Buying locally. I have done a pretty good job of this for about 20 years. But in the last 6 months, the savings i have seen by not buying locally is staggering.
I was a firm believer in buying locally, staying within our tiny town as much as possible. Of course there are things we cannot buy locally, such as clothing and perscriptions. but we do have a grocery store, hardware store, gift shops, lumber company, diners, conveinience stores, gas stations, flower shop ocationally, and thank goodness, a funeral home. I`m not a clothes horse so the lack of clothing in tiny town does not bother me. Our basic needs are being met.
BUT the price differances are astronomical. For example, we started painting our house with locally bought paint. Then one day we were in walmart, 45 miles away, we needed primer, so we bought a gallon of Kilz 2. In tiny town, we pay $19.99 a gallon, at walmart, we paid $13.00. That is a $7.00 a gallon savings. Now, if we needed just one gallon of primer, it would be no big deal to pay that price in town. But, if we need 20 gallons, we will save $140.00 on just the primer! For a gallon of exterior white paint, we pay 26.00 a gallon in town, we bought paint out of town for $14.99, 20 gallons is a savings of $220.00.
Another example, for smaller items are , lets say i want a package of name brand cookies, and i usually do. In tiny town, i pay about $3.89, at walmart, i pay $2.50. Pretty much anything i buy out of town, i will save a dollor or more on most every item. All of these savings pay for the gas plus a meal out, if we so choose. I pay $9.99 for a cube of Diet Dew here, i pay $6.50 or less somewhere else. I am finding it very difficult to justify shopping in tiny town, yet, i feel guilty about it.
I understand that the prices will be higher in a smaller town, especially when things need to be shipped farther but, such dramatic differances? Also, i know walmart can get their products cheaper, because they buy more, but, these things still do not in my mind justify such a huge price differance.
So, today i am going shopping, out of town, not to walmart, but to another grocery store that is very closely priced to walmart. And i will go with guilt.
Should one feel guilty for not shopping locally just to save money? I am torn.
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7 comments:
Don't feel bad. I almost never shop at our little grocery store in town anymore, I travel to Hudson where these is a Walmart and a big grocery store right next door. We are able to put Olivia though ballet with the saving we are making. And if you still feel bad heres a question you should answer - What has Zups ever done for you?!
I know all about small town shoping..we travel 150 miles round trip to shop once a month and save enough to make the tank of gas worth it.. But, no I wouldnt give up this small town life for anything.. we dont lock doors and and are not afraid to get to know our neighbors..
just say the money i do not think zups will be mad at u cuz u are smarter then the people who have to spend there whole paycheck to buy one bag of food there. get over it!
Oh yeah I do the same thing, it's crazy to pay those prices and small stores often take advantage of the fact there is no where else to go. Don't feel bad.
Well I so agree with you...before everything went sky hi..I did have the sam feeling...once the gas jumped and it was so much cheaper at the walmart 20 miles away I started to think different and this is what I thought...
Now if the small town 9and they do stress locally) wanted your bussiness my bussiness they would see that the higher prices are driving us away...I think if they lowered their prices that they would sell more and in the long run make more bussiness!!
I and serious here can"NOT" afford to buy the diapers or diaper wipes for one kid in our local town!! Seriously we can't afford them!! Advil locally costs twice as much!!
If they Stressed lower prices and they actually lowered think of the bussiness they would have!!! Instead of guilting us into buying items at the price of gold!!!
So throw your guilt out.....And ask yourself do they feel guilty for over charging you?????
Times are hard..we must be thrifty!!
I too feel the same way. But today, you gotta do what you can to get by. If your doing your shopping out of town, thats fine. because most everything else you do is locally. You get your car fixed locally. (thats a rip off no matter where you are) You get your heating costs taken care of locally. You buy gas locally. Rent movies locally. etc.
It is a shame though that there are people who are forced into doing locally. Not because they are "dumb" but because they do not have a choice. Whether its a unreliable vehicle, minimum wage job, or living on a fixed income. We never know if one day we will be in that situation. I say, save all you can now. Maybe one day you will need to stay locally and you can use the money you have saved now, to get you a little further when that time comes.
Hi Sassy! Thanks for stopping by my blog and for the sweet comment. It's nice to "meet" you. :-)
I have the same stuggle about buying locally. Now I'm not so far from some of the big box stores but I still much prefer to buy true local. But it gets really expensive. Oftentimes, I can't justify the extra expense. Our budget just can't handle it.
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