I think it's more complex than that. I think the biggest reason that the more affluent folks speak against shopping at WalMart is simply that they're trying to preserve the economic viability of the places where they want to shop. There simply aren't enough of them to keep the old downtown stores open, if they're the only people who shop there.
Beyond that, I think they're sincere in their economic analysis--figuring that, if more people patronized local businesses, the local businesses would hire more (local) people and buy more (local) stuff. (Their analysis is wrong, for the reasons I explain above, but I don't think its insincere.)
So, I don't see the upper-classes as being especially manipulative or controlling. However, since their economic analysis is incomplete, I don't think their strategy (of trying to convince poor folks that shopping local is in their own interest) is going to work.
Fortunately, my bf pays attention to my needs. My mum gives me a nice sum of money, which I can put in the bank or use for important purchases (coat, boots and such). My MIL asked me suggestions for my present... ah, Pandora's box was opened! I made a list of all the nice things which I'd like and use but don't buy so often now that I'm tight with money. :-)
Surprises are nice, but being able to wish for something is nicer sometimes...
I know a lot of people who have shelled out real money for books/memberships and only a couple of them have ever scored a flight and neither of them could justify the expense and hassle for the little money they saved after adjusting for extra expenses incurred.
Budgeting while on holiday is something I need to work on. I'm really good at budgeting and being frugal when I'm not on holiday but I'm not so disciplined while on vacation.
I do enjoy holidaying in the cheaper Asian countries like Thailand and Vietnam, the value for money is superb. Other excellent and cheap holidays are hiking and camping holidays, I have completed many multi-day walks in New Zealand and Australian National Parks, it is one of the cheapest holidays you can have.
This article has got me motivated and thinking about my plan to take an extended holiday at some stage.
Oh the stories we hear on a daily basis. It is very important for renters to know what is going on with their landlord's mortgage. California has done a pretty good job with the required 60 day notice, the city of Los Angeles has though most post foreclosure requirement in the nation and they are working on expanding them!
We have a site that is a bit easier to use than most of the county sites out there and RentalForeclosure.com is free to use.
I can't stress enough, it's very important to get this information. We talked to a tenant in San Diego yesterday who paid 2 years rent in advance in February, her landlord was foreclosed on December 9th. Another tenant told us that the landlord came in while they were gone and removed all of the stainless steel appliances prior to the foreclosure sale.
I've lived in poverty (according to federal guidelines) most of my life (I'm 24) while still trying to be a responsible consumer. And basically, it is frickin hard, but not particularly because socially and environmentally responsible products are always more expensive. The problem is because there is no easy access to these products and there is rarely good centralized information on where to find them, especially in poor neighborhoods. Poor people, in general, don't have a lot of resources or skills to organize their life. They work crazy hours for little pay and they usually don't have dependable transportation. Most that I know don't have everyday access to the internet.
For me to shop responsibly with a very limited buget, I have to spend hours of prep time educating myself, finding products and resources on the internet, planning trips, finding coupons, searching craigslist and thrift stores, etc. Most of the working poor don't have the time or capabilities to do this. When they need something, the easiest thing to do is stop on the store near the bus stop on the way home from work or go to the mom and pop store down the street from their apartment. Really, who has the energy to do anything else after coming home to kids after a long day at a blue collar job, especially if you have poor health because you can't afford to go to the doctor? Or if you don't have a car...
I do believe in the "fantasy" of strong, affordable local communities. But it's going to take the minds and resources of the upper middle class and educated individuals who claim to believe in it to make it possible. We need centralized resources that make affordable local products convenient to purchase, just like it's convenient to walk into a walmart and buy cheap crap.
The Oklahoma Food Cooperative is a great example of this (http://www.oklahomafood.coop). We need other networks like this that connect the local producers to local consumers. And we need ways to reach out to poor communities, help them to realize the benefits of buying these products and make it easy for them to do so.
Just to clarify, for people who would make the statement "poor people don't know about" or "poor people don't care about," as in:
"I would imagine when someone is on the bread line that they couldn't give a monkey's about ethical buying! Survival instinct overrides everything else."
