LAND OF PLENTY

LAND OF PLENTY.

On a March Sunday, I had no plans so I was asked if I wanted to go along
shopping for the Food Bank. I am not a shopper for food, but I love to shop for clothes. I decided to tag along and see how this project that is working so well for the Food Bank is done. I was the driver and they had the book of notes that included grocery lists for the “specials” at each particular store and coupons in hand.

In total we visited six different stores and had the entire car filled with food both in the trunk and the back seat. The way hopping was done, coupons used, and the savings realized with voucher discounts for future shopping was amazing. At one store, our shopping cart was full, amount saved was $61.46, while the total payment for everything was only $8.03. I was wondering how these stores could do this. In this case, it is certainly for a good cause. I am sure all of you are already using this power of cutting and saving in your shopping. If not, I suggest you start! Yes, it does take a little time and planning, but it works.

What amazed me also was the variety of food and plentiful food brands we have at our disposal. In the stores we visited, I saw more variety of brands and possibilities of selection beyond belief of anyone that might visit our country. How can we have so many brands for same type of food? We had to look at 4 shelves of salad dressing that were each 16-20 feet long to find the brand we had the coupon for and was also on sale. We have so many choices that it is mind boggling.

I noticed one more thing that is the result of this recession, America has become more humble. I saw more people shopping for value and looking at the prices on the shelves and comparing, in addition to looking in the store flyers for items on sale. We even saw men using coupons. I call this the positive side of a recession. We had become a nation of buying without knowing or caring what the price was and were gorging ourselves with useless food items. What always got to me were the bottles of the wine I used to see being purchased because it made people act special, even though I’m sure they did not know what it was they were drinking. They acted as though they were the crust that was above all of us by dropping wine names.

I think this recession will bring our lives down to the basics, and make us realize how wasteful we have all been. We used our purchasing power by voting for the wrong products that were next to useless. Why do we need 25 different brand names on containers of peanut butters, when they are all produced by the same company?

I shop at both the 99-Cents Store and Wal-Mart regularly, and they are quickly becoming my favorite stores. You get value for what you buy and it makes me feel good to be in these stores that are at my level and standard of living. I have also found that certain items are less expensive at Wal-Mart when compared to 99 Cents Stores…. how about that!


Now we come to the subject of entertainment, which can be very expensive. Sometimes we have to go “outside the box” to find new and exciting things to do. I went to my first Roller Derby game in Charlotte last month. It cost me $10.00 for one of the best seats, plus they had a full show for half-time entertainment. The “Charlotte Roller Girls” played the Georgia Atlanta team and beat them. Contrary to normal opinion of skaters, these are every-day moms who put on make-up to look mean and tough. After the game they meet with the fans for pictures and attend the after-game party at a local restaurant to promote the game. They had their kids and husbands cheering for them. It was easy to see that the realty of the situation was that they were having fun and giving us value for the money. I had a great time for very little money. The game was sold out so the over-flow crowd was sitting on the floor and still enjoying it. Try it, it is value for your dollar.

There are so many possibilities that you can find for shopping and entertainment that can make your dollar go a long way. It does not have to be $200.00 for a ticket to a major league game or the NBA or NFL. Did you know that the Lakers charge $2,600.00 per game to each person who sits on a folding chair on the floor? And did you know that unless you know someone, you can’t even get one? The “big news” on the radio yesterday was that the Lakers were not going to raise ticket prices next year, including these seats! I think it’s time to come back to reality, and learn to appreciate the basics. Then we will know what is really important in this world.