Small Things Count

Here, in the middle of the year, many of us are reviewing our family budget to make sure we’re okay until January.  This is a good time to take a close look, to see if our spending habits reflect what we say we believe.  For example, I believe in human dignity, so shouldn’t I stop buying at that huge discount chain that has been in the news often for mistreating and intimidating their non-documented immigrant employees?  I respect how hard local farmers work, so why not buy at farmers’ markets and through co-ops?  I may have to pay a little more.  But I can save money (and the environment) by walking or car-pooling sometimes.  Or by exchanging one night out a month for a family-centered game-night in.  I need to make my priorities clear to myself and to the stores and corporations I buy from.  They notice how we spend our money.  That makes our family budget a potential weapon of mass instruction!