Being Green

“Green” as in good to the environment, other humans, and myself and, ideally, “green” as in flush with cash.

It can be difficult to be both, because organic everything is more expensive. It doesn’t seem fair to pay MORE for FEWER chemicals, does it? But those synthetic chemicals are cheap to produce. I have heard folks say, in response to this “organic costs more” comment, “But what will it cost you to eat conventionally produced food? Your health, ultimately, and then you’ll have to pay for that…” I agree, I do. But I’m talking about that moment at the grocery store where you’re exhausted after work, there are five days until pay day, and you’re staring at the shelf of heavenly fresh coffee and the organic stuff costs twice as much as the non-organic stuff.

Many of you know my weakness for Product, in the Queer Eye sense of the word: hair gunk, skin potions, shiny makeup baubles. I have spent hundreds of dollars per month (and I know I’m not the only woman out there who has) on this crap, none of which does what it promises to do, and a lot of which isn’t very green at all if you bother to read the label. A lot of pricey, “natural” products out there aren’t good for you at all and are just guilty of greenwashing. A good place to start is the Cosmetics Database created by the Environmental Working Group. Have fun pouring your hope out of the bottle with that.

I also noticed that all of these products were touting vitamin this and jojoba oil that and coconut oil this. You’ve seen it. The bottle highlights a tiny drop of something cheap like it’s a major selling point “Vitamin C!” in a pretty orange font, right? Rather than buy the expensive product with watered down versions of the good stuff, PLUS chemicals and plenty of bad stuff, why not just… buy the real stuff?

I’ve put it off for nearly all of 2007, but I made what may be the biggest change of the year about three weeks ago: I use no more crap chemicals at home at all now. If I wouldn’t eat it, I won’t wear it. And I’m saving money, because the truly greenest stuff is also the cheapest:

• I use pure jojoba oil for acne, and was initially angry at how well it worked because I didn’t figure it out sooner. Oh, the money and chemical body burden I could have saved! It ranges from $6/bottle to about $12/bottle and I use literally five drops total, for day and night. It will probably last a year. I’ve seen dermatologists, had prescriptions, done peels, you name it, and nothing has worked as well as jojoba oil.
• If I have a break-out I dilute a single drop of tea tree oil (about $7-$10/bottle depending on size) in witch hazel ($1). Best astringent over, though I recommend rinsing this particular potion off. I find it a little too drying if I leave it on all day or night.
• Aluminum-free solid deoderant from Lush and Liquid Rock by Kiss My Face. Liquid Rock still has potassium alum and the jury’s out on that, so I stick with the solid stuff most days.
• A friend of mine uses straight-up gin for deoderant and swears by it. Talk about saving money! A small bottle of cheap gin goes a long way. She’s not a dirty hippy type either. She’s prissy and dressed to the nines every day. She has cancer, which was her inspiration, but she’s still prissy and dressed to the nines!
• I use a pure cocoa butter stick ($2) around my eyes with a few drops of vitamin E ($4-$6/bottle) on top. Great for your cuticles, too! Again, you need so little vitamin E that $4 can last at least a year.
• I use vanilla extract (the very same you’d put in a cookie, $5/my bottle) and rose water ($3-$5 depending on type) for perfume. Subtle, inexpensive, and non-toxic.

Now I just need to ween myself off of hair dying, my last chemical vestige. Sniff. I haven’t dyed it since Sept. 15 and I genuinely love it, so I think this one is much more about breaking the habit of dying it than how much I truly like my hair. I looked at EcoColors, but unless I’m crazy, there’s still ammonia and PPD in there.

Stay on the Wagon, Share the Wealth

This is my constant struggle: To stay frugal while spreading the wealth, because I’m still more fortunate than most.

I admit it. I paid off that huge credit card balance and all of the shopping I’d held back on demanded attention. I gave in, like a parent tired of hearing the incessant cries of a toddler.

