All in Conscious Consumer

12 Money Challenges for 2024

You can’t spell challenge without change.

The challenges in this list aren’t your typical save $1 on Day 1 and $2 on Day 2, although, those can be pretty helpful. These challenges are to help you see that money is an integral part of our lives, but it’s not the primary goal. You’ll learn that after doing these challenges, money and time are both important, living frugally doesn’t have to mean deprivation, you don’t always have to spend money to have a good time and that getting a community together can help with your money goals.

10 Sustainable Swaps to Save You Money

As it is Earth Month, I'm sharing some of my tried and true sustainable swaps. My journey to sustainability continues to this day and the biggest thing I've learned is that it is a journey, one that never ends, as we challenge ourselves to do better each day, learn more, and teach others. Sustainability comes in so many forms that we all have to do the best we can, given our resources. I've also learned that when you are kind to the planet, you also become kinder to the wallet.

Digital Minimalism: How to declutter your tech usage to save time, money, and sanity

Digital Minimalism is “a philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.” It is an important step to take if you want reduce your tech usage to save you time, money, and sanity.

22 Money Saving Tips for Fall

"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."

As the weather cools down and Instagram is flooded with all things autumn, it’s easy to want to do all the fun things too. Fall is beautiful and a lot of fun, but with all the fall festivities going on, it’s a great time to re-evaluate and think about ways to save some money this time of year. Here are 22 tips on saving money this fall.

Action Plan to Consume, Divest, and Invest for a Better Future

As individuals, we all have the power to make a change. Today, money makes the world go round. That is an honest reality that we all must face, which means we need to be more conscious about what we buy, where we park our money, what we invest in, and how we go about changing a system that relies heavily on consumption and growth.

A Beginner's Guide to Slow Fashion - #SaveMoneySaveThePlanet

Since it’s Earth Month, we’ve been running a #SaveMoneySaveThePlanet Challenge with our email subscribers. Sign-up here. We can’t let this month pass by without talking about fashion, more specifically how fast fashion affects our wallets and the planet and how we must all transition towards the concept of slow fashion.

You might have heard of fast fashion — clothing that can be both cheap in costs and in quality. But have you heard about slow fashion? Slow fashion focuses on the opposite, curating clothing that is more sustainable in its production and material, while having a newfound appreciation for consumer transparency, ethics, and local, artisan craft.

25 Tips for Successful Thrifting - #SaveMoneySaveThePlanet

When I was a kid, my mom used to wake me up early on Saturdays to bring me to the local flea market or to scout nearby yard sales. I would pick at miscellaneous toys and gadgets, while my parents browsed for clothes and homeware. When we would go to thrift stores, I would quickly do a pass through of the aisles and claim that I didn’t find anything interesting. I didn’t find it particularly interesting at the time, but now, as a twenty-something year old, I realized how much fun and affordable it was. For some thrifting is new, and for others, it was an activity out of necessity. Some people prefer to thrift to find unique clothing pieces, while others do it for sustainability reasons. Regardless of your reason, here are some tips that can help jumpstart your thrifting journey:

40 Day No-Spend Challenge: Here’s What I learned

A No-Spend Challenge is self induced commitment or challenge to one’s self to not spend money in a certain period of time. No-Spend challenges can range from one week to a month, or whatever you heart desires.

I actually did this last year, but I basically gave up online spending for 40ish days. This year, I wanted to do the same as a way to challenge myself and practice self-restraint, but also give my wallet a break.

Here are some of my observations from my no-spend challenge.

How to Invest Responsibly with People, Planet, and Profit in Mind - A Primer

“Invest in the world that you want to live in.”

How can we invest and pursue financial independence with people, planet and profit in mind? It’s time we start investing in the world that we live in, but aligning our investments with our values. In this post, we provide options for alternative investments as well as some ways we can improve our current investment portfolio using various resources.

Book Review and Summary: The Do Gooder's Guide to Investing by Adrian Reif

“It turns out you can give your money to a project positively impacting the world with the goal of earning a financial return.

Can you grow your money while investing in positive change for people and the planet? I believe that we can and this book The Do Gooder’s Guide to Investing by Adrian Reif provides a roadmap on how we can do all that.

The word “investing” can sometimes get a bad rap because it’s associated with Wall Street, but it’s absolutely possible to invest in affordable housing, renewable energy and local communities and still grow your money. The Do-Gooder’s Guide to Investing provides a comprehensive list of these investing options. Even if you are not ready to invest yet in these organizations, I highly recommend reviewing and learning more about the organizations that Adrian lists as it will give you some hope about the future.

The Underwear Loan And Other Stupid Stuff We Put on Credit

“Credit buying is much like being drunk. The buzz happens immediately, and it gives you a lift. The hangover comes the day after.”

I recently came across a post on Facebook about how a woman took out what essentially amounted to be a very expensive loan for underwear. I’ve included the text below and you can find it here too. It’s a public post so hope it’s OK for me to repost. Credit to her for admitting to it. Upon reading it, it got me thinking about my own spending habits and the “loans” I’ve taken out by putting certain items on credit so here goes.

Veterinarian Adopts Low Waste Mindset to Become Debt Free - Michelle's Story

“You will be in debt for the rest of your life.”

That was my welcome into the veterinary profession. Starting as early as when I began my undergraduate studies, if I spoke with a veterinarian, the assertion that I would be in debt for the rest of my life would inevitably come up. Going less waste is what allowed me to break the cycle of mindless consumerism and believe in a future where we can be debt free. I’m so excited to continue to align my actions with my beliefs and can’t wait to see what we can accomplish once we have financial independence.