Wal-Mart

[NoliMum]

So we just moved into this house that is WONDERFUL but it's $300 more a month than our previous rental, so we are having to pinch pennies big time.

This means no more nice grocery stores, no more specialty foods, no more exclusively organic produce.

This means...

WAL-MART.

I not only hate shopping there because of the atmosphere, I hate what Wal-Mart stands for, its employment practices, its product range, etc. etc. I pretty much hate everything about it.

Help me. What products does Wal Mart carry that you like? What bargains do they have that justify shopping there? Can you get ANYTHING for your kids that doesn't have a Disney or SpongeBob logo on it??

I really want to get the best out of this store if I'm going to have to go there weekly to feed my family. Every time I go I am *thisclose* to just giving up and dumping some hot dogs and twinkies in my cart and calling it a day. :

[shayinme]

Well I shop there every 4-6 weeks for staples like flour, sugar, etc. I find if I plan a list and stick to it I don't get sucked into buying extra stuff. I go to Sam's Club (owned by Wally as well) for meats and things like paper towels and between the 2 it keeps my costs down. In the summer mos I use my farmers market for produce and in the winter we have a ok Asian market for produce.

Outside of food and toiletries there isn't much else I'd get there but I do think a meal and shopping list is key to staying on target.

I know how you feel about shopping at Wal-Mart, we went years without going there but some pretty large drops in our income have meant we need to go there. My local stores are just too costly to get everything at. At Wal-Mart I can get a $75 worth of staples and not go back for a while but at my local store its just too much.

Shay

[BetsyS]

Walmart gets on my nerves on many levels, so, while I do occasionally shop there, it is not my first choice ever. And, honestly, I keep a price book, and around here (Atlanta suburbs), Walmart isn't even the cheapest on stuff. Some stuff, yes, but not even 50% of things. The main thing I buy there are some very trashy frozen enchilada TV dinners that I can't get elsewhere.

I have a friend that lives in Dallas that shops at Fiesta. She is happy with the produce, meat, and fish that she gets there. Maybe worth a try? I know that she also shops at BigLots for food, and she sometimes goes to Kroger.

Maybe it would be worth it to make a price book and see how much WM would really save you. Then, you can decide if there really is a savings, and if that savings is worth the trouble of shopping at WM.

[sabrinat]

Do you have an Aldi's in your area. While I do shop at Walmart, I tend to shop at Aldi's 80% of the time. They are very inexpensive. You could also participate in things like Angelfood Ministries, buy in bulk at CostCo or BJ's (I love BJ's). I also find for cleaners and personal items Pharmacies have great deals ( I often get many items from Walgreens and CVS).
But, I have to say don't beat yourself up and get bogged down in guilt, you have to do what you have to do to provide for your family and as long as you're doing your best that's all that should matter.

[Leta]

KEEP.A.PRICEBOOK. WM is not cheaper for everything. In my area, WM has unbeatable prices on canned/frozen/bottled goods of their in house brand, Great Value. Hominy, prune juice, peas, club soda, that sort of thing. Same idea for QTips and the other toiletries we buy there.
WM has bad prices on things like flour, cocoa, bagged cereal, etc. We get our baking supplies from Gordon's (a restaurant supply store), our spices from our natural foods co-op, our produce from our garden and farmer's market, and virtually everything else from a local grocery store called SuperOne. They all have the best prices- just only on certain things.

[root*children]

We are of the same situation. Clothes are absolutely cheaper (and often better quality) at yardsales and thrift stores. Underwear/socks are cheaper and better quality at TJ Maxx or Ross.

We buy dog food there - the Ol Roy brand - our dogs are somewhat food snobs and won't eat any other store brand, so I guess it's at least as good as Purina type foods.

We also buy soap, shampoo, type things there. Toilet paper, ziplocks.

We do keep a price book, but have not yet come across cheaper butter, canned pasta sauce, but I don't follow the sales as well as I should!

I think all foods can be found cheaper on sale at other stores if you can stay on top of weekly sales ads.

[Purple Sage]

I second the Fiesta suggestion - they have incredible sale prices. It's definitely worth checking out if there's one near you.

[noahparthasmom]

Hi, I saw you're in Grapevine. We just moved from Denton out to East Texas, where the nearest Whole Foods, Kroger's or SuperTarget is an hour to an hour and a half away. We've got Walmart and Brookshire's (which is too high) - and that's it.

We try to do as much organic as we can. Our Walmart is tiny, but it does carry organic eggs, organic milk, and organic yogurt. You can also buy Hormel Nitrate-Free bacon and lunch meats (although they do carry an * that says "no added nitrates" - but it doesn't have all the junk the other meats have in them). We can also get Oscar Meyer Natural Hotdogs that are Nitrate* Free. Some stores carry organic butter. Ours also carries some awesome organic bread in the bakery section. You can get organic tomato sauce, pasta, juice, Annie's Organic Macaroni and Soups (like tomato and stars). Most Walmarts carry Amy's Organic frozen meals and some are starting to carry the Envirokidz Frozen Waffles.