I bought two J.Crew sweaters (fortunately my “can’t be made in China” rule limited my selection), three items of expensive boutique clothes on lovely Fillmore St. (all made in the USA, which only helped me rationalize the expense), three dresses in Detroit (one for a friend and two for me, all made in the USA), a case of wine (all Christmas gifts, to be fair), and I started eating out a lot more again. Forgive me, dear reader, but most of the year was a dry one for spending and full of disheartening debt.

I shopped BUT I did not ring up my credit card. I’m paying off the balance every month, just using it for $100-$200/month to keep the ratings good (and business travel that work reimburses me for).

Well, was, since I just put my remaining fall tuition balance of $1,989 on there today.  I had to pay so I can register for classes.  If I don’t register on time terrible events ensue: Undergraduate loans go into repayment, late registration fees incur, registration holds are put on and are difficult to remove.  It’s OK though.  I can pay for most of that balance with the next rent check ($1,330) and some of my paycheck.

The sum total of all of this going out more than usual, and traveling more than usual, which means eating out more than usual and taking cabs more frequently than usual, has added up, and I found myself two days away from pay day with very little cash in the bank. That hadn’t happened in a while. Behold yon red flag!

I also got hit with a surprise $200 furnace repair for my renters.  It’s cold in Chicago, it had to be fixed immediately, and I don’t mind doing it.  It just meant $200 less for tuition, and was a good reminder of why we all need a substantial emergency fund!

Now I’m in a dry season. Money for the mortgage and rent is already set aside for the end of the month in my short-term savings account. Cash has been taken out of the bank and it’s the only thing I can use for spending for the next two weeks. The hair color appointment has been delayed for one more month (and I’m still thinking of canceling it), the Christmas gift list has been weened.

The lesson here is consistency: If I am more consistent about spending, I shouldn’t need a dry season at all. This dry season is a bit like having debt, even though I only spent cash. I spent too much, too fast, and need to build up the kitty again.

2007: Not Made in China

That’s been my rule for all of 2007. If the label says Made in China, I can’t have it, period. There is no maybe, no sometimes, only “no.” Having this hard-and-fast rule has stopped me from buying a LOT of things I would have – next year I’ll track them ALL.

Looking back on this from the eleventh month of the year, it wasn’t as difficult as I expected, in part because I admittedly have a high enough income to enable me to make this choice more easily.

I plan to do it again in 2008, or until such time as China stops permitting slave labor in the deplorable (if not worse) conditions that folks in the U.S. fought for many decades to change, back in the 19th and early 20th centuries that no one seems to learn about in school anymore. My father is a skilled machinist, and I don’t know of a factory in China that I’d want him to work in.

Throughout the year, my friends have accused me of being bigoted. Believe me, I have nothing against the Chinese people, but I am dead against the lack of labor rights and abysmal conditions that are permitted and common in China. Next year, I may expand my list to cover all countries with poor labor standards, and will probably end up not buying much of anything.

What’s funny is the fact that cheaper materials and slave labor still haven’t reduced the price of many things I buy. Boots made in China still cost $300-$500 at Nordstrom (I have AA feet, I don’t have a lot of options). So what’s the point of buying things that are made there, besides convenience? Made in the USA Munro shoes average about $200. If you have a choice at the same price point, why subsidize slave labor and ghastly working conditions?

Though I don’t have a tally of what I’ve saved this year, I do have a recent example from a recent trip to Michigan (where I do try to support locally owned businesses since the state economy is in such a recession right now). I really wanted and could not buy (and note that it’s all crap I don’t need at all):

1. A Kirkland (Costco brand) gray cashmere cable knit sweater. It looks just like the J. Crew ones (it was probably made in the same factory) but cost half the price at $75. Made in China, can’t have it, $75 saved.

2. A complete Curious George set of books for my friend’s new baby. They’re printed in China, so that’s $10 not spent.
3. An imitation Rabbit wine opener, also Kirkland brand, for $20 not spent.

That’s $105 saved in a single trip due to my simple shopping rule.

