After thinking about all the things I do purchase daily, I feel it is best to make better decisions on how we should spend our money which should help us with our finances. There can be times we spend our money without thinking it clearly through and already having the money for something you want should not be the reason to make that purchase. What do I like to do before I make a purchase is to ask my self-simple questions, for example, do I have the money to afford this? Do I have enough money to complete the purchase? Or will I be going into debt after I buy this item? This is some of the questions I usually ask myself before making a decision that is not going to put me in an immediate financial situation.
Another question that I like to ask myself before deciding what I need to purchase is if this purchase is worth it. I would like to know if whatever I am purchasing would fulfill my needs. Even if the purchase is not completely necessary, I can also figure out whether or not it is worth buying by its brand. Considering whether or not I will actually use the item is another question, and how often am I going to use it as well. If it is something I am likely to use only once, it can make more sense to rent the item or borrow it from someone I know. I feel it is good to be realistic about how important and useful an item will be in your life.
What variables affect your decisions to buy or not to buy A variable that can affect my decision on whether I should buy an item or not is if I have enough space to put this item at home. Sometimes, while shopping I may run across something that I really like, but it might be too big and I may not have enough room for this item. An example of this would be a hex chair. A nice comfy chair in my room would be nice to have to relax, sit on while doing homework, or even just to have for guests when they come over. Therefore, space would be something that can get in the way and have me rethink about my decisions.
Another variable that can affect my decisions on whether or not I should purchase an Item or not is if I can return it. There has been plenty of times where I would purchase something that I never use and it will just end up being extra space or in the trash. It is very important to buy something that we truly need because not everything is good for our environment. It can take up a lot of energy just to create one single item, for example, perfume. I have plenty of perfumes that I had bought in the past months that I have never used simply because I was not happy with the smell. That being said, it would either be extra space or thrown in the trash bin like everything else. This is bad because perfume is practically dangerous to the environment, it contains dozens or even hundreds of fragrances that evaporate into the air (No name, 2015).
How purchasing can have an enormous impact on the environmen I believe the amount of purchases that we buy on a daily basis is having a huge impact on the environment. The damages of nonrenewable resources, global warming and industrial toxins that are polluting our water and soil are all due to us, but we do not see the connection between what we buy and the actual ecological damage done along the way. There are many things we buy that turn into waste that can harm our environment for example food. Food is something we purchase on a day to day basis because we need it. However, many of these types of ‘food’ that we buy come in harmful plastic bags and wraps such as chips and candy.
Everything we purchase we eventually throw them out, either it is because we do not need it anymore or because we do not see any use for it. The more we purchase the more our trash bags get full. Americans trash grew faster than its population over the past few decades. Although the population grew by 65 percent between 1960 and 2005, the amount of trash thrown out doubled from 83 million tons to 167 million tons (Yin, 2006).
Another reason why purchasing can have an enormous impact on the environment is by having to use plastic bags after we make a purchase. Plastic bags are bad for our environment, a single-use disposable plastic bag is suffocating the planet. There is research that shows 60,000 plastic bags are being consumed in the United States every 5 seconds. Plastic bags are made using non-renewable resources, either it is petroleum or natural gas. Therefore, they take huge amounts of energy to make and transport around the country. They do not break down in landfills, but over time release dangerous chemicals into the air. Plastic bags are difficult to recycle which creates a global litter problem (Lynn, 2012).
Lastly, purchasing online is also another enormous impact that we can have on the environment. This is because the more we shop online the more delivery trucks driving around with online ordered packages. This creates air pollution being said that driving is 1/3 of the U.S air pollution. Just one normal vehicle can create 4.6 tons of carbon dioxide a year. And so, most of the packages we receive come in with plastic wraps to keep the items safe and not break (Hale, 2018). How could your purchasing decisions influence environmental policy on a local, state, federal or even global level?
How could my purchasing help influence environmental policy on a global level is by ‘green purchasing’. With green purchasing, it can have a big impact on our environment because these are products that have lesser or reduced effects on the environment compared to other products. Many of these products use less energy, water, and fuel. Since environmentally preferable products are designed to create little or no waste, they help reduce or eliminate the cost of waste ( No Name, 2018). An example of this would be buying eco-friendly cleaning supplies instead of buying harmful toxins to clean my house or car. This would help my environment better than using harmful chemicals because they are meant to be earth-friendly.
Another way my purchasing decisions can influence environmental policy on a local level is by not buying cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes affect the air with the smoke, smell and chemical emissions. And so, cigarettes always become cigarette butts that can create a lot of pollution in the area that I live in. I learned that cigarettes make up more than 1/3 of all collected litter and take big bucks just to clean up all the mess (No Name, 2017). An example of this would be to stop smoking cigarettes and instead go for a run. This would help stop pollution by not smoking harmful substances that are going in the air and stop myself from littering after I am done smoking.