Those statements are actually pretty offensive. They suggest that a lack of money reduces you to being somewhat savage. Poverty doesn't remove humanity or values. Poverty doesn't make you stupid - educated, intelligent people can find themselves in poverty for a myriad of reasons (mental illness, a personal financial disaster, escaping an abusive relationship)
If the above reasoning were true, why do poor people volunteer? Why do they tithe or keep pets? Why do they feed the neighbor's children when the barely have enough to feed their own? This happens not only in North America, where poverty can be relative, but in many poor countries (I'm talking slums in Africa). Even among the homeless there is an ethic of care and community.
To suggest that poor people can't possibly share the same interests as the middle class is a pretty broad and ugly generalization. The difference is what resources poverty allows to act against concerns (like increasing pollution or erosion of social services in the community) and access to information between income levels. If you live in a country where it would take two hours of labor to buy a newspaper you probably aren't going to end up reading one.
I'm not saying all poor people care, but frankly it's not like most middle class or wealthy people care about the pro-social pro-eco values people are talking about here either.
Education and opportunity... I would guess to say that many of the poor class are also the single parent/working their tails to earn a living on one wage class. These people could hardly do all that they do and do more of the sustainable activities mentioned. (I remember being a single parent in the "middle" class... after a 12 hour shift, the LAST thing I wanted to do was pick my kid up from daycare and then sew something.)
It was discussed in a previous post that Stay-at-home moms (the ones more likely to exclusively breastfeed or go completely DIY for food, clothing, etc) are a sort of luxury for many families. They are also more common in the middle/upper classes. Many of the lower class families I know have both parents working (as in our family -- although I'm blessed to work from home.)
And until the poor class is taught anything better (like breastfeeding is good for a baby), they will never know. I was 20 when I had my first one, and the hospital pushed formula on me like it was the next way to get rich. They signed me up for WIC, gave me a Rx for forumula and assured me that I was a better mom for it. I was young, and didn't think anything of it.
When I was older, I nursed my children, but still got strong resistance from the clinic, the hospital, and the WIC office during the few months that I sought help there. They insisted that I should get formula for my children "just in case" even when I told them I was nursing. I was never more relieved than when I no longer qualified for WIC.. I was able to care for my children in the way I knew was best for them -- via nursing.
There are different class habits that have nothing to do with the cost walking in the door. Why are the majority of breastfeeding moms in this country middle class when breastfeeding is the cheapest and easiest way to feed a baby? Why aren't more poor women doing it?
Aside from the obvious (we call a trip to Wal-Mart 'going to Evil' in our family), for my size of clothing and for my daughter, I couldn't buy clothes at Wal-Mart. The clothes at our local Wal-Mart range from frumpy to dowdy in my size. For my daughter who is 4 the clothes available look like they were made for what I call 'brothel wear.' It's not just the price of the clothes, it's what they look like, how long they'll last.
The same goes for knitting class. Many of us pick up thriftstore yarn and end dyelot skeins because they are cheap--but our knitting class is decidely middle class.It might take a few hours to knit a scarf, but I'll do it over a trip to Wal-Mart for an xmas present.
Any idea how to know if your apartment complex is about to be foreclosed on? In Houston, we've recently had entire complexes evicted from their apartments due to the complex owner going into foreclosure.
If I may offer a different perspective. When I was a child, some decades ago, for about five years pretty much every single Christmas present I got came from programs like this. People weren't quite so conscious of name brands then, but I still remember the feel of clothes that didn't quite fit you right, or itched quite a bit by the end of the day, or even smelled kinda funny, or weird canned food (spiced octopus; we were terrified to open it and one day there wasn't anything else to eat and we scarfed it down; I became violently ill at about three AM). Don't misunderstand me; I will always be grateful for the generosity shown by the people who gave us stuff; I am more grateful to the people who gave us stuff that they would have liked, instead of crap they were just trying to get rid of.
Every year, I was asked what I wanted, and every year I asked for a stingray bicycle. One year I got somebody's rusted old Pee-Wee Herman style bicycle, which is one of those "gifts" that, I expect, turn children into acquisitive adults ("as god as my witness, I will never lack for money again") but it was wonderful being able to bike instead of walk and I roared around town pretty vigorously, despite the abuse from what my sister and I referred to as the "rich kids" until the handlebars just snapped off one day a few months later.
