Crystal has an interesting discussion going on over at MoneySavingMoms about warehouse clubs. This has got me thinking about Wal-Mart.
Gentle readers, I am a recovering Wal-Mart addict.
I used to shop for nearly everything at Wal-Mart. When my husband and I got married, I would peruse the sale fliers from other stores and occasionally go pick up a particularly good buy, but my general routine was to hit up Wal-Mart once a week for our grocery needs. I’ve never been a fan of the place. The vastness of the store, the constant crowds no matter what time you go, the fact that only three checkout lanes have cashiers…it drove me nuts. But I went. Our first few years of marriage, we were both grad students with part time jobs. Our combined income was under the 20,000 mark, and we still had to buy books, keep the apartment heated, and manage to feed ourselves relatively healthy foods. Plus the gas in our limping along cars- I commuted 40 miles both way Monday-Friday- plus health insurance, supplies, and savings. I had to shop at Wal-Mart. They were the cheapest.
When I shopped at Wal-Mart, I spent about 55 dollars a week, maybe 65 if we needed cleaning supplies or laundry detergent. Every week I would vow to get our grocery bill lower. I made menus and tried to plan around what we had. The 55 dollars, while it fed us pretty well for a week, did not seem to stock our pantry. But what could I do? Besides a few deals I would find after glancing at the sale fliers, Wal-Mart was so cheap. In my mind, we simply could not afford not to go to Wal-Mart.
I vowed that when my husband had a job in his generally well paying field, I was never going to set foot over the Wal-Mart threshold unless I absolutely had to. When we moved to Wichita, my No More Wal-Mart dreams came true!
Something funny happened when I stopped going to Wal-Mart. My grocery bill went down. Not just a little bit- drastically. Part of it was that I was moving more to the pantry method of cooking, where I stock up on deals and plan my meals around that. But I had been doing that before. There just had not been a pantry as nicely stocked.
I think that Wal-Mart’s supposed low, low prices are pounded into our heads. I know a lot of people who say that they can’t get anything cheaper than they can at Wal-Mart or Sam’s…but like I did in college, they rarely, if ever, step into a non Wal-Mart store. When you repeat anything over and over, you can start to believe it, regardless of what is actually true. So I had been repeating “I hate Wal-Mart, but they are cheaper than anywhere else” over and over, without really challenging my mantra. I thought they were cheaper, but I rarely challenged their prices. I just assumed that it was cheaper.
When I stopped going to Wal-Mart, I noticed that their prices are not always as great as I thought they were. When I started combining loss leader sales with coupons, I found that I was spending far less on name brand items than I spent on the Wal-Mart generics. I noticed manager markdowns that I never saw at Wal-Mart. While Wal-Mart does match prices on fliers, I have never seen ten cent markdown milk. I've never seen a Wal-Mart that doubles coupons. It does take a little time to match coupons to sales and manager's specials, but once I learned how and got organized, I found I was spending far less time doing that than I was waiting in line at one of Wal-Mart’s three open registers.
I still occasionally drop into Wal-Mart, but it’s maybe twice a year now, instead of once a week. I don’t miss fighting the crazy parking lot, the loud, oversized store, and the endless waits. And I spend 20-40 dollars a week now for a LOT MORE food than I ever got at Wal-Mart. This is not to say that your family will save a ton of money like mine has by not going to Wal-Mart. It may not. I challenge you challenge your assumptions, consider sales, consider coupons, consider other options.
What assumptions have you challenged in your frugal journey? What new things did you learn? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment or feel free to e-mail me at Frugal.Homemaker.Plus (at) gmail.com
14 comments:
ABOLUTELY!!! I agree so much. I haven't been to Walmart since October, when we moved to a new neighborhood, and I am seeing my expenses dip too. Besides that, the 'expensive' store I shop at now treats customers like human beings, its actually enjoyable to shop there. The worst store service I ever had was after waiting in an endless line at walmart only to listen to the cashiers complaining to each other about their breaks, totally ignoring me as I handed over my hard earned money. Since I work in customer service myself--it just about turned my stomach--I was so angry! If you don't want a job, quit! I wanted to yell. mary
Yep, I've learned the same lesson. I started seriously going through the Wednesday grocery-store ads about a year ago, finding the sales, matching sales with coupons... I discovered, too, that I was saving money over my previous shopping trips to Walmart.
