Hello, everyone. You might recall that my New Year’s resolution was/is to shop local as much as possible. I am here today to give an update on my “shopping local” progress. As a refresher to you, my plan is to give three local stores a chance to sell me what I am looking for, and then I will shop online. The benefit that I was not expecting is that I am spending way less than normal for me. I received a notice at one point from my credit card company telling me that my spending was down 75 per cent. That’s a win, win.
So, how am I doing? Let’s take a look.
Slippers
I needed a new pair of house slippers. We do not wear our outside shoes inside which means that I am in house shoes eight to ten hours a day. They need to be good and give me a lot of support. I had a pair of Haflingers before and really liked them. So, I went out in search of another pair. And lucky for me, the third store I went to had them in my size.
Mirrors
I have been looking for mirrors for our master bathroom because I do not like the ones we purchased when we moved in. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted. I just felt that when I saw the right ones, I would know it. I went to HomeGoods several times a week and didn’t find any. I shopped at a mall store and didn’t find any. Then I looked online at Pottery Barn. They had exactly what I wanted, and they were on sale. Instead of ordering them, I had our local Pottery Barn order them for me, and I picked them up at their store. They received the credit for the sale, and I got to shop local.
Vanilla Beans
I needed some vanilla beans to make a new batch of vanilla extract and to make vanilla sugar. I went to Williams Sonoma and saw that two vanilla beans there were $24.95. Friends, there’s no way that I am paying that much for two vanilla beans. I checked Whole Foods, and their beans were about the same price. I couldn’t find them at Kroger, so I bought 10 from Amazon for $22.00. I specifically wanted Madagascar beans, and that’s what I found.
Ruggables
I wanted two more Ruggables after having great success with my first purchase. Read about it here. I wanted one for in front of our sink and one for our master bathroom. Ruggables are only available online so that’s where I had to buy them.
Other than groceries, those are the only purchases I made during the month of January. Did I score 100 per cent? No, but there was major improvement. I am now consciously thinking about my purchases and making the effort to keep my money in my hometown. Before, I would have let my fingers do the shopping.
I how you enjoyed this update of my shopping local progress. If you want to see how I do throughout the year, just let me know.
Take care.
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Yes, please, keep us updated as you shop local throughout the year. I want to see how you do as I am going to try it.
This has really gotten me thinking. I’d like to shop more local too. Ordering something but picking it up locally is something I never thought about. Thank you.
Yes, more like this please, Janette! Shopping local takes more time, hassles with traffic, etc so glad to know you saved some money! Thx!
Good for you! I try very hard to shop local..so I appreciate your efforts. There are too many businesses that are slimming or shutting down. I’m sure the local merchants applaud your efforts. And the bonus…sounds like you saved some money to boot! 😉
I have been shopping Locally first for years. My family was in the newspaper business and it was a family policy to support our local merchants. I earn my money in Lexington, it only seems right to support the people who support me.We have wonderful stores here in Lexington and we need to keep them and the jobs they provide. That being said, I also shop on-line for specific things I can’t find here, but that come out to less than once a month. Macy’s announced yesterday that they were closing a large number of stores. This is tragic for employees and consumers.
Like you, I shop online at Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma and Dillards. Then I go to the physical store and have the store order my item if they don’t have it in stock. The mall in my area has had several very nice stores close and I don’t want to lose my favorites!
I am ok with purchasing from AMAZON since we have distribution centers in Lexington and employee local people. Almost of of my day to day spending is done local however.
This is interesting. I believed that shopping local meant buying from small businesses, not your local big box store. This is a completely different take on what that term actually means.
I understand your confusion. However, my argument is that even a big box store employs people in my community. I would rather give them the business if they have the product I need than go online for it. I definitely am giving the small businesses the first chance, though/