Once upon a time, there was a grumpy Granny and a more grumpy Grumps. They both promised the other that they would not go to Walmart . . not even once, from before Thanksgiving til about the second week of January. Grumps is the one who traditionally drags Granny to Walmart about 10 times more often than she wants to go but suddenly, it’s the Christmas season. The Walmart parking lot is full. The Walmart store is full. Shelves are starting to look empty. Shoppers are in a tizzy. Checkout lines are outrageously long. There are no germ wipes by the door to clean the carts. Half the shoppers are coughing their heads off. Half the shoppers have screaming children because mom said no to the $250 Barbie house. Why would any sane person go shopping just over two weeks before Christmas?
Well . . I can tell you why! And, I will admit that it was my idea and all Vince bought was two bags of salt for the water softener. It’s a good thing I insisted we go! 🙂
I need a lot of important stuff:
- I put fruit through the blender, then mix it with my homemade Greek style yogurt, put it in a squeeze bottle and squeeze it onto the freeze dryer trays and make “yogurt drops”. I have two squeeze bottles. Vince cut the tips off both to make the hole larger but when a tiny piece of fruit gets to the tip and can’t get out and I squeeze harder, the lids pop off and then about a cup of yogurt ends up on the try. I needed a bigger, heavy duty squeeze bottle with a loading hole bit enough to actually get the yogurt into the bottle. If the one I bought today doesn’t work, I’m saving either a BBQ sauce bottle with a squeeze top or a ketchup bottle.
- I needed a 6″ cast iron skillet. I’m going to use that for my sweet potato pies. I didn’t put enough filling in the jars to fill a 9″ pie pan. I’m not buying a 6″ pie pan when a 6″ skillet will work just fine and I can use it for so much more.
- My hair is fine and seems to have way less body than it used to have. The girls in the salon suggested that I use dry shampoo, even when I’ve just washed my hair. They said that gives body. I needed that.
- I needed a new toothbrush. Vince always buys extras but he buys the kind that are 20 for $1. Nope . . I’ll get my own.
- I needed a cookie dough scoop to make little balls of ice cream for the freeze dryer.
We never went to the grocery section. We never went to the toy section. We never went to the kids’ clothing section. But . . we went to Walmart two weeks and two days before Christmas. We survived but goodness, I hope we don’t need to go back til the middle of January.
Tee says
You are insane. I just drove by WM and laughed the entire way past it, as I did not need to go in. I need epsom salts, but I will suffer leg cramps before I go in to buy any. In fact, I am sure I can get some sent by Amazon as cheap!
NickandNancy Stevens says
For your leg cramps (which I suffer with nearly every day or night), try Hyland’s Leg Cramp pills. Available at, of course, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, etc. They are all natural and work miracles, which we need a lot of this close to Christmas. Hope this helps.
jsiplon says
A friend recommended these to me. They work fantastically well. I am diabetic and suffer leg cramps as well as cramps in my toes. I always have an open bottle and a spare to use next. Have given them to a good friend, and she uses them after standing dyeing yarn and at the various spinning, yarn venues she attends. They are not terribly expensive. You won’t regret trying them.
Karen says
For leg cramps my Mom’s cardiologist recommended drinking a glass of tonic water every evening – she did and said it worked great – stopped having leg cramps. My cousin decided to give it a try and says it works great.
Carolyn says
The only way I would go to WM this time of the year is between 6 and 7 a.m. Of course, I’m a firm believer in “Use it up, Wear it out, Make do and Do without”.
Stephani in N. TX says
I shop regularly at my local Walmart because it’s new, close, and the it’s only market in town. Luckily, being retired and close, I’m usually lucky enough to go without the crowds. In my last home of 30 years, we had 3 full Walmarts in town. I’m happy to say I had never been in one of them and I never could get over the full parking lots around the holidays. Things do change though. I live in a new home in a new community and hubby is gone so I can’t send someone else. So I make do. Quite a personable place to shop so that makes it even better.
Judy Laquidara says
I honestly don’t mind shopping at Walmart and I get very tired of people bashing them. Not only does my son work for them but the come to towns most other businesses won’t even consider. Kroger has left here. We don’t have a Target. I’m thankful they’re here. I know a lot of people, especially young couples with small children, can’t afford to shop for two months and not have to go back during this time of year. We don’t do a lot of Christmas shopping so I figure us not being there this time of year makes for two less shoppers and one less car in the parking lot. People who don’t like WM don’t have to shop there but I hope they consider that a lot of people are employed there, they do pay a decent wage, I doubt they treat their employees any worse than most big corporations and they hire a whole lot of people who many businesses won’t consider. Addie loves the greeter at their WM . . an older lady who I’m sure wouldn’t have a job if WM weren’t in town. I’m knitting mittens for her right now. The greeter at our store is an elderly man and he always has a smile and a kind word for everyone, even those who grumble back at him. If it was any other business besides Walmart, those griping about them would be praising them.
