As our year of living without chains has progressed, I’ve become equally disenchanted with corporate America and the mass quantity of goods they are foisting on us with the hopes that we will continue this vicious cycle of needless consumption that has taken over America. And of course this is now on my mind more than ever due to the Christmas season.
While it may seem crazy and hopeless for one person to go up against corporate America, in fact we do have a great deal of power through the purchases we make each day to change the face of America. The website Reclaim Democracy.org is a great place to find information on things you can do as a citizen to make changes now.
For me, it’s starting small with how we shop – unchained of course. But also, in cooking our food from scratch and not buying processed foods. Purchasing our food directly from the farmer from farmer’s markets. And it has meant that I’ve started buying as many household products as possible that are handmade by crafters, rather than those made by big corporations like Dial or Procter and Gamble. Not only am I supporting a crafter who is working from home, but the product I receive has less packaging and therefore less waste that will end up in a landfill.
The first product I stopped buying from corporate America was our laundry detergent. I’d read in magazines a great recipe for making your own laundry soap recipe at home (and found some on-line here), bought all the ingredients, and made some, but really didn’t like the results too much. And besides, I really don’t have time to make my own homemade laundry soap! So, I decided I would try buying some from a crafter on Etsy. There are lots of crafters making homemade laundry soap on Etsy. I picked one that seemed the most natural and had the least amount of packaging.
Minimal packaging powdered laundry soap!
I purchase it from a crafter whose business is Shower Treat Soap made in Scotts, Michigan. If you’re not familiar with Etsy just think of it as a giant craft show right in your back yard. Now, how does this fit into our year of shopping locally in unchained stores? Well, it doesn’t. It’s absolutely true, I’m buying my homemade laundry soap from someone who is based in Michigan. But Laura IS a home-based crafter who is producing awesome, totally natural products with minimum packaging that is not harming the environment or my body. So I decided that I’d rather buy her laundry soap, than support the big company that makes Purex – Dial.
To me this is VERY subversive shopping. Let’s cut out corporate America and buy the products we need from local crafters. There are so many of them at your local craft shows, co-ops, and on Etsy selling their wares, why not? You’re supporting a local crafter, helping the environment by buying an ecologically better item and one with less packaging, and you’re cutting out corporate America all together. Yippee!
Here’s an example of how much better the product I’m buying is as far as ingredients. This is the laundry soap comparison:
| Natural Laundry Soap (Unscented) | Purex |
| Vegan cold process soap | Alcohols, C12-16, ethoxylated (Isureth-4) |
| Sodium carbonate | Sodium carbonate |
| Sodium borate | Benzenesulfonic acid, C10-C16-alkyl derivatives |
| Sodium Laureth Sulfate (bad for you & the environment!) |
Heck, I don’t know what that stuff is in the Purex. It’s not listed on the bottle. I had to hunt hard on the internet to find the ingredients, but I do know it looks pretty scary.
How does Shower Treat Soap’s Natural Laundry Soap work on my laundry? Great. I love how it cleans our clothes.
Super great homemade shampoo
What else am I purchasing? Homemade shampoo and conditioner from Joyful Girl Naturals. These are great products that make my dry, coarse hair feel so silky smooth! And best of all they have only natural ingredients so have been excellent for my problem scalp. I couldn’t even begin to list the ingredients in my old conditioner they were so long, so complicated and so tiny on the bottle I needed a magnifying glass to try and read them. The ingredients in my conditioner from Joyful Girl are all natural oils and herbs. Safe, safe, safe. Sharon makes each batch from scratch when you order it so its super fresh as well.
I’ve also ordered my kitchen pump hand soap and homemade lip balm from her which I love. I’ve just put in an order for two new products from her – dishwasher soap which I’m very anxious to try and skin toner.
Yummy Good Fortune Soap!
Homemade soap is by far the easiest household item you can buy locally by a crafter. We sell some great handmade soap at our Museum Store by Good Fortune , which is made locally here in Southeast Tennessee just a few towns north of Cleveland. Jennifer Jack, the owner, makes awesome soap which Dan and I love to use. It comes in yummy scents, in beautifully prepared long-lasting bars. She also sells lip balms, moisterisers, shea butter, room sprays, and so much more. We have a hard time keeping her items in stock in the Museum Store!
And I also recently discovered at a local craft fair, Soaps by Jan. Jan makes all natural homemade soaps with herbs she grows herself. The one I’m using right now is Crone’s Ocean. I loved the smell and the name as I just turned 50 and am now officially a Crone.
So, you can see I’m slowly trying to replace as much of my household products as possible with those made by crafters. It’s my small way of cutting out corporate America in favor of shopping with local crafters.
Let me know of any handmade products you might use from local crafters. I’ll be interested to know.
However, anyone can make awesome purchases in Sutlers’ Row. Here’s some neat finds you might find enjoyable. Smiling Fox Forge is always at the Encampment and this is a lovely pewter 
Or if you love copper, check out 
Talk about heirloom! We loved when Katie and Steve came to the encampment too. They were tons of fun. Here’s the Goodwife introducing her Mastercraftsman husband.
