10 Ways To Put Your Money Where Your Values Are
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Clothing makes up the majority of the textiles taking up space in landfills, and The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that textiles contribute to nearly six percent of municipal solid waste each year. One exposition piece explains that many current fashion brands use non-renewable sources to create their “fast fashion,” which is part of the reason clothing is so difficult to recycle. When it comes to food, the transportation required to get your food from the farm/manufacturer to the grocery store accounts for roughly nine percent of energy usage in the U.S. food system. Why are we talking about this? Because there are millions of individuals who care, deeply, about the environment but buy fast fashion and shop chain grocery stores. And that’s just one of many examples of ways we don’t put our money where our values are.
This isn’t to condemn anyone. We’re busy. We need convenience. Sometimes, we just don’t know the facts behind the businesses we patronize. But there can be a lot of satisfaction in spending your dollars in a way that perpetuates your beliefs. Even if you can’t afford to donate a lot of money to non-profits or philanthropic organizations, you can spend the money you were already going to spend on regular purchases in a way that makes a difference. Here are ways to put your money where your values are.
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Seeing your friend’s performance
Your friend is a short film director or an actor in the local community theater. One friend is a singer who performs regularly at small venues around town. One friend is a standup comedian who does gigs at small venues. But when it comes time to choose your entertainment for a Friday night out with friends or a date night with your partner, what do you do? You probably buy tickets to the biggest blockbuster playing at AMC theaters right now. Meanwhile, your friend is struggling to sell tickets to her film’s premiere at a small, local theater. If we tell our friends who are entertainers or artists that we “support” them, one way we can actually support them is by purchasing tickets to their performances, instead of going to a megastar’s performance.
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Shopping vintage
We touched on how much space old clothes are taking up in our landfills in the introduction. One great way to put your dollars behind your values would be to support a Black- or woman-owned brand that makes sustainable clothing. That being said, there’s a reason fast fashion is so popular: it’s much more affordable than sustainable fashion. The good fabrics cost money, and that’s not an option for everyone’s budget. So if you can’t afford to shop a sustainable clothing brand, the next best thing is shopping vintage. When you shop vintage, you’re giving something new life so it doesn’t wind up in a landfill. No new materials had to be used (or created) to make that vintage dress. Maybe it did originally come from not-so-sustainable materials, but you buying it used postpones the date it goes to a landfill. And maybe it never will.
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Hiring a friend
We all have so many friends who are talented in so many ways. Hairdressers, professional organizers, painters, makeup artists, social media consultants, chefs…you probably personally know someone in nearly every industry. And you “support” them by listening to them tell you about how stressful it is trying to find new clients and build their business. So…be one of their clients. Next time you need your hair done for a special occasion, go to your friend who is trying to start a business as a high-end hairstylist instead of the currently top-rated person on Yelp. Hire your friend who is a professional organizer to get your home in order instead of some organizer that celebrities use.
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Dining local
If having a vibrant neighborhood full of unique, one-of-a-kind, family-owned, small businesses is important to you, and you don’t want a neighborhood that’s all Starbucks and McDonald’s, then get your fancy coffee from the cute new, family-owned coffee shop. Even if it’s $2 more than the one from the chain coffee store. Get your burger from the new burger spot that two siblings opened up on the corner instead of a fast-food chain. We talk about wanting to keep small businesses open as if some elusive force is going to come in out of nowhere and lift them up. It’s us, the neighborhood, that keeps them in business.
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Buying your buddy’s book
Your friend has spent years working on a book. It’s all she’s talked about. She gave up her day job and lived off her savings while she worked on this. She poured her heart and soul into it. But, what are you reading right now? What’s on your list of books to buy? Is your friend’s book on there? Or are you going to just read the five books that the whole world and The New York Times and Oprah’s book club is talking about? There’s room for those, of course, but if we want to support our friends who are authors, the best way to do that is to buy their books. And read their books. And then post great reviews about their books so that others buy their books.
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Investing consciously
If you have funds to invest, you may just hand them over to your financial planner or wealth manager and say, “Just make sure my money is diversified.” But then she puts that into hundreds of stocks, some of which may represent companies with practices you don’t love. Have you looked at what specific stocks you’re in? When your money goes into those, you support those companies. Maybe some of those are companies that are known for using unfair labor practices, or polluting the environment, or ignoring countless sexual harassment allegations on the part of their employees. You can give your financial planner parameters so that she does not put your money in the stocks of certain unethical companies.
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Buying from brands that donate
If you don’t have a lot of money to donate, you can at least shop brands that will do it for you. You can either do this in a very direct way, by shopping brands that make a certain donation every time you make a purchase, or in an indirect way, by shopping brands that you know do a lot of good philanthropic work. They need customers in order to stay in business and continue to do their charitable work, so every time you buy something from them, you’re a little part of the reason they’re able to keep planting trees, send kids to school, provide medical programs to underserved communities, and so on.
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Finding Black women-owned businesses
A lot of putting your money where your values lie is about spreading the love a bit. If you know that that one already-established restaurant or clothing store or coffee shop is already thriving, then perhaps, for today’s outing, research Black women owned businesses. If you want to see more culturally diverse business owners thriving, take the extra step to research which businesses in your area fit that description. Go the extra block and spend the extra few dollars to get your sandwich or iced tea from there today. While you’re there, make a video, add it to your Instagram story, and give them a shout-out.
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Supporting a local market
We won’t name the major ones here, but you know which grocery chains they are, and they’ll be just fine if you start swapping out one trip a month there, for one trip to a smaller market. If there is a family who has opened a smaller market with food items from local creators, like local chefs and ice cream makers, pop in there from time to time. Maybe you can’t afford to do so for all of your grocery trips, but you can do so for some – or even just for a select few items they carry. These smaller markets tend to make an effort to feature things from local places, like muffins from a local baker, and soaps from a local soap crafter. When you shop there, you support the community at large.
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Shop brands who use ethical labor
Look into the labor practices of the brands you shop. Make an effort to only shop those who make it known that they use ethical labor practices and fair trade products. You may even find some that are social enterprises, and go out of their way to create jobs offering living wages to underserved communities that don’t have enough employment opportunities. Some companies even fund workshops to teach underemployed communities skills that help them work not just for their company, but for others one day, and even for themselves. Maybe you’d prefer to buy shoes or body wash from these companies than other big brand ones.
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