And then, one year, when I was eleven years old, I got a brand-new Huffy stingray bicycle. It was spectacular, top-of-the-line. Even the rich kids liked to ride it. It was freakin' magical. It's the kind of thing that might allow a fully functioning adult to emerge out of what was a rather demanding childhood.
So, here's the thing: Buy the dream gift for the kid who's begging. Or don't. It's your choice. But please, for the love of God, don't lecture anybody about how terrible it is to dream of perfection, to respond to the question, "what would you really like?" with an truly honest answer. You know what makes me sad at the giving tree? Seeing requests for nothing but boots and hats. That's mom, desperate to keep the kids healthy for one more year, waiting for things to turn around. That ain't the kid, brother. Kids have dreams, they can't help it. Kids need to know that other people remember those dreams, they need to know that there's hope, that if you just keep plugging away someday you can take care of your own dreams. And sometimes you can take care of other people's dreams too. I always give the hats and boots. You know, to start.
The discussion around whether to buy local (read not Wal-Mart) is really one of class warfare.
The lower classes shop at Wal-Mart because the prices are low, the stores are clean and well-stocked, and the stores are convenient to get to. The elitist upper classes want to tell the lower classes where to shop (not at Wal-Mart) because shopping at Wal-Mart 'offends' these people for a variety of reasons that fit in with their political views. The lower classes of course do not listen (read or watch) to the upper classes because it goes against their economic self-interests. The upper classes' only response to that brash display of total 'ignorance' is to 'shut down' Wal-Mart by refusing them permission to build stores in their towns or neighborhoods or to try to artificially raise Wal-mart's costs by forcing them to unionize via legislation.
Wal-Mart is good for this country. Wal-Mart forces every store to be extremely aware of their prices and their selection of goods on a daily basis and how they can beat Wal-Mart at their own game. This benefits us all.
I think Wal-Mart should go into the health care business. They already have inexpensive eye care and drug prescriptions. Add a simple clinic in each store for bumps and bruises, shots, tests, and checkups and watch what happens to health care costs in this country.
The whole business of global economics is a wee bit complex, and I'm not entirely convinced that the whole BL/SL movement is founded on principles that are good for anyone. In general, I believe improved standards of living are accomplished largely through improved productivity. The flip side of being able to afford the prices involved in supporting a local cabinetmaker or herb farmer is the fact that the labor of a single farmer is enough to produce staple foodstuffs for hundreds of people.
Import substitution was a complete failure as a road to development in the third world in the 1950s and 60s--why do we think it would be a successful way to "stay developed" in our own country.
When you think about environmental impacts, for example--one must not only figure in the fuel consumption of transportation, but also the differential total fuel consumption of supporting a local artisan (consuming 6x as many of the world's resources) to make one doohicky a day vs. supporting a foreign doohicky factory worker making 20 doohickies a day and consuming a fraction of the resources as the local artisan. Like I said, it's complex, and I think the people who argue for BL/SL are leaving a lot of significant factors out of the equation.
In sum, I'd say that the middle classes who follow a "buy local" ethic are not even on their own side--and that's what puts them at odds with the working classes/poor, not the fact that their material interests are naturally opposed.
I always have found more than walmart K-mart has a better selection of maternity clothes at reasonable prices,They always last me through a pregnancy and I ahve had no problems that I ahven't had with more expensive brands.
Cereals kmart is always having good deals on cereal and if your family loves it as much as mine. You can't afford not to stock up when your there.
I also get great deals on end of season kids clothes. The kind that I don't cxare if my sone rolls in the mud with usually for 2-3 dollars I can get shorts and shirts. Along with the fact that will clearence there large ticket baby items more frequently then there competitors. Its love/hate but sometimes its love.
Also I agree about the kitchen tools and dishes martha stewart has a great line thats durable.
this new mindset. I once was foolish and wasteful myself, now I have less money than before and yet I don't feel poor. I'm grateful for everything that I can use, for hand-me-downs, for presents, for homemade stuff.
I've given quite a lot of stuff to other people through FreeCycle and it's so nice when they thank you and you think you're not throwing away stuff.
