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Episode 495 – Be discerning with your purchases

I have something a little different for you today, but nonetheless – it is also about being our best and living our best life

And I want to start out by reading you a recent Blog Post from Seth Godin:

Its titled:

Don’t buy cheap chocolate

Halloween is a month away. And over the next few weeks, a lot of cheap chocolate is going to get bought in preparation for the ringing doorbell.

Cheap chocolate is made from beans picked by poor kids in dangerous conditions.

And cheap chocolate is made from beans that don’t even taste that good, but come from more hardy trees, so it’s more reliable to grow.

Some of the poorest people in the world raise cacao beans, and the market is driven by the low bidders. The low bidders are the folks who have no room for flexibility in their supply chain because the end product they sell is so price sensitive. For forty years, it’s been a race to the bottom, one that has led to plenty of ignored pain.

On the other hand, expensive chocolate turns the ratchet in the other direction. The folks who make the bars, particularly those who do direct trade, keep paying higher and higher wages. They keep children out of the system. And they encourage their growers to use the tastier artisanal Criollo and Trinitario varieties, keeping them from extinction.

The race to the top often creates more winners than losers. That’s because instead of seeking to maximize financial returns at the expense of everyone in the system, they’re focused on something else.

• I am not going to tell you today how to spend your money
• I simply want to leave this post with you so you can think about not just chocolate, which is one of my vices, but all your purchases
• Every time we purchase something, anything – we vote
• We vote for the brand and the product
• We support the company that makes the product by purchasing
• Our purchase, especially our repeat purchases keeps them going
•  
• Over the years I have become more conscious of this
• When I was college, I didn’t have money so I wasnt discerning with my purchases
• The price was determining factor, unless I really liked something
• But even then, I often left it on the shelf because I knew that even one dollar spent to much would leave me short on my tuition that I paid out of my savings
• This mentality slowly changed as I earned more money
• While I was always frugal – thanks to my grandparents education on money matters
• I was also always keen on quality
  • Especially with food
• I always thought that being sensitive to price and desiring good quality are mutually exclusive
• But I have found – frugality and a quest for best quality can be combined
• We can have both – but we may need to change our approach a little
• As I have experimented with this over the years,
• I have a few tips for you that came to mind when I read this post and that I want to pass on
• Buying high end products is not always feasible – even when we see their value
• But as I list my tips, think of only one or 2 items – food, or household products, that are special to you
  • Maybe they are treats
  • Maybe they serve a special purpose
  • Maybe they are critical for your wellbeing
• Chocolate definitely falls into all those categories for me
• so here is what I learned – maybe you find this useful in how you look at your purchases
•  

1. With expensive items – I become frugal with quantity
   • And I am not talking about the fancy restaurant that serve you 3 peas with a splash of sauce for 40 dollars
     • I stay away from them because its not a satisfying experience for me
   • I am talking about chocolate and other necessities
     • Fruits and Veggies where you contemplate whether you should spend the extra dollars on organic varieties
     • Household cleaners that are based on plant formulas but therefore cost more than the toxic options
   • And all the other household items we need on a regular basis

• I have learned to become more economical
• When you have a big bag of hershey’s sitting in the pantry that cost 10 bucks, its easy to eat 3,4,5,6 or more pieces at once
• But now you stand in the chocolate aisle at Whole foods and really want that Dark Chocolate sea salt caramel bar that $5 bar
• But you know this wont last long in your house
• Become frugal with the quantity of your consumption
• Instead of eating 10 pieces, you at 2
• One of those bars often has 6 or 8 squares.
• I may eat 2 at night after dinner
• That way the bar lasts me a week – as I don’t always have chocolate at night
• The same works for other products
• Use or consume a little less
• This becomes a good weight loss strategy because often we eat more just because there IS more
• We don’t necessarily NEED more
• I know this may require willpower, but the financial implication may be a good motivator
• I know it works for me
• I find it hard to justify eating the entire chocolate bar in one sitting
• I now have 2 voices of reason in my head
  • The one that reminds me of the calories in that bar and the other reminding me of the cost of it
• plus
• We often don’t need as much as we think we do
• We might be used to old ways of consuming exactly because cheap stuff is cheap and requires more to make us feel satisfied
• But a piece of high quality dark chocolate or grass-fed steak or fresh-baked bread is more satisfying, better tasting and more satiating than the cheaply mass manufactured competition
•  

2. Learn to make your own

• If there are items, you truly enjoy and consume frequently – but yet don’t want to spend the money for it frequently
  • see if you can make it yourself
• that is how many businesses started
• people began making their own version because they found the ones on the market unsatisfactory
  • just look at the craft beer market
  • so many people make beer now in their basements and that is not even the easiest of processes

• If it’s truly a handcrafted item, as so many items say now on their packaging – it will most likely be easy to make  – you just need to figure out the processing part
• I love fermented items such as pickles and kombucha and yogurt
• And I love the process – because it occurs by itself
• Just provide the right conditions and nature will take care of the rest
• Ill talk about ingredients shortly – but check them and you will notice that many of them you can just buy individually
• At various times in the last few years I made my own ice cream, almond milk, yogurt, kombucha, hummus, pickled vegetables, shower soap and lip balm which also makes a great present or stocking stuffer
• I have grown herbs on my balcony as long as I can think, even back in Germany
• These are all items that were or are important to me for some time and that I found are either expensive and yet easy to make
• Or that I didn’t find satisfactory because of extra ingredients that I didn’t want to consume
• Nowadays the marked has demanded more pure products and companies have responded
• So I now buy most of them because a) my time is limited and b) when I make something – I like to make a larger batch so the effort is worth my time
• Well with food products its difficult – they don’t last as long
• So I found myself throwing away a lot
• Plus – I actually want to support companies that provide great products, which brings me to my third point:
•  

3. Vote with your money

• This means you think more long-term,
• You don’t just think about saving a dollar here and there – instead you are casting a vote
• I do this every time I spend $3 on a cup of plain drip coffee and add a $1 tip
• I love my little coffee shop here in Oakland
• I love their coffee and I buy their beans and sometimes make it at home
• But I want them to stay in business
•  
• I do this when I shop at REI
• I often can get items cheaper at Amazon or other places
• But I buy my outdoor gear and clothes mostly at REI if they carry what I need
• I get a dividend there and I enjoy so many other perks, like hassle free returns
• I love that store and I don’t mind paying a little extra
•  
• I don’t do this with everything in my life and I could make a much better effort
• But keep it in mind next time you are deciding between a mass-produced product and a handcrafted product that could mean the making or failing of a small business
• Don’t buy it if you don’t like it but I find, many expensive items also taste much better
• The ingredients are higher quality and a fuller taste is often also a taste that is more satisfying
• And we can make do with less
• On to Tip number 4

4. Read the ingredients

•  
• They will tell you if you are looking at a quality product
• If I don’t know or can’t pronounce them, then I consider this cheating
• The company sold me something that had to be cheated together in order to make it cheap and tasty
• Take all the chemicals out and now you are looking at a product that has less volume and is more expensive
• It makes sense, doesn’t it?
• Filler products are cheap
• But removing these requires more of the good stuff
• Hence, more money
• And then of course the labor to make it, as Seth pointed out, which add another dimension

• My encouragement is this:
• Stay discerning
• In an economy where everything is available and always – its easy to get lost
• Know what’s important to you and keep your standards high
• Because every dollar we spend casts a vote
•  

Much love my friends