You are voting every day. Your daily actions cast a vote. Are you aware of what you are voting for? If you’re not mindful, you may be casting votes that conflict with your values. It can be daunting to examine our daily habits in terms of their influence. Let’s talk about our spending habits.
Let’s consider what we vote for when we make a purchase. Sometimes it’s difficult to find information about companies that we might choose to support. Sometimes it seems like “just too much” to examine every little purchase.
Let’s start where we are. It can be as easy as not purchasing an article of clothing with objectionable slogans or choosing not to purchase an item that will inevitably take up space in a landfill. It begins by being mindful that there may be environmental and social implications in a purchasing decision.
I think of some of the decisions my mother made as a consumer. My mother mended clothing and she could get a stain out of anything. If the stain didn’t come out she died it a new colour. She took pride in making clothes last. My mother made those decisions for practical rather than ethical reasons. It was a matter of the budget not environmental considerations. As the economy changed, textiles became cheaper and now it’s easy to buy, wear and discard.
My mother did not buy paper towels. In 1960 she just would not spend the dollar that they cost. The same paper towels still cost a dollar today, however that dollar is a much smaller percentage of our budget. It’s become very easy to get in the habit of using paper towels. The rags that my mother used for cleaning did not have the environmental impact of the disposable version.
It’s clear to me that there are some choices in my day that will conflict with my values and I will be totally unaware of them. I learned so much in an interview I did with Pamela D’Ettorre called The Ethics of the Fashion Industry. It opened my eyes to some of the choices we make daily and the implications of those decisions. I invite you to listen to the show at the link provided below. I found this conversation with Pamela fascinating and it changed the way I shop. I think you’ll enjoy it. It will help you be more mindful in your purchasing decisions.
You cast a vote for values when you make buying decisions.
Imagine what it would be like if we all became mindful of the implications of our daily spending habits. Mindful Money Management makes that happen when you spend, invest and donate to create a better world.
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How are you voting for your values? I’d love to learn about the impact you plan to make. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with your comments and ask to be included on the guestlist for my next Mindful Money Management Zoom Workshop. See you there!