Response to: Why do some SAHM’s insist they have to shop at Walmart?
MDC Post, Response to: Why do some SAHM’s insist they have to shop at Walmart?
“Reduce” is a way of life. I don’t wear make-up, wear my hair back so that I only have to wash it every week or two (although since I started working out, I do rinse it almost every day, but there isn’t money for that much shampoo usage), use watered down soap, only shave my legs with razors my husband can’t use on his face any more, don’t use deoderant unless I am going to be in close proximity to people, get through heavy periods by jumping in the shower and rinsing all day so that I only have to use one pad /day (haven’t been able to get money together for the cloth pads yet), cut my families hair, and have not bought a single pair of shoes or of clothing for myself in several years. (the only clothes dh & I have gotten is from our parents…a pair of jeans when the holes are too big to patch for dh and some misc. hand-me-downs from my grandma for me), no cable, no long distance ( a calling card for emergencies – our folks all have 800 numbers), no backyard to grow a garden, can’t container garden or hang out clothes because it is against apt. regulations (even if I could afford the containers, soil & seeds, which I can’t), and all of ds clothing is bought twice a year at an Old Navy or Carter’s outlet (and my mom usually pitches in on that), and we have only gone out to eat when my mom gave us money with the stipulation we must use the money for going out and having some fun.
Now add this: Walmart is across the street, Kroger is a short drive. Farmer’s market is once a week and costs about $5 in gas and parking fees. There is no Kmart (unless on the other side of town, which I never go to – gas money). Target is 20 minutes away and pricey. The only HFS in town are small indys which I would love to support except they cost 4x what I used to pay at Wild Oats (before I moved to this town) and about 6x the price of walmart. I do end up going there when I can because it is the only place in town that sells organic normal fat yogurt for ds. There are a few items I get at Krogers that aren’t available at Walmart also.
Now, food. I am on food stamps. I am not going to say how much, but it is a really, really tight squeeze to feed our family on them and we never buy any prepackaged anything (except fruit & veggies – generic). We only buy whole foods, and not much meat. We have to be really careful because there are times when there is no money left to fill in the gap if we overspend, and dh and I are stuck eating noodles (made with white flour and water…cheap)
There is simply no place else for me to cut. There is a LOT we do without. This time has taught us that there is a lot more you can do without than I would have imagined before, and I am really grateful to have what we do. I am a SAHM because if I worked, at this point, I would have a net loss (childcare, loss of foodstamps/ health ins for ds, clothes, gas, makeup, soap). If something costs $1 more, there is a good chance we can’t get it. There IS a point where your family has to come before politics, especially when you can’t routinely get the basics.
eta: Two more weeks and then dh has a degree. Even if he doesn’t get an outside “real world” job (resumes are out), grad school money is much, much better. I just laugh when people tell us that he will be a “poor grad student” if he works as a GA…it will be more than we have ever made. We might be well enough off in two months to turn down the food stamps when they are up for renewal after August.
I did NOT write this for sympathy or anything like that. I just felt like it needed to be illustrated that some of us really don’t have the options some suggest.
