For my sanity, for years and years, I will not go to Walmart (or any Christmas shopping retail place) between about the middle of November and January 10 or so. You can imagine the angst that causes in my marriage with Vince needing a Walmart fix at least once a week. It isn’t as hard as it sounds . . I realized when we went over the weekend that I had not been to Walmart since I returned from Missouri in mid-August. It’s the only shopping store of its type (no Target or Sams or Costco type stores) that we have around here so you can imagine how crazy it gets during the holidays. There’s just no reason for me to add one more body to that chaos.
We do have Kroger, United Grocery, Brookshire and Aldi where I can buy groceries
Normally, I go early one morning after the first of the month shoppers have been there .. usually about the 9th or 10th of November. But, over the weekend, Vince needed to go to Walmart and I said . . fine . . this will be the last trip I make there for the year. Ahh . . he was happy . . no argument from the wife about going to Walmart.
Walmart Receipt
No big ticket items . . no toilet paper, paper towels, laundry soap or meat. I keep all that on hand but I don’t keep a lot of detergent for the dishwasher so there were a couple of the large containers of that and otherwise, this was just “stuff” that we use every day . . to get us through the holiday period. What I’m excited about was that they had fresh cranberries for making Cranberry Liqueur. That stuff is so good . . I haven’t stopped thinking about it since last year.
Laura says
I don’t like shopping at Walmart (just a personal preference), so I would go crazy without my Target and my Costco!
Sherry V. says
Hey Judy, does your Aldi’s carry yarn? I’ve noticed on one of my Facebook groups (a crochet & knit group) that everyone seems to be going to Aldi’s for yarn AND food.
We don’t have an Aldi’s near us. . . . so I don’t know if the stores in NJ carry yarn. . . . but I figured I would ask you.
Happy non-shopping for the holidays,
Sherry V.
Cheryl says
Not a Wal-Mart shopper either!
I tried your cranberry liquor recipe last year and we loved it!!! Definitely one I will make again!!!
liz says
Wow – that’s a long time between visits. At least I have multiple Super Wm and Targets, etc to go to for stuff. I still avoid the busy places during the holidays. I’ve become more of an online shopper during the rush.
Your reference of the cranberry liqueur made me check out that post – looks wonderful and I’ll try it this fall. I recently made some flavored sugar that included vanilla beans so I also started some simple vanilla sugar as well as vanilla in vodka at the same time. I forgot about the stuff stashed away. The vanilla/vodka is now a lovely dark brown.
There is one brand of salad dressings that comes in glass jars looking like tiny milk bottles. I have saved a bunch of them since they are handy to put a small amount of liquids into for storage. Looks like I’ll have to get some more dressing in order to have the bottles for gifts of liqueur!
Sherrill says
Were cranberries a good price or did you just grab them because you weren’t going back? I was there yesterday but didn’t look at cranberries.
Rebecca in SoCal says
Oh, thanks for the reminder. Since you first wrote about avoiding big stores during the holidays, I’ve been thinking of trying the same myself. However, with the weather being quite hot in October, the holidays come upon us sooner than I ever plan for. Time to think about it!
Sharon McCurdy says
I wish I had the choice for shopping. It’s either Walmart or the Dollar Store 17 miles away or drive 40 miles to go to Brookshires. Living in the boondocks is not all it is cracked up to be as you well know.