I'm all about voting with your dollar. I avoid shopping at stores or buying brands that are associated with policies or political opinions I find problematic, and I will continue to do so.
The flipside of that for me, however, started to become an unhealthy and unproductive over-identification with stores and brands I do feel comfortable supporting. I was excusing myself from making needless purchases because the brand donates to charity, or because the store gives its employees fair pay.
I was excusing impulse buys at Michaels by telling myself that at least they don't bar their employees from collective bargaining or deny female employees full insurance coverage like Hobby Lobby, when in reality I don't need another sketchbook. I was scrolling through the REI website for nothing in particular because they minimize their participation in Black Friday madness. In reality, I don't need to go shopping at ANY outdoor equipment retailer for ANY outdoor equipment because, truly, how many headlamps does one woman need? (Answer: one per head.)
So what if TOMS gives away of pair of shoes for every pair purchased? YOU still don't need another pair of shoes. So what if Newman's Own donates all of its profits to worthy causes? YOU still have three bottles of salad dressing in your fridge. Justifying a purchase because it's more socially conscious or sustainable than some alternative purchase is a slippery slope towards smug and self-congratulatory excessive consumption. Let's not kid ourselves; none of us are saving the world with our purchases.
If you need something, and you wrote it on your list, and you've waited the appropriate amount of time, then yes, purchase it. Support your local economy at a great store that treats its employees fairly. Choose brands that take responsibility for their environmental and social impact. Try very hard not to make the world worse. Vote with your dollar.
But remember: Voting with your dollar is not ACTUALLY VOTING, which we should all be doing frequently and enthusiastically. And more often than not, buying nothing is often the best choice we can make.*
*Unless it's fresh lemonade from kind and entrepreneurial children. In that case, buying nothing probably makes us jerks.