I've got a moral dilemma on my hands. The credit crunch is hitting our family pretty hard. You think you got it bad in the US, but gas here is like $12 freaking dollars a gallon!! Our electric bill was 500 pounds more expensive than the same period last year. Five Hundred Pounds!! That's like $1000!! And everything from grocery bills and the recent collapse of my car's reliability have hit my pocket pretty hard. It doesn't help that I've been on half pay since I've been illin' and having to take so much time off work lately.
The G and I split expenses - he pays the utilities and council tax and I pay for groceries, cat supplies and household/gardening items. (How do you do it in your family?) The G suggested that I start shopping at Asda (a Wal-Mart subsidiary) to save money on our food bills. I don't know about you but I've been morally opposed to Wal-Mart's policies and politics for just as long as I can remember. They moved into Aberdeen (Washington) while I was in high-school up the road in Elma. Slowly but surely, every small Mom & Pop store in a 100 mile radius was put out of business because they weren't able to compete with Wal-Mart's low low prices. Even the marginally big supermarkets started to cave. So all those Mom and Pop's were forced to go to work for Wal-Mart where they were paid minimum wage and no longer "eligible" for important benefits like health insurance or overtime pay. Not to mention the sourcing of their products: they will always favor the cheap distant provider rather than the farm down the road. (See this news item in the UK's the Guardian newspaper) And who makes all those cheap clothes? It's a story that has played out all over the country, and all over the world for that matter, I'm sure.
In one of many heated discussions on the matter, this time while entertaining our lovely neighbor Zoe, The G and Zoe argued that it's Asda, and Wal-Mart only purchased them a few years ago, so it's not really Wal-Mart. Though that doesn't make much difference to me - a tiger changing it's stripes and all that - I caved. I thought what would it hurt to give it a go? Maybe they're right, shouldn't I check out Asda if it will save me money so I can spend it on fun things like fabric or yarn or border plants instead? So I ventured in to the superstore and filled my trolley with the items on my list and then a whole bunch more stuff that wasn't on the list. When I got to the checkout stand, I was in a mild panic thinking I really blew my budget with all the extras I threw in, but it turned out to be a whole lot cheaper than my regular, more reserved, weekly shop.
So, what's a girl to do? Times are hard and I'm broke as broke can be - but can I really compromise my moral objections to the corporate cancer that is Wal-Mart just to save some dough? What would you do?
3 comments:
Brooke my Darling sister....although I understand your moral dilemma.......STOP!!! Why should everyone else be saving money at "Wally World" while you and your hubby go broke just so that you can make a political "feel good" statement? We all had to bite the bullet and cave when it came to saving money to feed our families and heat our homes, so don't beat yourself up about it, just SHOP at Wally World and BE DONE WITH IT!! There are many other things you could do to ease your moral dilemma rather than taking the fast train to the "poor house"!! (And you thought I didn't read your blog didn't you? :) Actually sweetie, I never miss a day, I love everything about it! Love ya! Montana :)
be reserved!!! its okay to have morals.
b-rock! have this same twinge every time i set foot in target. though, it's only about 2x/year it still leaves me with consumer guilt. how are you? how's the tum? i want some of your pickley-potato salad! hey, shoot me the recipe if you ever have a spare few min. xoxo to you and g!
elise
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