Green Minded Wallet

I love bananas. I eat them all the time. To me bananas are wonderful fruit because they work in things that are very healthy, like oatmeal, and things that are not so healthy, like ice cream dishes and banana chocolate chips pancakes. Unlike other eco vs. frugal decisions, my banana purchasing pattern isn’t based mainly on environmental or financial considerations. I buy organic bananas, but I don’t buy them because they’re organic, I buy them because they are fair-trade. Where I live organic bananas run 99 cents/lb and regular bananas run 49 cents/lb (when there are no sales). However, it doesn’t cost me anything extra to buy fair trade organic bananas from my local co-op. Distribution normally only happens once or twice towards the end of the week, so you have to plan ahead, but other than that there’s no difference between purchasing the regular organic vs. the fair-trade. While the price of the fair-trade bananas is twice the price of the conventional ones, I feel that it really is a small price difference on my side, whereas it makes a really big difference for the farmers who are producing them. Where I live bananas are the only fair-traded fruit that I’ve seen (not including local produce) and they are available year-round at the same price (which can not be said for many other produce items). One could probably make the argument that small farm organic growing practices are likely a lot more sustainable as well. However, for me this is secondary to the human benefit. Seeing as there aren’t really any bananas grown in this part of the world, it’s likely that I won’t see the direct impact of my decision. Still for me, it’s pretty much an easy choice: I’ll gladly take the eco option, even at twice the price.

Which means the score is now: eco 2, frugal 1

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This is the second installment of eco versus frugal. Last time I looked at body soap (hopefully a common hygiene item), this time I will look at black beans, one of the staples of my diet.

I find that both black bean purchase and preparation need to be considered in the eco versus frugal comparison. On the purchasing side, loose/raw black beans are generally cheaper than their canned counterparts, whether it be organic or conventional. However, I find that it can take significantly longer to cook raw black beans, so I would count energy costs in the equation. Of course considerations have to be made for the initial cooking costs of canned beans, as well as the packaging, and the potential for cans to be discarded instead of recycled. Additionally there are a number of ways to cook raw beans, blanching is certainly more energy efficient than using a crockpot.

I’ve tried cooking raw black beans, both organic and conventional, as well as a variety of different canned beans, again both organic and conventional, and this is what I’ve found: I like conventional canned beans the best. I know that might sound weird, but I think that my laziness has something to do with it. I’m very bad about paying attention to how much time raw beans should soak. Because of this, it seems like the beans end up either horribly oversoaked (we’re talking days here) or undersoaked (spend too much time cooking in the pot). As such, I find that canned beans are the way for me to go. I’ve tried some canned organic beans from my local co-op, but I didn’t care much for the flavor. Since this is the only brand of organic beans in my area (that I’ve seen), there’s not much I can do about that.

While conventional canned beans may not be the cheapest option (blanched raw conventional may be less expensive), at 59 cents a can, I’m definitely on the lower end; score one for the frugal team.

This makes the current score: eco: 1, frugal: 1

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This is the first installment of the eco versus frugal comparisons, where I’m going to examine some of the items that I buy and see if my purchases are eco, frugal, or somewhere in between.

Body soap. In this category I put both bar soaps and body washes. Prices on soaps can vary widely: you can buy a 3 pack of 4.5 oz bars of Pure & Natural for $1.69 or spend $7.19 on a 23.6 oz bottle of Olay Body Wash. I’ve never thought much about the soap (and generally opted for the cheapest) until the beginning of this year when I moved.

When I first moved to the Midwest I noticed that I was having a real problem with dry skin, which was surprising because I moved here from the arid west. However, every time I move I find that my body needs to adjust to the new conditions. While I can’t control the weather, I can control two other major factors that seem to influence my skin, namely soap and lotion. Well, I thought that I would try experimenting with different soaps to see if I could find something that worked better. I happened upon a number of different bar soaps that contain things like oatmeal, olive oil, aloe, etc. I’m currently using Kiss My Face’s Olive & Chamomile soap that has olive oil and chamomile and four other ingredients (including water). I paid $1.99 plus tax for a 4 oz. bar. It has a somewhat strong smell, but my skin feels great. I could probably have gone with a cheaper brand of bar soap or even a cheap body wash but this soap works better than many things that I have tried before, and it creates much less waste than body wash containers. Our local co-op actually sells a number of soaps (including a fabulous oatmeal bar) that aren’t even packaged, and I like using those as well. Additionally, I like using bar soap because it doesn’t require the use of one of those body sponges, which add extra expense.

There are certainly very expensive soaps out there, but the soap that I buy isn’t really frugal (the Pure & Natural soap mentioned above is around 1/4 the price per once of the Kiss My Face soap). Also considering that the soaps I buy are made from natural ingredients, have little to no packaging, and are animal testing friendly, I would say that my body soap inclinations are definitely in the eco camp.

This makes the current score, eco: 1 frugal: 0.

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When it comes to buying things, I have two sides: there’s my eco or environmentally friendly side that wants to buy low impact products that are good for me, produced in a sustainable environment, and so forth. And then there’s my frugal side which likes to save money, and wants to make sure that if I’m paying more for something, that I’m really getting a higher quality product versus a more expensive label.

So how do you decide and what types of information do you base your decision on? I’ve found that in the environmental round at least there is a lot of contention about what’s good and what’s bad.

Here’s an example: produce. Some people say, only eat organic produce. Other’s say there’s no difference. Some say, it’s not about whether or not it’s organic, but it’s more about produce miles. Well there aren’t any bananas produced in the US, at least not from what I’ve seen; does that mean that I shouldn’t eat them? And what about fair trade, where does that fit into all this? Just because something is organic, does that mean it’s produced in a sustainable environment? What about locally grown, should that trump organic?

Another example: lotion. Is it really worth $1/oz. to buy the completely organic lotion? And what about the packaging; what types of environmental impacts were caused by the manufacturing of those plastic bottles? Yes, they are recyclable but if there aren’t any recycling facilities around me, does that really help at all? Then there’s the parabens. If they occur naturally and aren’t harmful, why do people think that they are harmful when produced synthetically? How conclusive is the scientific evidence? And furthermore, is this super expensive lotion even any good? What if it doesn’t work as well as the store band stuff?

If order to see where I fall, I’m going to start examining some of the common purchases I make, namely food and toiletries, as I try to determine which is best and if there’s any way to come up with a workable compromise. If you have an eco versus frugal item, I’d love to hear about it.

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