Thrifty greeny shopper or time pressed convenience gatherer: Is there a middle ground?

After spending about an hour on the internet on the weekend trying to find somewhere that sells ecover hand wash in bulk I’m starting to see why most other people would just go to the local shop and buy what ever is there. For a start buying 5 litres of anything costs a lot compared to buying it in 500ml bottles. Despite the fact that I know it probably works out cheaper to buy in bulk, even with the delivery charge, it still hits the wallet hard. If I could pay in monthly instalments it wouldn’t be quite so painful! So, the discovery that boots is now selling paraben free ‘eco’ style toiletries should be good news. Well, I bought some shampoo, conditioner and shower gel to test them out and compare them to the other brands that I usually have to hunt for. They work fine, smell good; the usual standard you’d expect from boots but they don’t give me that ‘I’m doing something good for the world’ feeling like the others do. I suppose, if boots can convert people from the chemical ridden products made by pharmaceutical companies and cooperate global giants then all is well but my cynical little mind just thinks they’ve seen a gap in the market and decided to fill it. I still prefer the greener alternatives, although for convenience, I may buy the occasional bottle of shampoo if I happen to walk past boots on my way home!