We are not able to get organic chicken at our Walmart and the organic veg selection is not good. Larger Walmarts have a bigger selection. I've found that on the organic items, Walmart is cheaper than any of the stores mentioned above - esp. Whole Foods. I'm not saying that I'm a huge Walmart fan, but it's the cheapest choice we've got where we live, so we make the best of it.

We shop Walmart for most of our needs and then go to Whole Foods once or twice a month in Dallas - usually timed after a doctor's appt or something so that we don't have to make a trip there just for food.

Oh, and some SuperTargets carry the Seventh Generation brand - for cleaners and laundry detergent. It's cheaper there than at WF. And if you use those cleaners and are really strapped for cash - but can buy in bulk - about 2 or 3 times a year on Amazon.com, Seventh Generation has a sale with free shipping. It's usually $40 off if you buy a certain amount. We do our diapers that way.

Good luck - and congrats on your house.

Leslie

[nascarbebe]

I shop at WalMart too but I wish I didn't have to. I just try to keep tabs on how much things cost where. When my grocery store has sales on canned tomatoes (I guess we eat a lot of canned tomato products) I stock up because that's what I usually get at WM. If you have time, my suggestion is just to read your grocery store flyers religiously. Every week I look through mine and circle what we need. They often have one day sales with good deals. I've found that produce items are often very similar in price. The frozen goods is where you will probably save $$ at WM but again, look for those sales in the grocery store and stock up.

I don't know if you were still referring to food items when you said products for your kids w/o commercial characters but yes, they're there...just look hard and don't get sucked in by the bright cheery character branded items.

[grisandole]

When I shopped there I mostly bought organic food and household stuff, and it was much cheaper than other stores, but it depends on your location. My normal purchases were Pace organic salsa, Prego or other brand organic pasta sauce, organic applesauce, organic sugar, org. eggs, org. fresh veggies, toilet paper, Tom's of Maine toothpaste, Hyland's homeopathics, kids vitamins (gummy vites IIRC, they aren't organic but don't have any artificial stuff in them). I shopped their clothing clearance racks and got some great deals. Actually, I'm wearing some pj's I bough there about five years ago, lol.

I rarely bought branded clothes for the kids, they have plenty of plain clothes, and they are much cheaper than the branded stuff.

[turtlewomyn]

We shopped at Walmart for groceries this past weekend. Our grocery bill was less there, the produce was pretty cheap (but didn't look as good as our normal grocery store). The think I do like about Walmart is they carry Aunt Annies organic products for less than I can find them at Publix. The organic mac and cheese is pretty cheap there (less than a dollar, as opposed to almost two at Publix - 22 month old is a mac and cheese lover so I try to buy organic, and mix in peas and other veggies into it). I think I have bought chedder bunnies there, but couldn't find them on this trip.
I did feel icky while shopping there, because it is walmart.

[justmama]

I don't bother buying clothing there. I shop at a consignment shop and find tons of great stuff(even hanna) for cheaper than wal-mart and like you said, no licensed characters. I do grocery shop at Super Wal-Mart with great success and we are the healthiest eaters in our families. Regular wal-mart doesn't have that much in the way of food though. But their generics are great and cheaper on stuff you use all the time like baking soda, flour, sugar, frozen veggies, etc. I SOMETIMES buy produce there but most times we do farmer's market becase it's cheaper. MOstly we do our grocery shopping and we'll buy microfiber towels for pocket inserts and get the car's oil changed while we shop but rarely do we buy clothing or toys there. I try the TP or the fsot boards on DiaperSwappers for clothing and toys as well as consignment shops.

[Benji'sMom]

Originally Posted by Leta

KEEP.A.PRICEBOOK. WM is not cheaper for everything.

Definitely start keeping track. I buy most food at WM but our SuperOne (I think it's the same company as Brookshires?) has really good weekly sales on meats. Comparing regular prices WM is cheaper, but some of SuperOne's weekly specials are much cheaper. I always check their weekly sales against my price book before buying meat. And we do have one locally-owned grocery store here that has really really cheap fresh produce, and it's on my way to work so it's not out of the way.

But yeah, I do end up buying most food at WM especially all staples like flour, rice, dry beans, etc-- those things don't really go on sale at other places and WM's regular price is cheapest for me. But do a price book and comparison shop first!!!