I am in the same boat with you. The charging of cell phones uses more energy than the regular old phone with a cord, which I have two. And with the loss of our privacy in so many areas of our lives, this is one where it is better to have a land line than a cell or cordless phone. There is a website that speaks to being more green, and doing what would be best for us and for the enviroment. I plan to get a tracfone for when I travel, and add minutes, then, but other than that I really don't need a cell. I also don't need the added expense either.
I'm old enough to remember when there weren't any WalMarts or Targets, so I am going to tell you what it was like then. Department stores sold clothes. They were expensive, so "poor people" (which was almost everybody) made theirs when they could afford the material. It was a lot of work to clothe a family, and the clothes never looked as good as the ones from the department stores. For this reason, it was almost impossible for a poor person to look the same as a wealthier person. Grocery stores sold groceries. The stores were small and carried the basics. There was no Asian foods aisle, no arugula, no Thai curry paste. Meals were boring. My mother-in-law told me recently that she had visited her birthplace where one of those grocery stores still existed. She asked if they had any avocados. The store manager/owner replied, "Aren't those green?" "Local" to me means something different from what it means to a young person who thinks we should return to some sort of golden age of happy producers and satisfied customers. That golden age never existed. What did exist was a limited, restricted, insular way of doing business and I don't miss it at all; I hope it never returns.
If I just do not want to pay for cable anymore can I get the boxes and do I have to get an antenna? I live in the mountains and do not know if I can get antenna reception. How can I find out???
I helped one of my friends do this over this past summer, you can read the full story on the Consumerist here: http://consumerist.com/5029578/thanks-creative-labs-for-returning-my-sub.... The Consumerist article doesn't reflect that the issue was resolved, but Creative called my friend the next business day (he sent in the email on a Friday) and apologized and shipped him a whole brand new upgraded audio system that was better than the system he originally purchased. They also refunded him all of the shipping costs as he requested. It really does work.
@ madjayhawk:
I think it's more complex than that. I think the biggest reason that the more affluent folks speak against shopping at WalMart is simply that they're trying to preserve the economic viability of the places where they want to shop. There simply aren't enough of them to keep the old downtown stores open, if they're the only people who shop there.
Beyond that, I think they're sincere in their economic analysis--figuring that, if more people patronized local businesses, the local businesses would hire more (local) people and buy more (local) stuff. (Their analysis is wrong, for the reasons I explain above, but I don't think its insincere.)
So, I don't see the upper-classes as being especially manipulative or controlling. However, since their economic analysis is incomplete, I don't think their strategy (of trying to convince poor folks that shopping local is in their own interest) is going to work.
"wearing some clothes after they have been line dried can be uncomfortable"
Why? in my country we line-dry all the time and I can't see the cons.
Fortunately, my bf pays attention to my needs. My mum gives me a nice sum of money, which I can put in the bank or use for important purchases (coat, boots and such). My MIL asked me suggestions for my present... ah, Pandora's box was opened! I made a list of all the nice things which I'd like and use but don't buy so often now that I'm tight with money. :-)
Surprises are nice, but being able to wish for something is nicer sometimes...
I know a lot of people who have shelled out real money for books/memberships and only a couple of them have ever scored a flight and neither of them could justify the expense and hassle for the little money they saved after adjusting for extra expenses incurred.
Nice post Nora.
Budgeting while on holiday is something I need to work on. I'm really good at budgeting and being frugal when I'm not on holiday but I'm not so disciplined while on vacation.
I do enjoy holidaying in the cheaper Asian countries like Thailand and Vietnam, the value for money is superb. Other excellent and cheap holidays are hiking and camping holidays, I have completed many multi-day walks in New Zealand and Australian National Parks, it is one of the cheapest holidays you can have.
This article has got me motivated and thinking about my plan to take an extended holiday at some stage.
One of the best explorations of this issue I've read.
Oh the stories we hear on a daily basis. It is very important for renters to know what is going on with their landlord's mortgage. California has done a pretty good job with the required 60 day notice, the city of Los Angeles has though most post foreclosure requirement in the nation and they are working on expanding them!
We have a site that is a bit easier to use than most of the county sites out there and RentalForeclosure.com is free to use.
