The way I look at it at least I am saving money – maybe I’ll save it up and take the kiddos to Disney Land where I can drive through the miserable paking lots dodging fatties, walk down crowded lanes and wait in obscene lines. AHHH damn whats the difference!!!

However, I went to the Wal-Mart grocery area the other day to find some things that weren’t available at Costco, and remembered a big positive about the store: they are closest store that carries a useful selection of craft and sewing supplies.

We have a couple of quilting suppliers in our small town, but WalMart carries other fabrics and patterns. The next closes place is 12 miles farther away.

They also had a good stock of canning supplies that can be hard to find.

So I have to back down from my harsh stance somewhat.

I shop at local places – I love our local farmer’s market. But when it comes to saving money I am going to continue to shop at WM when necessary. Especially on items that other stores sell at higher prices (i.e. Tylenol, face wash, cleaning supplies). If I can combine sales with coupons and get things for nearly free why wouldn’t I shop there? It’s just logical.

In fact, I just got back from WM this morning. I picked up some Starbucks coffee for hubby at $7 for a pound. Cheaper than most places (though Target will have it on sale for that price every once in awhile) and my local papers, which are on sale there every Sunday. There was NO one in the store…I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I may have to start scheduling to go early because it was surprisingly clean and I parked right up front.

I don’t shop there because I enjoy paying higher prices somewhere else, but rather because I want to support local companies that treat their employees a better with higher pay and benefits. There is plenty of bad news about WM that you don’t need to look too far to find out about the lawsuits, complaints, investigations, etc. into their business practices. As others before me had mentioned, check out the book “Nickel and Dimed” and that WM documentary. I won’t go into the argument about WM keeping lower income folks in that lower income bracket and how that circle keeps getting bigger, but the books and movies about WM explain it well. Sure, their prices are cheap…but at what and who’s expense are we willing to pay $.50 less for a product?

Great post GLBL, way to stir it up!

And shopping there is psychologically draining for me. The place is ugly, most of the products they sell are ugly crap–literally, I could live without 90 percent of what they sell there–and I hate what they stand for.

There is a difference between being frugal and being destructively cheap.

One thing to avoid is getting your oil changed there. Sure, you might be able to go for a year and never have an issue, but eventually, it will bite you. On my car, I’ve had them break a lug nut when removing tires for rotation (then I had to bring the car somewhere else to fix it and get reimbursed), and not tighten the drain cap so that my car leaked oil on the driveway until my husband crawled underneath and tightened it up. On his car, they siliconed the drain cap on because it appears they might have stripped it. We’re done with their Oil and Lube.

I don’t shop at WalMart because of the way it does business. To my mind, the price is WAY too high!

Shop local. It’s the responsible thing to do.