I also visited Chester Boot Shop while in town, because I like to support locally owned businesses. I was sad to learn that Doc Martens are no longer made in the U.K., but in China. I tried them on. They fit well. I loved them. They cost $134. And I couldn’t have them. They brought my saved-money total to about $240.
I was able to buy three dresses for $134 (two for myself, one as a gift for the friend who was with me) at Flow (a door or two down from the Avalon Bakery, which is at 422 Willis). They were fabulous and all Made in the USA.

I am thinking of getting Man a big Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas. Yes, they’re $300, but I’ve been putting money away in the Chrismtas kitty, little by little, and there’s more than $500 in it right now. I was so happy to see that that heavy mixer was still made in St. Joseph, Michigan!

My other gifts will be homemade maple cutting boards, a few things from Heath Ceramics, and a couple of bottles of locally produced wine. I may also sew some wine-carrying bags to wrap them in.

From West to Midwest, Only Guilt is Consistent

I am wrapping up my first day in full-on Fall in Chicago. I’ve already partaken of Karyn’s Cooked and the Heartland and Intelligentsia. That makes three liberal credits for me.

I’m staying at Club Quarters, but I won’t say which location to protect the innocent. I spent most of the day working remotely from my hotel room, and so had the “Do Not Disturb” tab stuck in my door.

Call me a pill, but I was trying to be efficient and there’s literature all about the room doing its best to convince me that this hotel is green: I don’t need to wash my towels every day, I don’t need my sheets changed. I agree with them, full. Hence, the privacy tab: I don’t need or want ANYTHING, so there’s no need for anyone to enter.

To no avail.

10 AM: Knock knock knock. “Housekeeping!”

Me: “Oh, no thank you!”

Her: “Housekeeping!”

Me louder: “No thank you!”

Her: “But I need to come in.”

Me: “No really, it’s OK. I’m working.”

Her: “But I need to punch the room.”

Me silently: Punch? I’ve cleaned houses for a living, but not hotel rooms. Punch?

Her: Knock knock knock. “I need to punch the room.”

Admitting defeat, I open the door. “I need to punch the room, on the phone, or I don’t get paid, he don’t pay me because I didn’t do this room.”

Me: “Sure, OK.”

She walks over to the phone, begins to punch numbers listed on a paper sheet. “You really don’t need anything?”

Me: “No, really. It’s fine. So you get paid by room?”

Her: “Yes, and I have to punch the numbers from the room phone. If I can’t get in I can’t use the phone, so don’t put that sign out.”

But, but the environmental literature told me to! I offered to punch the numbers every morning upon waking, but she didn’t seem to trust me and her shift varies, and thus so must the punching time.

THIS is what I’m left with? Me, the woman from Land o’ Labor Detroit? Whose parents both belong to unions? I’m left with choosing between the hotel cleaning staff making more money (which isn’t ever much to start with) and “being green”? Sigh.

No. I want some warring lefty bleeding heart literature in my room, to make the choice between labor and environmental values even harder. One side of the little pillow postcard can say, “Today, millions of sheets that have only been used once will be washed by hotels. This wastes water, energy and pollutes the environment. Just like home, most guests do not require a daily linen change and would prefer a responsible policy.”

The other side can say, “Today, Agniescka will make 25% less than she normally would, because the sheets that you only used once will not be washed by this hotel. This saves us (and you!) money that we would otherwise pay Agniescka. Just like your cleaner at home, Agniescka has no benefits and is paid below-minimum wages under the table. We know you prefer a responsible, money-saving policy.”

Dagnabbit, it’ll be more challenging than choosing which organic box to get our groceries from! Organic Express or Capay? You don’t want to know how long Man and I agonized over those two web pages. You don’t.

Tomorrow I’ll do my best to arrange the variety of room postcards to communicate “Don’t wash anything, but do remove my scant amount of garbage and make the bed, thereby creating the best of my two first-world-worry worlds.”