Welcome Frugal Friday readers!I'm buried under papers that need to be graded, so I'm rerunning some of my best work! Originally published in January of this year, I explore challenging my assumptions about what stores are cheapest. Enjoy!
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. 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
5 comments:
I started our marriage shopping at Walmart, too, and find the grocery store + coupons + stockpiling method is saving me money! I still run to Walmart when our grocery store has no fresh produce on sale, but on the whole Walmart is not the cheapest method.
i've never been much of a walmart shopper AT ALL and i really am not now that i know how unfairly they treat their employees and the basic slave labor they employ to get their shelves stocked.
and no, walmart is NOT as cheap as you can go--i'm happy someone else realizes that! when you use your coupons properly and utilize your internet availability properly, you find that walmart is pretty expensive!
i haven't stepped foot inside a walmart for three years and i'm making it along just fine and i will continue to do so LOL.
great blog, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the great blog on Walmart. I dislike going there myself. :(
I have found that just because something is a great deal doesn't mean I need to buy it especially if I don't need it. :D
I love this post! I agree with you 100%! It is easier to save when you shop around. Wal-Mart thrives on the "here to be the only place you can save money as an average income family" mentality. It bugs me too! I go there a few times, mainly because they accept printed coupons and other stores where I live do not. But great post! Loved it!
Here from Frugal Hacks.
Before we got married, my Husband shopped at WM all the time. We hardly ever shop there now. When we need groceries, we shop one of the two grocery stores closest to us. We found that when we shopped at WM, our bill was so much higher because they have all that STUFF that you just have to have. Because you see it and need it. We cut out all the 'extra' shopping because now, we don't see it anymore, therefore we don't need it. Out of sight, out of mind. We get much better deals at our grocery stores, and they have the brands we like and products we use. For household stuff, we shop CVS, RiteAid, Walgreens, or the Dollar stores.
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