Divesting in 2025

a conscious uncoupling from capitalism

As I wrote in my newsletter, Why I’m Divesting: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, I have decided to be more intentional about where I spend my money. This isn’t entirely new; I used to make all my own everythings, and I’m very conscious about products without fragrance, companies I want to support, etc.

“When you divest, you do more than withdraw money — you withdraw consent. You declare that your convenience, your comfort, even your financial interests are not more precious than your principles.”
– Louis Byrd

I had gotten too comfortable with Amazon, and since divesting from it entirely, I’ll be documenting where I’m finding alternatives. For the record, we didn’t shop at Target (or Walmart). We get groceries from Trader Joe’s, ALDI, Costo, and occasionally Sprouts or Hy-Vee (Midwest specific and employee owned).

January

  • I deleted every single item from Amazon Subscribe and Save (we did not have Prime).
  • We already used Chewy for pet items, and I found out one particular item was actually a better deal there.
  • I already get some of my supplements from Fullscript (through my doctor), so I’ll move everything else here when I run low.
  • We’re obsessed with nata de coco, and normally I’d check Amazon since I don’t make it to Chinatown that often. Instead I went directly to Jubes website and ordered a case. It was more than I would have normally spent, but it’s significantly cheaper than buying them individually.
  • I started using Bookshop for all the book links in my newsletter.
  • I migrated our personal email account to Proton Mail instead of Gmail.

February

  • I needed to buy a podcasting mic. Normally this would be a search directly on Amazon (and I realized the reviews are a side benefit). Instead, I shopped different audio sites via Google, and ultimately chose to buy all my equipment from Audio Technica’s outlet store, which was a better deal anyway.
  • We discussed not creating free content for Meta platforms for the podcast I cohost/produce. We’re making plans for an eventual social presence, and intend to ignore Facebook/Instagram entirely and focus on LinkedIn and possibly Bluesky.

March

  • An author I follow self-published a book on Amazon. Initially I thought, well that sucks, oh well. Then I realized not supporting him just because it will send a few bucks to Bezos is dumb. I bought the book.
  • I found a similar product on Fullscript that I would have previously purchased on Amazon.
  • I set up a recurring donation to JVS to counteract the gutting of government grants.
  • A book I was recommending in my newsletter was not on Bookshop, so I linked to abesbooks.com (used books online).
  • I reordered the concentrate for Branch Basics cleaning supplies. I’ve been using this for years already and LOVE it. Highly recommend; buy one bottle of concentrate and use it for every possible cleaning need and as hand soap.
  • I needed to order staple pantry items (gluten-free flour) that would have previously been from Amazon, so I placed an order at Vitacost instead. Because they have coupon codes and I always make sure to hit shipping minimums, it was probably cheaper.
  • I canceled a book preorder that was on Amazon, and re-preordered it on Bookshop.com. Yes, I had to pay for shipping.
  • I restocked my henna directly from my supplier instead of purchasing it on Amazon (ugh, had to pay for shipping again).
  • Not entirely related, but I’ve been doing the typical spring cleaning of cabinets and kid clothes, and I’m shipping the good stuff to ThredUp so I can make $20 (if I’m lucky). The rest is getting donated.
  • Finally got around to export and deletion of my Twitter account (which I haven’t used since the Musk takeover), while also locking the username. See instructions here if you need help.

experimental pixels!

Experimental Pixels is a bi-weekly newsletter by Sarah Schumacher on the intersection of art and entrepreneurship. You can also sign up for notifications when new art or essays are uploaded.

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