How To Afford Organic
Organic products often cost more than “traditional” ones.* So how can a family do right for the environment and their bodies without going broke? Well, here’s how we Blankenships do it.
Part I: Save money on cleaning and personal care SO YOU CAN spend money on organic & grass-fed** food.
Baking soda and vinegar clean everything: sinks, toilets, kitchen counters, floors, younameit. I pay $10 for 2 gallons of distilled white vinegar and a 13.5 pound bag of baking soda at Sam’s, a quarter to a third of what I used to spend on task-specific cleaners.. They last 2-3 months and leave the house sparkling and disinfected.
Simplify the beauty routine:
A) Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap is our shampoo, body wash, shave gel, and hand soap. And we haven’t even tried it for a host of its other uses, among them: laundry detergent, dish soap, and dishwasher detergent.
B) Jojoba oil moisturizes the body & face, and shea butter conditions and styles the hair.
C) Everyday Minerals Makeup is healthy, incredibly affordable, and looks amazing. They give away free sample packages; you just pay around $5 for shipping. And I only buy their sample sizes––they last for months but not so long that I have piles of old makeup lying around.
Part II: Food
Plan each week’s meals and shop only for the ingredients we need. I’ve actually started planning a month’s worth of meals at once; I shop for specialty ingredients online and then buy fruits and veggies each week at the farmer’s market or grocery store.
Grass-fed beef (and lamb, pork, and chicken!) come from a local farm. Rather than buying individual cuts of meat for given meals, we buy the whole animal at once (post-slaughtering and processing, mind you, and split with 3 other families) and store it in a deep freezer on the back porch. Last year our share worked out to be $2.55 per pound of beef (for every cut), a one-time cost of $406.08 for 159 pounds of meat. It lasted 9 months, but I’m sure with better planning, we can make it last a full year.
Groceries come from local farms, farmer’s markets, CSAs, and food co-ops. Buying straight from the grower is almost always cheaper than the grocery store. We don’t have to pay for the supermarket’s overhead costs (lighting, shelf space, air-conditioning…) and the farmer is getting every penny I pay him. A food co-op is a member owned/operated grocery store usually specializing in natural, local products.
Other specialty items (especially gluten-free) are found online at Vitacost and Mountain Rose Herbs. Mountain Rose Herbs has the best deal on Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.
Grow organic food: start a compost pile, buy some seeds or starter plants, and cultivate a garden! Nothing is cheaper, healthier, or tastier than homegrown herbs, fruits, and veggies. Stu Campbell’s Let It Rot! is an excellent guide to composting.
With these tools and resources we’ve greened our home and life without breaking the bank. We know where our food is coming from, what we’re putting in and on our bodies, and we’re supporting our local economy! 10 billonty wins.
For more information on living green affordably, visit Passionate Homemaking. Lindsay Edmonds’ encyclopedic knowledge is astounding.
* “Traditional” or “conventionally grown” seem like such misnomers to me. Traditionally, food and clothing were grown organically because there was no other choice. Synthetic fertilizers, hormones, and antibiotics didn’t exist 150+ years ago.
** Organic is a useful label for describing produce but not for meat. Farmers can call meat organic if they’re feeding their livestock organic corn. But cows, lambs, pork, and chickens aren’t meant to eat corn and other grains. Their digestive systems thrive when eating GRASS. Look for grass-fed meats and organic fruits and vegetables.
8 Responses to “How To Afford Organic”
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Gillie Tice
Love it! Our family has recently gone organic (about 6 weeks now) and we’re doing almost all the same things. I haven’t made the switch with makeup yet so I’m excited to try what you’ve suggested. We’re spending the same amount of money on food and we feel incredibly good (we’re losing weight too)!! We bought a share of a local CSA and are eagerly anticipating the first harvest in a few weeks. I also just discovered a local farm that sells grass fed organic beef…now we just need a freezer :-)
I’m finding that a lot of people want to eat organic but don’t because they don’t think they can afford it. I’ve made it my personal mission to dispel that myth!! Love that you’re doing the same!
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Joyce Ting
I’m totally for organic, locally-grown but what would you say to those who don’t have enough time to do all the planning for going this route? Those folks who don’t have space in their lives other than to head to the grocery store for 1hr/week to buy groceries?
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Mandy
I’d say we make time for what we want to make time for. If life is too busy to eat healthily, I might start with reevaluating my commitments and seeing where I could say ‘no’ to things.
Living holistically is an investment in your health; so the time it takes to plan meals is time you won’t spend in the doctor’s office. It is certainly less expensive to buy local, organic food and have a lifetime gym membership than to have a heart attack.
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John
Mandy,
You tell ‘em!! I love your response to Joyce. If there is one thing I that bugs me, it’s when people say “I didn’t have time to do (whatever).”
Silly example: I was talking to my Brother-in-law who happens to be going through his residency to be an orthpedic surgeon. I asked him if he had read any of the Harry Potter Books. His response? “I haven’t had time.” BULL! You HAVE had time to read the books, you have just CHOSEN to do other things that are more important to you, like work on your Dr. Skills.
While I (of course) agree with his choices in regards to time management, it still bugs me when people say they don’t have time. Wake up world! Everything you do is a choice. Everything. Choose to invest some of your time in keeping yourself and your family healthy.
Go team Blankenship! Way to invest in yourselves, your community, and your world.
BTW, Shoutout to Lauren From Texas for linking to your blog. Good Suggestion!
-John
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Chetna
I try so hard to do many of the above..no I’m not perfect but I the point is I do try…for my sake and more importantly for my family’s sake. I also go around preaching about this stuff so kudos to everybody here and thank you Mandy for your time and info..Please do continue to update us on any ways we can avoid the devil Monsanto..if America supports this cause maybe for our children we can eradicate the company!
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Mandy
Chetna,
Visit the Organic Consumers Association website and check out their Millions Against Monsanto page. The OCA is a great resource on organic issues and activism.
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Jessica
Mandy, I’m curious how you use Dr. Bronners as a shampoo. I’ve tried using it and I find that I can barely comb through my hair afterwards. I love Dr. Bronners as a bodywash and I’m wondering if I’m just not using it right?
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Mandy
Jessica,
For shampoo I use Dr. Bronner’s completely undiluted. I pour probably a quarter size amount in my hand, lather it in wet hair, comb through my hair with a wide-tooth comb, and then rinse it out. Then I towel dry my hair and blow dry like normal. If it looks like it needs a bit more conditioning AFTER I’ve dried it, I rub a bit of shea butter in my hands and work it into the ends of my hair, gently styling with the shea butter like I’d use a hair putty (for sort of a piecey look; my hair isn’t short to where I’d want to do any gravity-defying styles). Jojoba oil can work as well for extra conditioning, but use it very sparingly.
Things I’ve discovered about Dr. Bronner’s as a shampoo through trial & error:
Don’t dilute it for hair as it will leave my hair super greasy.
Don’t use a conditioner in the shower or pre-blow-drying. Because all the natural oils in Dr. Bronner’s ARE conditioners themselves, too much conditioning can leave hair greasy and impossible to work with.I hope this helps!