spend less by shoping less

It seems obvious, doesn't it? If we shop less, we spend less. That's what I've decided to start doing. I go shopping once a week, and when I'm in town to shop I hit everything on this extended trip. The grocery, the Wal-Mart, whatever other errands I deem necessary. As I think back on my receipts, it looks like I spend somewhere around $35 a week at Wal-Mart. That doesn't include any food. It really gets me wondering where all that money goes...

A while back, a friend of mine mentioned how her family only goes to Wal-Mart once a month. I couldn't fathom it. What if you run out of something? What if you find out there's something you Really Need? A couple of years ago, I was at Wal-Mart probably twice a week. I decided to be thrifty, and cut it down to one trip to town a week. While I have saved some money by reducing my trips, it is apparent that I could go one better.

As I've been looking at ways to pare down my unnecessary spending, I thought, if I go to the store less often, I'll be less inclined to make impulse buys. Also, even though it's less than a mile of extra driving to go to Wal-Mart, I'll save a little gas, and save a lot of time. Every time I go into Wal-Mart, I spend more than an hour there, just wandering around looking at things. I think I have better things to do with an hour (like exercise).

So, from here on out (hopefully) the big-blue-box store will only be a once a month trip. Yes, there will be instances where there really is something that I need to get outside of my once a month trip. But, if I make the effort to pay attention to how fast we use consumable goods, and do a little thinking ahead for the month, I imagine I'll have it covered pretty well. I'm curious to see how this works out, and what my savings will be!