I can't stress enough, it's very important to get this information. We talked to a tenant in San Diego yesterday who paid 2 years rent in advance in February, her landlord was foreclosed on December 9th. Another tenant told us that the landlord came in while they were gone and removed all of the stainless steel appliances prior to the foreclosure sale.
I've lived in poverty (according to federal guidelines) most of my life (I'm 24) while still trying to be a responsible consumer. And basically, it is frickin hard, but not particularly because socially and environmentally responsible products are always more expensive. The problem is because there is no easy access to these products and there is rarely good centralized information on where to find them, especially in poor neighborhoods. Poor people, in general, don't have a lot of resources or skills to organize their life. They work crazy hours for little pay and they usually don't have dependable transportation. Most that I know don't have everyday access to the internet.
For me to shop responsibly with a very limited buget, I have to spend hours of prep time educating myself, finding products and resources on the internet, planning trips, finding coupons, searching craigslist and thrift stores, etc. Most of the working poor don't have the time or capabilities to do this. When they need something, the easiest thing to do is stop on the store near the bus stop on the way home from work or go to the mom and pop store down the street from their apartment. Really, who has the energy to do anything else after coming home to kids after a long day at a blue collar job, especially if you have poor health because you can't afford to go to the doctor? Or if you don't have a car...
I do believe in the "fantasy" of strong, affordable local communities. But it's going to take the minds and resources of the upper middle class and educated individuals who claim to believe in it to make it possible. We need centralized resources that make affordable local products convenient to purchase, just like it's convenient to walk into a walmart and buy cheap crap.
The Oklahoma Food Cooperative is a great example of this (http://www.oklahomafood.coop). We need other networks like this that connect the local producers to local consumers. And we need ways to reach out to poor communities, help them to realize the benefits of buying these products and make it easy for them to do so.
Just to clarify, for people who would make the statement "poor people don't know about" or "poor people don't care about," as in:
"I would imagine when someone is on the bread line that they couldn't give a monkey's about ethical buying! Survival instinct overrides everything else."
Those statements are actually pretty offensive. They suggest that a lack of money reduces you to being somewhat savage. Poverty doesn't remove humanity or values. Poverty doesn't make you stupid - educated, intelligent people can find themselves in poverty for a myriad of reasons (mental illness, a personal financial disaster, escaping an abusive relationship)
If the above reasoning were true, why do poor people volunteer? Why do they tithe or keep pets? Why do they feed the neighbor's children when the barely have enough to feed their own? This happens not only in North America, where poverty can be relative, but in many poor countries (I'm talking slums in Africa). Even among the homeless there is an ethic of care and community.
To suggest that poor people can't possibly share the same interests as the middle class is a pretty broad and ugly generalization. The difference is what resources poverty allows to act against concerns (like increasing pollution or erosion of social services in the community) and access to information between income levels. If you live in a country where it would take two hours of labor to buy a newspaper you probably aren't going to end up reading one.
I'm not saying all poor people care, but frankly it's not like most middle class or wealthy people care about the pro-social pro-eco values people are talking about here either.
Education and opportunity... I would guess to say that many of the poor class are also the single parent/working their tails to earn a living on one wage class. These people could hardly do all that they do and do more of the sustainable activities mentioned. (I remember being a single parent in the "middle" class... after a 12 hour shift, the LAST thing I wanted to do was pick my kid up from daycare and then sew something.)
It was discussed in a previous post that Stay-at-home moms (the ones more likely to exclusively breastfeed or go completely DIY for food, clothing, etc) are a sort of luxury for many families. They are also more common in the middle/upper classes. Many of the lower class families I know have both parents working (as in our family -- although I'm blessed to work from home.)
And until the poor class is taught anything better (like breastfeeding is good for a baby), they will never know. I was 20 when I had my first one, and the hospital pushed formula on me like it was the next way to get rich. They signed me up for WIC, gave me a Rx for forumula and assured me that I was a better mom for it. I was young, and didn't think anything of it.
When I was older, I nursed my children, but still got strong resistance from the clinic, the hospital, and the WIC office during the few months that I sought help there. They insisted that I should get formula for my children "just in case" even when I told them I was nursing. I was never more relieved than when I no longer qualified for WIC.. I was able to care for my children in the way I knew was best for them -- via nursing.
