Making a list, and checking it twice

Yes, it is important to have a list when you go grocery shopping to avoid overspending and buying things you don't need (or won't use).  But do you make lists when you're buying everyday items--batteries, shoes, laundry soap?  You should be doing that, too!

My friend Patty was discussing shopping at Wal-Mart once and mentioned she can't get out of the store without spending $100.  But my question is, what in the world would make someone go into a store for 3 things and come out with $100 in products?  Oh, yeah.  I remember.  Stuff is cheap at Wal-Mart.  I suppose that means you don't have to feel guilty about buying that extra book or pair of shorts, perhaps a new picture frame because it's on "rollback."  Give me a break.  Go to the library and rent the book; you don't really need those shorts (you have 8 pair); and please, for the love of all that is good in the world, you do not need to replace that perfectly lovely frame with something just because a little tag says you'll save 3 cents. 

Stick to the list people, stick to the list.

You are NOT saving money when you go in for 3 things and come out with $100 in STUFF that you didn't need to purchase in the first place.

If you are already doing that, you are way ahead of most people, and congratulations (although an email a few years ago may have been nice, 'cause I was all about bargain shopping for useless stuff)!

Another important list you need is a list of all the products you use at home and their regular prices (even Wal-Mart prices).  Be specific on this list. "Toothpaste" isn't going to work.  "Crest Whitening with Scope (Mint)" and its regular price is much more specific.  That way when you ARE wandering around looking for bargains (because they are out there), you know what you're looking for, and you can spot a good price.  Please don't tell me you don't have anywhere to put a list like that.  There's a memo function on your cell phone, or you can write them on a scrap piece of paper and put it by your debit card in your purse or wallet.  Make sure you include the toilet paper--that stuff's expensive!

Oh--and stick to the list.

Use your imagination (and Google)!

Not shopping at Wal-Mart was the right decision for me.  I knew with all I had read and researched, I needed to stop supporting them with my money.  It wasn't going to change the profits of the Wal-Mart Corp. drastically (I probably spent less than $1000 a year there), but I was determined to feel better about where I was spending my money.

My first issue, I decided, was not going to be saving money--I knew how to do that--coupons, watching sales, ect. (I later discovered even more money saving tips which I will share in future blogs).  My first issue was, where am I going to get my STUFF?!?!  I am blessed in that I live in a larger city where my options were wide open....Target, KMart, Shopko, Walgreens, Barnes and Noble.  But what if I wanted to give my business to local places, perhaps in the downtown area?

Clothing wasn't too hard, since I rarely bought new clothes anyways.  I get them at garage sales, from friends, and local resale shops.  Shortly after my Wal-Mart decision, a Savers opened up in my town.  I love shopping there, I can almost always find a great deal (on some beautiful clothes) PLUS I am supporting veterans by shopping there.  Do you have a Savers in your area?  Check here.  The other two main places in my city are Goodwill and Salvation Army, which are both terrific organizations.  We also have a handful of locally run resale shops.  How did I find them?  Google, of course!  Try it yourself.  Google "resale shops" and your city and state.

Food wasn't too tricky either, since I rarely bought anything but non-perishables at Wal-Mart anyways.  I have a hard time eating produce and organic food that is shipped from so far away.  I prefer growing my own, shopping at the Farmers Market, and buying from local grocery stores that don't ship from out of country unless it's January and I'm looking for tomatoes (even then, one of the local stores carries tomatoes from about 20 miles away where they grow them year round indoors).  I found the trick to buying non-perishables (besides cutting down on them) was coupons (including downloadable ones), watching sales, and not shopping hungry.  That's nothing you've not heard before....it's common sense grocery shopping, really.  You would be amazed at how much money you can save by just following the rules about not shopping when you're hungry and sticking to your list (oh yeah, making the list AND remembering it is very important as well)!  Not sure where to grocery shop in your area?  Google "groceries" and your city and state. 

Paper products and everyday things like soap?  This is where my imagination had to come into play, because honestly, most of those are actually cheaper at Wal-Mart.  With "The Story of Stuff" running through my head, I decided we could actually eliminate the use of some paper products.  No, I'm not talking about giving up toilet paper, but to me one of the things we eliminated might has well have been that important.  I'm talking about paper plates.  To a woman who HATES washing dishes, this was a hard decision.  But I got a great deal on bulk dishsoap at Fleet Farm, and sucked it up.  In fact a $6/ gallon dishsoap will last my son and I almost a year and a half.  Every once in a while I splurge on paper plates....like for birthday parties or when I'm knee deep in course work.  But I buy cheap ones at the dollar store or store brand ones at Target.  Body wash, laundry soap, and lotions are a little more complicated for my family as we have skin problems and can't really buy those products at a discount store anyways.  But I do still watch for sales, and I will buy them if they have a good price even if we don't need them at the time.  Important lesson here: don't wait until you NEED something to buy it!  Watch the prices, because things are almost NEVER on sale when you are in need.

