The Whitlock Family Resolves

While pondering on the economic situation of this country, after attending a home-party of all things, I wondered what on earth I could do to help strengthen my local, state and national economies and put my dollar to the best use. I recalled an article in our local borough gazette which stated reasons why we should buy locally instead of shopping at Big Box stores. One of the most compelling reason the article stated was that as much as .60 of every dollar spent at locally owned businesses goes back into the community compared to just .06 for Big Box stores and .20 for chain stores (this information is according to the Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network). With that in mind, Andrew and I discussed and we came to a resolution:

For 2010 it is resolved that the Whitlock Family will:

1. No longer shop at Big Box retailers unless absolutely necessary, excepting Costco for food storage purposes.
2. Strive to buy only US made goods and if we cannot, buy fair-trade items.
   
3. Buy as many used/handmade items as possible sourcing Etsy and local consignment/thrift shops.
   
4. Eat at locally owned restaurants instead of restaurant chains.
5. Grow a small garden and purchase a seasonal share in a CSA farm.
6. Support our borough by attending borough events and fundraisers.
7. (Dare I share this one since past experience was...eh?) Become involved in a community group.
   

We have not shopped at Walmart since September so cutting out all big box stores seemed like a logical next step. Can we do this and maintain our budget and build our food storage? I really hope so and I will keep you updated on our progress. All the resolutions may not be about money necessarily but we are all about building our community. After all, Andrew's paycheck comes mainly from local tax revenue; the very least we can do is to do our best to keep that money in our community and give back a little service. Wish us luck!

And for my first post: Just another reason why Walmart is going to Hell

What does one write on a blog... well I want to write about stuff I am passionate about and since I have been pregnant that happens to be saving the world, one green step at a time. So in one of these small steps Andrew and I decided to buy reusable grocery bags. I was inspired by an article I read about Ireland and how much less pollution they have thanks to a national "bag tax" which makes the free plastic grocery bags that we take for granted very not free in Ireland. So basically everyone in Ireland now has their own reusable grocery bags and everyone is happy. For more on this: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=20

Now to why Walmart is going to Hell. Shopping at Walmart is already an irritating experience but it always drove me nuts how they would just give you a ton of plastic bags because the cashiers are not well trained in bagging groceries. Such waste! Well, today we tried out our handy bags and met with a near disaster. The cashier was VERY unwilling to accomodate us even though we bagged our own groceries! What on earth?! Basically she rung up our groceries so fast she made it impossible for us to bag the groceries so we ended up just throwing everything back into the cart and bagging it when we got to the car. Apparently we are not the only people Walmarts employees have done this to as other reusable baggers have told us. So why the rudeness? Does Walmart train its employees to shun the reusable bagger? Well, in any case I believe we shall keep trying to be reusable baggers at Walmart until we have the money to shun Walmart entirely. I look forward to that day.