Linsey Knerl
A lot of this is happening in my area, landlords take first, last month and security deposit, 3-4 months later, everyone is getting evicted
There are different class habits that have nothing to do with the cost walking in the door. Why are the majority of breastfeeding moms in this country middle class when breastfeeding is the cheapest and easiest way to feed a baby? Why aren't more poor women doing it?
Aside from the obvious (we call a trip to Wal-Mart 'going to Evil' in our family), for my size of clothing and for my daughter, I couldn't buy clothes at Wal-Mart. The clothes at our local Wal-Mart range from frumpy to dowdy in my size. For my daughter who is 4 the clothes available look like they were made for what I call 'brothel wear.' It's not just the price of the clothes, it's what they look like, how long they'll last.
The same goes for knitting class. Many of us pick up thriftstore yarn and end dyelot skeins because they are cheap--but our knitting class is decidely middle class.It might take a few hours to knit a scarf, but I'll do it over a trip to Wal-Mart for an xmas present.
Any idea how to know if your apartment complex is about to be foreclosed on? In Houston, we've recently had entire complexes evicted from their apartments due to the complex owner going into foreclosure.
If I may offer a different perspective. When I was a child, some decades ago, for about five years pretty much every single Christmas present I got came from programs like this. People weren't quite so conscious of name brands then, but I still remember the feel of clothes that didn't quite fit you right, or itched quite a bit by the end of the day, or even smelled kinda funny, or weird canned food (spiced octopus; we were terrified to open it and one day there wasn't anything else to eat and we scarfed it down; I became violently ill at about three AM). Don't misunderstand me; I will always be grateful for the generosity shown by the people who gave us stuff; I am more grateful to the people who gave us stuff that they would have liked, instead of crap they were just trying to get rid of.
Every year, I was asked what I wanted, and every year I asked for a stingray bicycle. One year I got somebody's rusted old Pee-Wee Herman style bicycle, which is one of those "gifts" that, I expect, turn children into acquisitive adults ("as god as my witness, I will never lack for money again") but it was wonderful being able to bike instead of walk and I roared around town pretty vigorously, despite the abuse from what my sister and I referred to as the "rich kids" until the handlebars just snapped off one day a few months later.
And then, one year, when I was eleven years old, I got a brand-new Huffy stingray bicycle. It was spectacular, top-of-the-line. Even the rich kids liked to ride it. It was freakin' magical. It's the kind of thing that might allow a fully functioning adult to emerge out of what was a rather demanding childhood.
So, here's the thing: Buy the dream gift for the kid who's begging. Or don't. It's your choice. But please, for the love of God, don't lecture anybody about how terrible it is to dream of perfection, to respond to the question, "what would you really like?" with an truly honest answer. You know what makes me sad at the giving tree? Seeing requests for nothing but boots and hats. That's mom, desperate to keep the kids healthy for one more year, waiting for things to turn around. That ain't the kid, brother. Kids have dreams, they can't help it. Kids need to know that other people remember those dreams, they need to know that there's hope, that if you just keep plugging away someday you can take care of your own dreams. And sometimes you can take care of other people's dreams too. I always give the hats and boots. You know, to start.
The discussion around whether to buy local (read not Wal-Mart) is really one of class warfare.
The lower classes shop at Wal-Mart because the prices are low, the stores are clean and well-stocked, and the stores are convenient to get to. The elitist upper classes want to tell the lower classes where to shop (not at Wal-Mart) because shopping at Wal-Mart 'offends' these people for a variety of reasons that fit in with their political views. The lower classes of course do not listen (read or watch) to the upper classes because it goes against their economic self-interests. The upper classes' only response to that brash display of total 'ignorance' is to 'shut down' Wal-Mart by refusing them permission to build stores in their towns or neighborhoods or to try to artificially raise Wal-mart's costs by forcing them to unionize via legislation.
Wal-Mart is good for this country. Wal-Mart forces every store to be extremely aware of their prices and their selection of goods on a daily basis and how they can beat Wal-Mart at their own game. This benefits us all.
I think Wal-Mart should go into the health care business. They already have inexpensive eye care and drug prescriptions. Add a simple clinic in each store for bumps and bruises, shots, tests, and checkups and watch what happens to health care costs in this country.