The moral of today's post is pretty simple: use your common sense, your imagination, and refuse to believe that everything is cheaper at Wal-Mart.  You might have to plan ahead a bit, which is extremely difficult for some people (like me), but it's worth it.

How it all started for me

No, I did not wake up one morning and decide I was going to go Wal-Mart-less for the rest of my life.  Actually, the decision was more drawn out than I would like to admit.  I'd like to tell you that one day, I did some research, didn't like what they were doing, and stopped shopping there.  But there was more to it than that.

It started with the video "The Story of Stuff."  You can see the full video here (21 minutes).  I saw it at a money management class through a local community action program.  It made me stop and think about some of the purchases I was making--were they really necessary?  Where did they come from?  How were they made?  Where will they go when I'm done with them?  I began to re-evaluate some of the choices I was making daily, like using paper plates and paper towels, chemically based body products, and more. 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized a lot of what I was doing was because I had stopped thinking for myself and just bought into advertising.  I mean, I needed this stuff, right?  That's when I really started to consider planned and perceived obsolescence.  If you don't have time to watch the full video of "The Story of Stuff," please take three minutes and watch this part about obsolescence. 

All this time I thought I was an independent person, yet I was buying into exactly what advertisers wanted me to.  In my life, WalMart was the naughtiest one of them all.  I considered some of my recent purchases from there, and realized their quality was less than adequate.  They had gotten me!  Of course I had returned to purchase more (for example, a coffee maker--I bought two of the same kind within 6 months before I realized what I was doing).  After all, they were the cheapest, right?  In the case of the coffee maker, no.  I purchased 2 within 6 months for a total cost of $24 plus tax.  My current coffee maker, purchased at Target just after Christmas this year (and used much more often) cost me $20 plus tax, a savings of $4 (so far).  You don't have to guess where the other two coffee makers went, either.  They both broke.  In case you are doing the math, yes, there was another coffee maker in there, too.  I got it at JC Penney's.  It was a two-cup one with travel mugs and I didn't like it, so I gave it away through Freecycle.org, which I will write more about in future blogs.

It took almost a year from the time I first saw "The Story of Stuff" until I decided to live WalMart free.  Other things happened to me in the course of that time--experiences shopping at my local WalMart didn't help, either.  But it all started with a little lesson in planned obsolescence.

If you think you can't.....

When I was in high school, I was a proud member of the debate team.  I remember a saying we used to say to each other that goes something like "If you think you can't, you're probably right."  We would use it to encourage each other to think positively about our upcoming debates.  Granted, we were not the most prepared group of debaters ever (most of the other schools we competed against actually had debate as a CLASS, and we were after-school folk), but man, did we have fun trying!  I would also like to think we were a pretty positive group as a whole, at least when it came time to argue about things we believed in.

I've come across so many people in my quest to live WalMart-free that say "oh, I just can't do that.  My budget won't allow it."  To those people, I say IF YOU THINK YOU CAN'T, YOU'RE PROBABLY RIGHT.  Actually, the WalMart Corporation is depending on you to believe that their prices are the lowest and you cannot survive without them.  That's what they spend $570 million dollars annually* to convince you of.

The real question here isn't wether you can afford to stop shopping at WalMart, it's wether or not you want to try.  Do you believe in the company you're supporting?  I didn't, and that's why I made the change.  I am not going to lie to you and tell you it was easy.  It sounds crazy, I know, but in America, giving up WalMart is like trying to eliminate baseball or ice cream from your life.  But it's not impossible, even with a tight budget.  If you want to do something, do it!

* Helm, Burt.  "Wanna Be Wal-Mart's Ad Man?"  Bloomberg BusinessWeek.com, 19 Sept 2006. Web.

21 months, 22 days...and counting.

I've lived (YES, LIVED!) without shopping at WalMart for over 21 months.  I'm a single mom to a 10 year old boy.  I go to college full time and we live on school loans for the most part, which means I am forced to be smart about where we spend any money.  By no means do we shop high-end: most of our clothes, furniture and even kitchen items come from second-hand shops, garage sales and friends. 

So what in the world would possess a mom who needs to "save money, live better" decide to GIVE UP shopping at the very place where I could do just that?  I will tell you it has nothing to do with my friends who work with the corporation.  I have a handful of friends who are very dedicated to WalMart despite their lack of living wages, long (and often inconsistent) work hours, and un-family-friendly workplace vibe.  I give them great kudos and much respect. 

My decision to leave WalMart in my past has more to do with the company's business practices than anything.  The way they treat their employees around the world has me cringing in my chair, including their "no union" policies.  Return policies at WalMart might seem to be convenient, but in the long run once you spend money there, it belongs to WalMart.  I also loathe planned obsolescence, which, if you are one of the 138 million Americans who shop there every week (the latest number I've seen anyways) you know what I'm talking about!

This blog will be more about HOW to live WalMart free, not really WHY to.  I will, however, be sharing articles from time to time about the WHY.  Here's a great one to start with, a FRONTLINE PBS special called Is Wal-Mart Good For America?  You can read or watch online.

Until next time,