Ethical moneysaving/spending

Ben84

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

Ethical Consumer is a good starting point, you can view some reports for common household items for free. There is also The Good Shopping Guide which is published every year, the most up to date one is vital as companies readily get bought out sadly, e.g. Green and Blacks now owned by Kraft and Body Shop by L'Oreal.

These are some good examples of quite a few really. Companies which have been formed and grown based on ethical business ideas, but have now been bought up by bigger companies who are not so well associated with these ideas. For example, the body shop being anti-animal testing seems odd when you look at the company who own it now. The optimists say that these ideas, if supported will trickle in to the rest of the business, while the cynics say that it's just a marketing strategy. I'm somewhere in the middle on this really.

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

You should set out your ethics, as ethical buying is complex. You may see nuclear energy as good but this would be an environmentalist's nightmare! There are also lots of free online sources of info, for example you can print lists of companies who don't test on animals etc.

But I'm an environmentalist, and I like nuclear! This does result in some interesting debates with people, but the main thing is that views vary a lot and it's not unusual for people to do very different things based on the same opinions.

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

I'm pretty anti most things, so buying ethically would be a complete nightmare and you have to make the odd trade off, but it's all a start, and it's so good to think about where everything actually comes from.

I currently think that the most ethical option is to be more efficient, that is to buy less stuff and do more with the things we do buy. Reusing things, repairing things, items that are more resource efficient to make, that type of thing. We can't shop our way to a better environment really, but we can take less from it when we do consume thing and go about everyday life.

little_busy_bee

Hi,

this is a very important issue, and over the last few years I have been moving to more ethical spending...but I found it very hard work and time consuming to do all the research...

current account - Smile
isa and other savings - Skipton building society and Triodos
gas and electricity - Good energy
clothing - people tree and ethical superstore (expensive so I am buying less, better for the planet I guess)(I got enough underwear to last me many, many years when Life's not fair...but my knickers are had their sale)
household cleaning - I bulk ecover or other equivalent when ethical superstore are doing a 20% of offer with free delivery
grocery shopping fresh fruit and veg - in the weekly market (I have to weekly meal planner to help with this and reduce waste)
grocery shopping milk, eggs - I get these in my local co-op (hope to get chickens soon...)
grocery shopping bulk items - I bulk buy as much fair-trade tea, sugar, cocoa powder, maple syrup, ubuntu, etc. as possible, through the ethical superstore when they are doing a 20% of offer with free delivery. This needs storage space and planning as it does involve a large initial outlay to stock up the store cupboard

and I am afraid that I do resort to Waitrose and Sainsbury’s for the rest of my shopping needs...

I think the main thing is to make a start, and then do more as you can do.