The whole business of global economics is a wee bit complex, and I'm not entirely convinced that the whole BL/SL movement is founded on principles that are good for anyone. In general, I believe improved standards of living are accomplished largely through improved productivity. The flip side of being able to afford the prices involved in supporting a local cabinetmaker or herb farmer is the fact that the labor of a single farmer is enough to produce staple foodstuffs for hundreds of people.
Import substitution was a complete failure as a road to development in the third world in the 1950s and 60s--why do we think it would be a successful way to "stay developed" in our own country.
When you think about environmental impacts, for example--one must not only figure in the fuel consumption of transportation, but also the differential total fuel consumption of supporting a local artisan (consuming 6x as many of the world's resources) to make one doohicky a day vs. supporting a foreign doohicky factory worker making 20 doohickies a day and consuming a fraction of the resources as the local artisan. Like I said, it's complex, and I think the people who argue for BL/SL are leaving a lot of significant factors out of the equation.
In sum, I'd say that the middle classes who follow a "buy local" ethic are not even on their own side--and that's what puts them at odds with the working classes/poor, not the fact that their material interests are naturally opposed.
I always have found more than walmart K-mart has a better selection of maternity clothes at reasonable prices,They always last me through a pregnancy and I ahve had no problems that I ahven't had with more expensive brands.
Cereals kmart is always having good deals on cereal and if your family loves it as much as mine. You can't afford not to stock up when your there.
I also get great deals on end of season kids clothes. The kind that I don't cxare if my sone rolls in the mud with usually for 2-3 dollars I can get shorts and shirts. Along with the fact that will clearence there large ticket baby items more frequently then there competitors. Its love/hate but sometimes its love.
Also I agree about the kitchen tools and dishes martha stewart has a great line thats durable.
this new mindset. I once was foolish and wasteful myself, now I have less money than before and yet I don't feel poor. I'm grateful for everything that I can use, for hand-me-downs, for presents, for homemade stuff.
I've given quite a lot of stuff to other people through FreeCycle and it's so nice when they thank you and you think you're not throwing away stuff.
This is one of the most moronic blog entries I've read, anywhere. For heaven's sake...
I am in the same boat with you. The charging of cell phones uses more energy than the regular old phone with a cord, which I have two. And with the loss of our privacy in so many areas of our lives, this is one where it is better to have a land line than a cell or cordless phone. There is a website that speaks to being more green, and doing what would be best for us and for the enviroment. I plan to get a tracfone for when I travel, and add minutes, then, but other than that I really don't need a cell. I also don't need the added expense either.
POTATO LOVE
I'm old enough to remember when there weren't any WalMarts or Targets, so I am going to tell you what it was like then. Department stores sold clothes. They were expensive, so "poor people" (which was almost everybody) made theirs when they could afford the material. It was a lot of work to clothe a family, and the clothes never looked as good as the ones from the department stores. For this reason, it was almost impossible for a poor person to look the same as a wealthier person. Grocery stores sold groceries. The stores were small and carried the basics. There was no Asian foods aisle, no arugula, no Thai curry paste. Meals were boring. My mother-in-law told me recently that she had visited her birthplace where one of those grocery stores still existed. She asked if they had any avocados. The store manager/owner replied, "Aren't those green?" "Local" to me means something different from what it means to a young person who thinks we should return to some sort of golden age of happy producers and satisfied customers. That golden age never existed. What did exist was a limited, restricted, insular way of doing business and I don't miss it at all; I hope it never returns.
If I just do not want to pay for cable anymore can I get the boxes and do I have to get an antenna? I live in the mountains and do not know if I can get antenna reception. How can I find out???
blend with milk and sugar for a cheap fruit smoothie!
I helped one of my friends do this over this past summer, you can read the full story on the Consumerist here: http://consumerist.com/5029578/thanks-creative-labs-for-returning-my-sub.... The Consumerist article doesn't reflect that the issue was resolved, but Creative called my friend the next business day (he sent in the email on a Friday) and apologized and shipped him a whole brand new upgraded audio system that was better than the system he originally purchased. They also refunded him all of the shipping costs as he requested. It really does work.