Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Is Frugal Environmental?

I just read a great blog entry at Sound Money Matters called "Is A Frugal Lifestyle Always Environmentally Friendly?". It's a really good look at what we can do that's frugal AND helps the environment.

What I liked more was the examples of frugality that are NOT helpful to the environment. This made me feel better about choosing not to be cheap in some cases.

For example, the CVS Extra Care Bucks craze. Sure, it's great to get stuff really cheap or free, but I don't need to buy disposable razors that will end up in a landfill when I have a rechargeable one. I don't need tons of cosmetics, most of which have such harmful ingredients that I can't believe people even purchase them! (Did you know cosmetics do NOT need FDA approval?)

So as much as the CVS deals are tempting bargains, I opt out most of the time because I don't need them or they'll do more harm to the environment. Besides, not buying is being cheap too :)

More next time about eco-friendly, organic and SAFE cosmetics.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link! I recently learned about the CVS extra bucks craze and have been wondering whether it was worth it myself. I may have to do a whole blog post about it!

Christine said...

Thanks for the comment! Yes, I love the idea of CVS extra bucks, but haven't quite found anything I really NEED to get in the past few weeks.
Thanks for reading the blog!
-Christine

Alissa said...

I'm so glad you posted about this!

I live in Canada, so we don't have CVS here - but I read lots about it on various frugal living blogs. It's like people are just trying to get as much stuff as they possibly can, for free or close to it, without thinking about the environmental impact of such consumption.

I used to clip coupons for the odd thing (couponing is not really big in Canada either), or search out sales - but I have come to realize that the most frugal and green thing we can do is to STOP BUYING. So often we can make things ourselves, or make do with what we already have - and when there is something I feel I must have, I try to find it second-hand, if possible. Sometimes buying second-hand is almost as expensive as buying new, but I feel better about my choice.

Anyway, thanks for the post. :) I enjoyed it!