This is not a sponsored post; I don't do sponsored posts or advertising of any kind.
I've been buying my coffee (amongst most everything else) at WalMart for years. My coffee of choice is Starbucks Half-Caf Breakfast Blend, which costs $9.99 at a Starbucks store. When I first began to buy it at WalMart it cost about $4.50, a pretty darn big difference. Then the price of coffee (and everything else) started to skyrocket, but I noticed that the price of my coffee seemed to be going up more than the others. While other brands were going up a quarter here, a quarter there, my Breakfast Blend was going up by at least a dollar each time I'd buy it, every two months or so.I pulled my tinfoil hat down a bit lower on my head (Brad made it for me and it's quite effective, I've been trying to get him to make more and sell them on Etsy), and wondered what's the agenda here?
Last week it became clear. It was time to buy coffee again. Usually Wal-Mart has four shelves of Starbucks coffee, they had reduced it to two, and the price had increased to $9.98. You know, cuz they figure that if people are going to buy hundreds of Forever Stamps to save a frickin' penny surely their .98 prices in comparison to the other stores' .99 will draw crowds! And those other two shelves were filled with a new brand, Sam's Choice, with an oddly familiar green circular logo, for only $5.88. It was by far the cheapest coffee there, so I decided to give it a try. Agenda revealed!
Sam's Choice coffee is Fair Trade Certified, which means:Fair Trade certification is a market-based model of international trade that benefits over one million farmers and farm workers in 58 developing countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Fair Trade certification enables consumers to vote for a better world with their dollars, simply by looking for the Fair Trade Certified label on the products they buy.
Fair Trade empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by developing the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace. By guaranteeing minimum floor prices and social premiums, Fair Trade enables producers to invest in their farms and communities and protect the environment.
Not a bad idea. I think I'll find something to certify so I can make some bank too. It's funny to see Wal-Mart used in a sentence with a phrase like Fair Trade. But it looks like more and more mainstream companies are picking up on the idea that consumers are looking at more than just price tags and ingredients these days, and that this is not simply a trend that will go away.So how does it taste? I was surprised to find I actually prefer it to Starbucks. It has a nice smooth, rich flavor with no ashy or bitter aftertaste. It's not technically half-caf, but anything that's not Starbucks is half-caf in comparison.
In this same outing, I had on my list to buy some toilet cleaner. I especially wanted something without bleach. I normally use a lot of products with bleach, but since I'm pregnant I wanted something less toxic. I discovered that Clorox has come out with a line of natural cleaning products. Maybe you guys already knew this, but I don't watch TV so it was news to me. It was priced the same as the other chemical based products, so I decided to give it a try. I bought the toilet cleaner and the all-purpose spray, which cost $2.50 each.But how does a company like Clorox, synonymous with bleach, the most potent cleanser I know of, define "green" and "natural?" I went to their site to find out. Bolding is mine.
"Much of the ingredients used in Green Works™ natural cleaners are biodegradable helping to minimize the impact on the environment." So some of the ingredients do not fit this criteria.
"Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum. Green Works™ natural cleaners minimize the use of petrochemicals and are 99% petrochemical free." That means that 1% of these products is 100% petrochemical.
In other news, apparently my blog is the 4th most popular blog in Albuquerque, out of 86! Esp. strange when you consider that I only have maybe four readers in Albuquerque. And according to Blogshares, my blog is valued at nearly forty million dollars! Now who do I see about cashing that in?
Stumble It!
My StumbleUpon Page
15 Excellent Points:
If only you could cash it in.
I looked at the Green works too, but since they don't do antibacterial I won't use them in the kitchen. Keisha would scold me for this I know, she says I use too much antibacterial stuff. I only use a foaming hand soap and Lysol disenfectant spray in my kitchen, so it's not like I am a germ-a-phobe. She lectures me on these things regularly. :P
I use only natural cleaning products in my home... like Method, Mrs. Meyers, etc. Makes me feel a whole lot better when my kids eat food off the floor.
Cleaning products? You mean, other than baby wipes?
I'm with suburban correspondent, baby wipes clean all!
I only buy bulk organic coffee at Costco. Soooo cheap! And great coffee too!
I'm more of a vinegar and water girl. Allergic to everything household chemical. It even makes a great exfoliant. Really.
You know, I have noticed the same trend at Walmart and even grocery stores like Safeway. They have been steadily increasing the prices of brand-name items in order to push the store-brands. But fortunately, in most cases the store brands taste the same or better.
I've often wondered if those things actually work. I'll have to try them next time. I am trying to be more earth-friendly these days. I've eliminated using room freshners and my allergies have gotten better.
I actually used to depend on baby wipes for all my cleaning needs, but my kids don't need them anymore, and if I buy them now just for cleaning purposes they'll flush them down the toilet. I think it's less wasteful to use washable rags to clean anyway.
CC- I don't have a Costco membership but my dad does, I'll have to have him look. Sam's does sell big bags of organic coffee, but only whole bean. I do have a grinder, but God am I lazy. :P
Great coffee tip, Marie. Thanks! We found the Greenworks and have been using it for a while now, with good results, too. ~Congrats on your stellar ratings, btw. It comes as no surprise. &;o)
Oh, I was curious about those new Clorox products! Glad you tried them out for me ;)! Congrats on the rankings, too!
i reluctantly bought a huge bag of coffee at costco a month or so ago, and was suprised at how good it was. huge bag for 8 bucks (4lbs i think) but i have my own complex coffee ritual as sarah will atest to. as far as cleaners, im a badass. i use stuff from work, cuz i hafta pay nexta nothin for it. castrol purple clean is my fave, even in the bathroom, but for smell i use apple lysol. it is chemicaly harsh, but il probly die of cancer anyway
You should sell your blog to Google or Yahoo...everything else has.
I just read an article where one of the most respected environmentalists has changed from bio to nuclear as a fuel source. His reasoning is that the change to the environment to support bio fuels would severly increase greenhouse gases, not reduce them. Crazy...
I'd also recommend the Seventh Generation line of cleaning products. You can get them at www.gaiam.com, but several are also in the "Grocery" department at Amazon, so you get free shipping if you spend over $25. I also use a lot of their baby products, like wipes and diapers. Good stuff, and very green.
I'm going to try that coffee!
The hubs and I have switched to some green products but our wallet always hurts afterwards. Good to know some of them are affordable.
starbucks and walmart are evil empires marie! back away quickly. i tried some of the colorox green and thought it was ok. i like 7th generation better though...which they now carry at target.
The all-natural cleaning products are becoming all the rage right now. I'm glad you bought clorox, as I think the big companies need constant reinforcement to take environmental issues into account. And they are the ones making the largest impact/waste given the sheer size of their organizations and production. Thanks for the review and recommendation!
As for your mula, you need paid advertising missy! lol.
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