A month without Walmart: T-1 day (part one)

For a number of reasons I will describe here, I have decided to refrain from shopping at Walmart for the month of December. To some people, this doesn't seem like much of a decision because they haven't shopped there for years or started their boycott of the store when they opened.

But for me, Walmart is pretty much my go to store when I need something. Mostly due to the fact they are cheap and convenient. If I need something at 1 a.m., I can go there and get it. My office is about 350 yards away from their store, which makes it even more convenient for me. I really have no idea where I'm going to shop for items the next month and there are things I could use now that I'm intentionally putting off purchasing so that I have to figure it out in the next few days.

There are a number of businesses listed under the Marketplace section of this website and the Mountain Home Chamber has more than 200 members, so chances are I can probably find most things I need from other places, I just don't know it yet. I also go to Boise occasionally, so I'm going to have to plan to get the most out of those trips.

The rules are simple: no shopping or otherwise spending money at Walmart or at any business located on its property during the month of December. I can however use things I already own from the store and can continue to use items other people buy from the store, but I can't direct someone to purchase something from there to avoid doing it myself.

This means if I go to a friend's house for dinner, I can still eat what they have purchased from Walmart, but I can't ask my sister to pick something specific up from there and give her some cash to do so. I can however visit the store if I'm with someone else who wishes to shop there, but not to purchase things myself. That means if I'm with a friend who wants to make a quick trip into the store, I will accompany him, but I will not purchase anything for myself. Just because I've decided to go on a one-month boycott of the store doesn't mean those around me have to as well. And it's getting far too cold outside to wait in the car.

I've been thinking about boycotting Walmart in the past, but haven't seriously considered it because of the convenience they offer. But I started giving it more thought last week and after their Black Friday stunts, I decided the time was right to give up shopping there. I'm not sure if I'll shop there ever again because I live in small town where they have the most items, but I'm willing to start with a month and see how it goes.

I'll be blogging about the experience here the next month as well as researching more about the store and its business practices.