The whole incident I had recently with recycled printer paper made me start to wonder: how much am I willing to pay extra to go green? Twice as much? One third more? A dollar more per item? How much is really in production costs, and how much is marketing hype to be able to charge more?

I feel very frustrated- I hate not knowing if I am being scammed or not.

How much extra are you willing to pay?

__________________
I don't believe in miracles; I depend on them

I thought I had responded to this a little earlier, but I must not have clicked Submit Reply . So I'll try again.

Please don't flame me, but this is my honest answer to your question. At this time, I would not spend more on green/organic/recycled items. The reason is simply financial. We watch every single penny right now. When we get debt-free and our "back on our feet", then I will probably change my opinion. But right now, it has to be a financial decision. I hope that doesn't make me a horribly selfish person!

__________________
If you need to get in touch with me, my email is teach1107910@yahoo.com.

I am willing to pay a little more, certainly not double but that is just my cheapness! I'll go up to a few dollars more, I've never really looked at it and figured out how much more I pay. If the price is reasonable than I get it, if it's crazy I don't!

__________________

I am only one, but I am one. I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do. -Edward Hale

For me, it depends on what it is. When I'm buying foods, I pay a lot more and that's okay with me. There are things that I know I should do, but haven't. There is a little box I could check on my electric bill that will go for green energy. My electric bill is $171, I can't afford to check that box. Instead, I try to conserve what energy I can in other ways. I have started buying those other light bulbs now that the price is dropping some. I think you should just do what you can, every little bit helps. No one could spend double on every item they buy and still survive.

I'm talking more organic food, but I'm willing to pay what is 'reasonable' but that changes on a case-by-case basis. For instance, I wanted to buy some organic cherries the other day. They were $8 a lb. There is no way I'm paying $8 for cherries even if they are coated with gold.

What usually happens here is that we just buy less of whatever item if it is organic and pretty high but still somewhat reasonable. So instead of buying 8 peaches we will just buy 4 and maybe that 4 will equal the non-organic 8 but that is ok.

I've actually found some really good deals for green cleaning products, etc. in the most unlikely places. For instance, we live near a high end grocery store (that also had the $8 cherries, go figure!) that has Seventh Generation and other green brands at very reasonable prices, actually the lowest I've found anywhere. So that's where I'll go for my cleaning products.

Without fail I always go for the cheaper price. I care about the environment but not enough to line the pockets of people who are trying to capitalize on the interest of "Green" products.

I do what I can that does not cost me anything like recycle everything I possibly can to reduce my trash costs and not contribute to filling up landfills.

I plant a large organic garden every year because I love fresh veggies, it's cheaper than buying them in the stores, organic is cheaper and safer than using chemicals, all my jars are reusable.

I do most of my cleaning with a vinegar solution because it is cheap, and I don't have to worry about the chemicals.

As for products in stores - I could not afford to feed my family on my budget if I was buying "green" and organic products. Until the prices come down I will continue to bargain shop.

Well, I am noticing that the higher prices for some items (organic foods, recycled, energy efficient, etc.) are being balanced out by the money I save by going green in other ways.

I am not buying as many cleaners anymore since I have been using more cheaper/natural cleaning supplies.

Vinegar water replaces expensive laminate floor cleaner as well as all purpose spray cleaners for counters, bathrooms, etc.

I am also using baking soda instead of Comet or Ajax for scouring.

If I can get my trash reduced enough by using less packaging then I might be able to cut out trash collection and take it to the dump instead.

Refilling things like ink cartridges for my printer is cheaper than buying new and "green"

So, I don't mind paying more for some things since I am absorbing the higher costs by cutting out other things. I do draw the line at certain things though. I wouldn't pay $8 a pound for cherries either.

A local grocery store chain, Fred Meyer, just came out with a store brand line of organic products. I hate to admit it, I'm skeptical. Are they REALLY organic or are they just jumping on a bandwagon? Along the same lines, I'm p.o.'ed at brands like Skippy who are coming out with 'natural' products. The word 'natural' means NOTHING compared to 'organic' but some people don't realize that. Lard, after all, is a 'natural' product. It might even be organic but that doesn't mean it is healthy. I'm doing a lot of label reading lately!

As for recycled paper, sometimes when I read the label they say the paper is made up with 'up to 10% recycled material'. In those cases, no I will NOT pay more. Since I'm aware that the paper recycling industry is going through some very difficult times (I swear there is a mob influence in that system somewhere and that is what is making it impossible to make money in that industry), I will pay about 10% more for 100% recycled paper.

__________________
"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

Yeah...the natural thing gets on my nerves too. You REALLY have to read labels. I was looking at some "Natural" chicken breasts the other day and it had "All Natural, No Added Hormones!!!" on the front of the label. Then...in really small lettering at the bottom it read, "FDA prohibits the use of hormones in poultry products". So I was like...hmm...then that means that NO chicken has added hormones, yet they are charging a premium touting this chicken as all natural...Geez!

I was noticing this just today as well. I was debating buying organic whole chickens when I also saw that disclaimer. So, I can go the deep discount place and by the $4 chicken or spend $8 on the 'organic' chicken that is the same? Mind you it did not say 'free range'. I know free range are supposed to be better. But the only thing it said was No Added Hormones. I'll stick with the $4 chicken.

I've also found many many organic junk foods. I totally agree, organic does not mean healthy! I check, along with the organic label, the addition of high fructose corn syrup, non-hydrogenated oils as well. I also learned something new - when you are checking for sugars, you need to Keep Reading. Sugar might be listed 3 or 4 or times just in different ways. For instance: Sugar. High Fructose Corn Syrup. Just 'fructose'. Sucralose. There are others, but those of the ones right off the bat. So you might read 'sugar' way down on the list. But Sucralose, HFCS, and fructose might be on the list of ingredients as well. So the sugar in the item is might be 3 or 4 times what you think that it is.

How sad is that? But, we're savvy, we just keep doing what we need to do!