I Started to Save Money the Day I Stopped Shopping At Wal-Mart

Here’s the scenario…I needed a pair of walking shoes, an egg timer and some school supplies. My old habit was to head to the local Wal-Mart to pick up these items. They are notoriously less expensive there.

But lately I have taken to buying my variety items at local specialty stores, smaller department stores, or my favorite, catalogs. I find these same items on sale or even paying a bit more for the item. But it’s worth it.

Why?

There are several reasons which come to mind. One being price for the value. I have had to throw away cheaply made items bought from Wal-Mart days or weeks after buying them. I then have to go out to get another to replace it. I might as well have bought them at the specialty store paying a bit more in the first place! I would have saved in gas and time spent shopping. Oh, and that hidden cost - filling our landfills or wherever they stash all our tons of “unwanteds” and garbage. But that is a whole different story.

The other point being impulse buying. I don’t know about you but the atmosphere in Wal-Mart is “Buy me - I cost less!” Cheapness hangs in the air. The items have a whitewashed appearance that I now know will “wash off” after the first few uses. But it’s so tempting to buy that brand-name look-a-like that will make me feel prosperous.

When was the last time you left Wal-Mart with just what you came for? You always find some other things that you knew you would have put on your list if you had only thought of them.

I know I am not the only one. A Wal-Mart associate friend of mine who does the customer carry-outs related to me that many times he sees the following phenomena. A customer displays the characteristic shaking their heads on the way out of the store and muttering to themselves that they only intended to come in there for just one item yet they are leaving with 8 or more items.

What is sad and hilarious is many times this same guy has had to try to fit a large 32” or larger TV into a Geo Metro (?) or Ford Taurus because the person didn’t intend to buy the TV when they came to the store but saw the clearance price and couldn’t resist the deal while it is on sale.

This is how ridiculous it can get. As the customer is being helped out to their car they are saying that they are not sure it will fit in their car as they weren’t intending to buy it but they are sure it will fit (rather apologetically). Most of the time the TV must be taken out of the box to squeeze it in.

But back to my point, when I bought those shoes, I saw sandals on sale and got them, too (even though I didn’t need them).

They didn’t have the egg timer I really needed.

Since I didn’t get the timer, I head over to school supplies and console myself by getting those cheap school supplies, stationary, notebooks, post-it notes, pens, bubble envelopes, oh, and a mechanical coin sorting bank (I have always wanted one of those!!) Never mind that the coin bank will last a week, if that. Who cares if you have bubble envelopes! Yes, I grant you the 25 cent crayons are a great buy so that’s why I bought out the tray.

Let’s see…how much you could have saved by NOT nabbing all those “great” deals. The shoes may last a season. So much for paying a reduced price tag. Then I consoled myself about the egg timer and bought a dozen 24 packs of crayons and a coin bank that will break or jam; $13. $20 for the shoes and sandals, $3 for the crayons, $10 for the bank. $33 - $7 for the shorts = $26 (over what I needed to spend!!)

Change of scene: I headed to the kitchen shop for the timer. They had the very one I needed. And, yes, I drooled over all the neat, useful (and, yes, more expensive) kitchen items. But shopping there was fun and even entertaining. I left dreaming and mentally adding to my wish list. I left with the egg timer for $3.79.

Then I went to Penney’s just for fun. They had a better selection of quality walking shoes and, well, you guessed it, they were on sale. $25! And I know these would last two rather long seasons.

Sure I saw things at the specialty kitchen shop I would have “remembered I needed”, but somehow I knew not to get them. Somehow there was something about spending more that kept me from justifying the expense.

Maybe that is it. We justify the expense when we know we are getting a good deal with a low, low price. Somehow it is easier to let go of money when something is reduced or on sale. The problem comes in when we buy a LOT of “somethings” just because of the discount prices.

Now to be fair, that psychology works anywhere, not just Wal-Mart. Our Mama’s taught us well to be thrifty shoppers. But the part they didn’t emphasize was thrifty doesn’t mean cheap. Thrifty doesn’t mean trading away solid value. Paying $25 or $30 for a pair of walking shoes is a thrifty decision.

“What? I can get some walking shoe look-a-likes at Wal-Mart for $15!!”, I hear you scream!!

Next time your back begins to ache, not to mention your feet, in those $15 el cheapo shoes, remember $15 doesn’t buy good support much less quality. Several trips to the chiropractor -- $120, hmmm? Those $15 shoes just got very expensive and you got “free” advice from your chiropractor to get those $80 walking shoes at the local specialty shoe shop (bought on clearance for $30).

So, yes, I began to really save money the day I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart. Just think about it next time you are getting such a good deal at Wal-Mart. Leave that coin bank, by the way. It isn’t worth it.