatshop, or the guy that forces people to pick coffee beans all day for no pay.  Right?

It all came down to fear and selfishness. I was afraid that if I started looking into this issue, that I would have to stop buying some things that I like buying.  And I didn't want to do that.  I like my options and my comfort.  So I kept pushing it out of my mind. 

After a while I knew that justifying myself to God just wasn't going to work anymore.  So with hesitancy, I bought some books.  And I was right: I am going to have to stop buying some things that I like.  But now that I am informed about what my money is going to support, I can't ignore it.

So we have been slowly changing our spending habits.  And I do mean slowly.  It is overwhelming, y'all.  So I am just taking it one step at a time and asking God for wisdom.

For example, I bought Revlon mascara instead of CoverGirl mascara, because CoverGirl is owned by Proctor and Gamble, a company that has been known to source from sweatshops.

I bought Newman's Own salad dressing instead of Kraft.

But then I bought a whole bunch of other stuff that I have no idea about.  I doubt that we will ever get to the point where everything we spend money on is guaranteed to not hurt anyone down the line.  There's not a whole lot of information, and there is a whole lot of corruption and greed out there.  It is probably not possible to buy everything we need without supporting something bad inadvertently.  And some of the alternatives to the "really bad" companies are not 100% shiny and clean themselves.

But at least I am working towards it.  At least I know that those $8 for mascara went toward a company that (to my knowledge) is not exploiting people.

Here are some resources that have really helped me out.

The Better World Shopping Guide is a nifty little booklet that rates companies in all kinds of product categories.  If you want a quick, easy reference tool, this is a good one.  What I don't like about it is that while they rate the companies based on 5 different categories, they don't tell you why the companies received their grade.  You know it's one or all of the 5 categories, but not which one.  They seem to have a lot of research behind their analysis, but they don't share it with you.

This Responsible Shopper website goes more into depth about each company, siting complaints that have been filed against them and what they are known for.  However, it is not as comprehensive.

If I find anymore, I will post them.