I spend maybe an hour more each week going from store-to-store than I did when I mostly just shopped at the Walmart Neighborhood Market, but it's been worth it in money and quality of goods. I'll still occasionally go back for certain things I can't get elsewhere, like Jones Sodas or Walmart's highly-rated (Consumer Reports) dishwasher detergent, but for the most part, Walmart doesn't see me anymore.
I do shop at Sam's Club for certain items, though. I still find those items to be a good value, and Sam's doesn't bug me the way Walmart does, even though they have the same parent company.
I live 30 miles from the nearest WM but I really dont like buying groceries there, in fact only buy prepackaged things like popcorn or soda there, sometimes some fruit but very very rarely, and never meat. Where I grew up was 25 miles from a Walmart and in those days they didnt have groceries in the Walmart stores
I totally agree! Our family hasn't been to walmart in months...mostly for ethical reasons, but it seemed that everytime we went there, we would see something that we thought was the "cheapest" in the area, and have to get 2 of them. For example, their regular pricing for diapers is in fact, very cheap compared to other stores regular prices but once the other stores have sales and accept double coupons, they blow walmart out of the water. Plus, I've now learned how to get diapers (and shampoo, eggs and milk) for FREE at CVS. I'm sorry, but walmart can't beat the price of 0 dollars. I'd sure like to see them try though!
Once I read a report that WalMart knows the average consumer will spend X extra dollars for every minute they spend in the store. That's why their layout encourages you to crisscross the store 10 times (or maybe that's just me?) I find that shopping at Aldi really helps me keep my grocery bill down because it curbs browsing -- not having a lot of options works for me. Sam's will also let you submit your order on their website and they will pull it all for you. That keeps me from browsing, too, and saves me lots of money!
I agree with you. It's easy for me to avoid Wal-Mart since we have an Aldi and a Save-a-Lot for cheaper generic food. But, even the regular grocery store sales/coupons combo is better than Wal-Mart and I don't get stressed out shopping there.
The size of the place---yes--so huge and so exhausting! that's another reason to go elsewhere. Mary
Hi,
I go to Walmart about twice a year too. I try to only buy things there that actually ARE cheaper. I spend way less by shopping the sales at any grocery store than Walmart.
Take Care,
Trixie
I hardly ever go to WalMart because when I go I pick up so many extra little things (because they're so cheap)...
I feel that my shopping options are so limited in our small town that I am almost on autopilot when it comes to buying household items. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Walmart I go... I need to rethink that!
Walmart is definitely not the cheapest 100% of the time! We found the same exact DVD player we saw at Walmart first, just rebranded, for much less at Target.
We have a Walmart close by, but my husband and only go there when we need something in the middle of the night, can't wait till morning, and can't find it at Walgreens.
It's partly for ethical reasons, but it's also a combination of atmosphere (ours is a dump) and time (finding stuff, checking out).
We haven't missed it, though, because I don't think we saved any money going to Walmart. Ours doesn't even have a grocery store (unless you count the candy and snack aisle). However, I'm making it a point to buy mostly 1-ingredient items and I'm also buying Publix generics. Since doing that, our grocery bills have come down a lot since I used to go buy-crazy when I saw cans of soup and tv dinners on sale. I'm also trying to do the same with cleaning supplies -- buy the ingredients and make my own.
We do go to Sams Club for some things, mostly paper products and feminine supplies, but that's about once a month.
For clothes, I go to T.J. Maxx or Ross, or occasionally get some nice stuff onsale online or from Macy's. The Walmart clothes just never fit me right and seem to fall apart quicker.
I love your analysis.
My motto is always to get the most value from my money--and sometimes that means I get to shop at the nicest, most luxurious grocery store in town...and spend less on groceries than I did in Walmart.
Or at least, the very same amount, but with added ease and atmosphere.
By sticking with loss leaders and coupons at Harris-Teeter, I often beat even Aldi with my grocery deals.
Let's hear it for challenging frugal assumptions!
There are very few things I buy at walmart... I do the majority of my grocery shopping at two discount grocery stores in town. One is a Save-A-Lot and the other is a United Grocery Outlet.
I used to plan menus and go to the grocery store that was about a 15 minute drive where I would stock up for the next week or two. Recently a "gourmet" grocery store opened up three blocks from where I live. I thought it would be far too expensive to shop there, but in reality, buying things like produce only when I need them (its so easy to run over there for an onion) instead of grabbing 3 onions every 2 weeks, means a lot less waste, fresher food, and surprisingly a much lower grocery bill.
That seems to be backwards from the only shop twice a month, stock up, advice I had previously been following. But since I'm not an impulse buyer and cook mostly vegetarian and mostly from scratch, this works for me!
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