As for other stuff, toys for the kids, etc., a lot of toys at WM is the same thing as Toys R Us so it's not worth a trip to Toys R Us or Target anyway, might as well buy at WM since the other stores are so far away. (WM sells a lot of generic knock offs of Melissa and Doug toys too, especially around Xmas time.) To try and avoid WM, I like to look for sale items on Amazon or maybe Target.com if I can get free shipping and save a trip to Target.

Kid's clothes, I check Goodwill, and Target.com if I need enough stuff to get free shipping. Also ebay. But the kids are so rough on their clothes and everything gets stained, so I don't mind buying WM if it's on clearance for $1, because poor quality doesn't matter at this point, the clothes will all be stained anyway.

[Yooper]

Have you looked into local buying clubs? These are clubs of normal people that go in together to buy wholesale. I have not been in our Walmart, so I am not sure how the prices compare exactly to Walmart, but I do know I can get 50# bags of organic flour for FAR less than conventional flour at our regular grocery store. This goes for canned/bottled/boxed foods off all sorts. Not all buying clubs are only of the natural food variety. In ours we can get organic or non-organic staples, although there is not much price difference anyway. One thing that is much much cheaper is laundry powder. I can get a three-year supply of environmentally friendly stuff for about half the price of store brand at our grocery store. Other things are not cheaper so keeping a price-book would be a good idea.

[Attached Mama]

A lot of Walmarts have organic produce and other organic foods - mixed all in with the conventional stuff.

Check your local farmer's markets for organic produce - and ask around at them. I often find farmers who grow organically but are way too small to get certification so don't advertise as such.

A lot of the food that some PP's mentioned is prepared foods. You could do cheaper if you have time to prepare things. Do you have a local healthfood store or co-op with bulk organic pasta, grains, flour, dried fruits etc??

Good luck!

[oneKnight]

I think some of you guys have a serious anti-WM prejudice before you even go in there, no wonder it makes you so nervous to be in there! For those of you who think working there is so bad: don't knock it till you've tried it.

For us: The only other options here are 1)Wild Oats = uber expensive (but I buy organic milk there) and 2) Kroger & Harvest Foods = which are more expensive and always dark-looking and smell like raw meat when you walk in the door. I much prefer WalMart's bright atmosphere over the raw meat smell penetrating the whole store. :Puke

[BetsyS]

I only consider myself mildly anti-WM. From some perspective, I think they have a brilliant marketing genius behind their massive growth and profits. And, then there is the other side of me, of course.

But, purely from a "what makes me feel better about my life", I find WM frustrating.

It is difficult to find someone to cut cloth. I mean, why have fabric departments if you're not going to staff them??? Oh, yeah, that's why WM is phasing them out. When you do find someone to help with whatever problem/need you have, I frequently get a really bad, "it's not my job" attitude. No, not every employee, and yes, other places are just as bad (my local Target is particularly bad about this), but an overwhelming majority of the employees at my local WMs. (yes, there are multiple ones, as in 4 within like 3 miles of my house)

There are not enough checkouts open. I went this week for something, and there was ONE non-self checkout open (and the self checkouts are 10 items or less--I had 15 items). I waited 35 minutes in line to checkout.

In the past, I have price matched, which leads to a huge discussion about how to do this, if it's okay to do this, and why they are only going to do it "this one time" even though it's freaking policy. The same thing frequently happens with coupons. I've had cashiers dig through my bags to make sure I purchased said product so that I can get my 45 cents off. They act like it's coming out of their own pocket. Dude, I'm not trying to cheat WM out of anything. Just get my groceries and move on, just like everyone else. This happens other places, too, but almost every time at WM.

One person works the cash register and bags everything. If you have a crying baby, it can be difficult to keep up with unloading your stuff, then rushing to the end to load your bags back into the buggy. If you, the customer, isn't fast enough, it just slows down the process, of course, leading to more crying from said baby. Again, on some level, I'm thinking, brilliant plan to lower the need for personnel to work in the store, but as a customer, it just gets.on.my.nerves. :

Onto the deli. My WM specializes in hiring people that don't speak good English behind the deli counter. There is a huge barrier there. So, I frequently have gotten more or less than I desired, after much, much sign language and attempts to be understood. If I ask for a manager, it's a big hullabaloo, and I may or may not get to talk to the manager, and I usually will get alot of attitude back.

Then, there is the fact that WM is ALWAYS crowded. There are always tons of folks in there. TONS. All those people make me crazy.

So, for my own peace of mind and blood pressure, I choose to shop elsewhere most of the time. Occasionally, I get sucked in, but I always end up calling dh on the way home and telling him to never let me do it again.

So, that's why I avoid WM.

[oneKnight]

Originally Posted by BetsyS

....So, that's why I avoid WM.

And it sounds like all those problems could be solved by a better store manager. That is the key, what makes one WM good and another one really suck. It's not all evil WM, it just takes one bad manager to ruin a whole store.