Sherrill Pecere says
I’m happy to have the neighborhood Walmart (a couple actually) nearby as they are grocery/drugs only..no toys, no clothes, etc. It’s usually very quick in and out and my preferred place to go!! LOL
Dorothy Schreyer says
You are right Judy, having worked for large companies, smaller corporations and government employers, I can tell you WM isn’t any worse to work for than any of them. Right now it is an added source of income for me. I do returns and such in customer service, most people are nice, but those that look down their noses at those that work at WM should go someplace else, because no one needs that kind of treatment.
Sue Edberg says
Yesterday my husband went to WM – we needed just a few items. The parking lot was busy but not full. We found our items, went to the self checkout lane and didn’t even need to wait. We couldn’t believe it The store was busy but not really crowded. I never used to like the WM closest to where we used to live (there were several in the general vicinity) as they were always messy and I felt dirty, but I like this WM and go there all the time now.
Nelle Coursey says
I remember one year 2 weeks before Christmas we had the grand idea to go to North Park Mall in Dallas! When we got there it was wall to wall people. When we left and finally got on the street, we sat in the same spot for 30 minutes not moving our tires at all! We swore never again and so far we have kept that promise to ourselves! Brownwood is nothing compared to there! But it does get pretty rough just before the holidays! I have some coupons for mason jars if you want them. I will bring them Tuesday if you do. I know every little bit helps!
cassews says
Yep the WM’s in our town were full when we headed to the mall to get some jewelry for the Granddaughters on sale at the jewelry store. So after an hour in the jewelry store, we headed over to WM to do our grocery shopping. Many people were nice, many were rude and some well you know …. So we got our groceries and next 2 weekes we will be shopping at our local grocery store and not WM.
But then its not just WM’s its all the stores at this time of year, we even went to Cabella’s and they were the same.
dezertsuz says
I don’t bash it, but I don’t go there more than once or twice a year – and definitely not at Christmas! I do have to say it can be entertaining to shop there. I have a good friend who works for them, and whoever manages the ones in our town needs a heart transplant … but I’ve known some in other places which had great regional managers. Sometimes I do stop at the grocery-only one near my house for milk, though I prefer Aldi.
Rebecca in SoCal says
I avoid any big shopping draws between Thanksgiving and Christmas as much as I can, but it kind of slipped my mind when I met a friend to drive together somewhere on Saturday. We always meet at the large mall between us, and there aren’t a lot of cars in the area of the parking lot we use. Well, it was much fuller this Saturday! We had to park farther out, but it was fine. I remember a couple years ago, we met at about 4:30 on a Tuesday, and went out the “main” exit. It took us 40 minutes to get out of the stupid mall parking lot! Sure glad I’m not going IN the place!
Joyce says
I try to avoid WM between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I had to make a trip there this weekend too. I use a gel eyedrop at night, and I haven’t been able to find the brand my doctor wants me to use anywhere else. I picked up a couple of other things too, but no grocery items. I think I waited longer in the checkout line than it took to grab the couple of things I needed! I always mentally prepare myself to wait patiently in the checkout lines. You can meet some interesting people there.
Sandy says
I shopped Walmart on Friday. The store was busy. When I walked in the door to get a buggy (shopping cart) a man gave me the one he had just pulled out for himself. The customers throughout the store were friendly and chatty. The checkout lanes were long and the person ahead of me had an overflowing cart, but the one behind me had only a few things, so I let her go ahead of me. The cashier was efficient. After putting my groceries in my car (which was far from the store entrance) a woman who had just parked offered to take my buggy so I didn’t have to walk it back to where customers put them in the parking lot. It was a typical shopping day at my local Walmart! I’ll be back next week.
Twyla says
When we lived in Palestine people complained to me that the Walmart warehouse and big store had closed a few mom and pop stores. Now Palestine is down in east Texas with few opportunities for jobs. My suggestion was that they look at Walmart in a different way. Walmart provided many jobs so that people could stay in their home town to work and mom and pop stores employed mom and pop. I get aggravated at Walmart at times but basically they do offer a one stop shopping and usually a good price.
Amy in PA says
I live 1/4 mi from a Walmart so I go in 3-4x a week. Have a friend who works there & has for 20 years, she has a good job & my grandma worked for Walmart for many years too, they took good care of her (after TG&Y stores closed, do you remember those?), I know it’s a little nuts this time of year but so is everywhere else. We do our food shopping Sunday morning about 7am. If I need it right now I’ll run down the street before Amazon.