The Reliable Vicenarian

Tips for twenty-somethings who need a little help in the money department.

You’re Shopping So Wrong.

Today on The Reliable Vicenarian, I’m broadening my reach. I saw something today that disturbed me so deeply, I decided to write a post addressing it even though it’s not necessarily directed at my target audience. I’ve touched on the subject before, but there is just a rampant problem with how people shop in this country.

Sometime last year, I read a blog (which I can’t find for the life of me) about how WalMart and Target are soooooo terrible because you go in and you just can’t help yourself, you HAVE to buy so many things and oh, no, WalMart doesn’ t save you money, it just makes you poor!

Nope. The low prices at WalMart that make you want things because they’re cheap are not why you’re poor. You’re poor because you have no self-control.


This applies to people of all ages. Today, I went to the grocery store. I had my list with me, and I did get a few things that weren’t on it, but it was because I’d been adding as I went to be sure of how much I was spending and found that I had enough extra to get myself some yogurt for post-lunch snacks during the week while staying in my $20/week guideline. The grocery store I prefer to use is Hannaford, because they have a handy online shopping list feature. It doesn’t print the prices of the items you’ve got on your list or show them if you’re looking at the list on a smartphone, but it does rearrange your list so that all of the items that are in the same section of the store are grouped together.

What I saw there was not people who knew where they were going because a list had told them where all of the things they were looking for were. I saw people who were stumbling around with at best a handwritten list, and at worst, no list at all, picking things up willy-nilly, filling their carts with whatever they felt they wanted.

Most stores nowadays offer some sort of online-list service where you can calculate exactly what you’re going to be spending before you ever get into the store. Use them. It will not just save you money, it will save you time. The five minutes it takes you to make the list might seem like a chore, but because I make that list beforehand, I zip through and can get in and out of the store within ten minutes. Not so for the people who go in knowing vaguely what they need, but not knowing exactly what they want to buy. They stay in the store for ages, meandering through and picking up anything they like- the same behavior described in the WalMart/Target blog I read.

It’s very easy to blame things on your environment, but it’s also complete crap to do so. Use the tools available to you, make shopping lists (online or at the very least written,) and buy only what you need instead of picking up everything you decide that you want on a whim.

Sylvia Braun

2 responses to “You’re Shopping So Wrong.”

  1. Aurorn Avatar
    Aurorn

    Two things:

    1) You make it sound like there’s something wrong with having a handwritten list, so I want to know what’s so wrong with a hand-written list?
    I make a menu for my week’s meals and then write down everything I don’t have and get it at my usual store.

    2) Unasked-for-critique: You sound really angry and not-a-little-condescending in this post. For those of us who read it to gain helpful tips (i.e. me, since I can only really speak for myself), it’s rather off-putting.

    Please feel free to ignore me, however, as the above is only my opinion and I may be the only one who feels this way about it. ❤

    Reply
    1. Valerie Braun Avatar
      Valerie Braun

      1) the hand-written list works better than going in without a list at all; however, as I’ve stated, there tend to be tools available that allow people to more accurately plan. Making a menu and then making a list is one thing; knowing what the prices are and basing your menu off of that tends to be more cost-conscious. Hand-written lists are better than nothing, but lists made online (when possible) are the best way to ensure that you spend exactly what you mean to.

      2) it was meant to be condescending, because quite frankly it’s irresponsible the way that some people spend their money without thinking about it first. And at the time, I was also a bit angry- I was extremely taken aback by the experience of shopping in a full store (I don’t usually shop on Sundays when everyone else is out) with people bumbling around grabbing whatever they felt like without, it seemed, a second thought. This isn’t the first time I’ve adopted this tone in this blog, and when I do it, it’s on purpose and it’s done to make a point.

      Reply

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