Walmart, a Big Box Store

I don’t really enjoy shopping. I have to admit, I really despise it. However, it’s a necessity due to the fact that I don’t grow my own food or manufacture my own clothes or beauty products. This weekend, my husband and I decided to stock up on paper goods and beauty products, or HBA products, like shampoo, lotion, and shaving cream. The best price we can find on these items in our area is none other than Walmart, one of my least favorite stores for many reasons.

We purchase in bulk when we visit Walmart so we don’t have to frequent the store any more than absolutely necessary, this also saves us money in the long run.  So, this weekend we stocked up, piled our cart high, and pushed our way through a very crowded Walmart. There are only two Walmarts within a 5 mile radius of our home. One Walmart is in a slightly better neighborhood than the other. Unfortunately, we were closer to the less desirable neighborhood Walmart and decided we didn’t want to spend the time or gas money driving clear across the valley to the other one.

Parking is a nightmare and a little nightmarish at the less desirable Walmart. We always park far away, we don’t mind walking and prefer to keep our car door-ding free. We parked on the side of the store, as far away from other, beat up vehicles as possible. We walked in and were reminded immediately why we avoid this particular Walmart. It was beyond crowded, people everywhere. My husband also observed that this store was laid out terribly, which made it appear more crowded than a more open floor plan would. We headed directly for the HBA section. Many of the products were out of stock, to my disappointment. It looked like someone had cleared out some of the isles, or the store hadn’t had time to restock the empty merchandise. There were few brands of mascara left to choose from. I don’t wear much make-up, but mascara is a necessity on light-blond eyelashes. I ended up settling for a brand that I don’t usually wear.

Hair color is another item I like purchasing at Walmart. I only color my hair twice a year and keep it close to my natural color. But again, the brand I usually purchase was out of stock. I opted for a well-known brand, but one I haven’t used in years. Hopefully it won’t make a mess out of my hair. The last thing I need on my ultra-fine hair is something that will turn it into straw!

Shampoo, conditioner and paper goods were in adequate supply. We purchased enough toilet paper, Kleenex, and paper towels to last us 5 to 6 months. We also stock piled the deodorant and shaving cream. Thankfully we have a large linen closet to store all of our paper goods and HBA products.  We checked out spending a little more than usual, but the amount we purchased should keep us out of Walmart for at least 5 months.

This weekend  I called my step-mom to catch up. She is currently enrolled in school to become an acupuncturist, which is quite interesting. She’s always sworn that acupuncture can cure just about anything, now she is learning the medical craft herself. Within our conversation, she mentioned my step-brother (her son) building a house within the next year in Colorado on some land he purchased a while back. My step-mom lives in New York, and I have to be quite honest, has no clue about money or finance. She briefly mentioned that he and his wife had looked at a model home they really liked and wanted to emulate. Her description of the model home was that it looked like a multi-million dollar home from where she comes from, New York, but in Colorado it would probably be about $700K or $800K. That got me thinking, is it really that expensive in Colorado? I don’t really know, because I live in Los Angeles, the second most expensive city after New York, according to Forbes Magazine.

So, I decided to research a few metros across the nation. Within my research, I stuck to my price range, which has been creeping up lately, that I feel comfortable with: $300,000. I also only checked Zillow.com, since I was running out of time to cross check against other real estate sites. Based on what my husband and I make annually, this $300,000 figure is above the 2.5 times our income estimate, a good base figure. What I found was surprising, but I wasn’t completely flabbergasted. As a disclaimer, I also don’t know the particulars about the neighborhoods that these homes are located in, so the homes may look grand, but the neighborhoods may be sketchy for all I know.

Here is my summary, the photos follow below:

• Northridge, CA (where I live) : $309,900 – Slightly older neighborhood, home built in 1952. 5 bedroom, 3 bath (however, the garage has been converted into one or two of the bedrooms) no square footage available, but judging from the photo, and what I know about these homes, maybe 1,300 sq. ft.  FIXER UPPER.
• Denver, CO: $300,000 – Built in 1890 (an old house, so this one may need some upgrades!) 5 bedroom, 4 bath, 3,440 square feet. This one doesn’t look like a fixer upper from the interior photos on Zillow.com.
• Dallas, TX: $299,900- 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 3,736 square feet, no build date and no interior photos. I’m not sure if this would need some work or not, exterior looks nice.
• Raleigh, NC: $299,200 - 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2,900 square feet, built in 1989. The interior and exterior look immaculate, no work would need to be required except personal choice. Very large lot in my standards, over 10,000 square feet.
• White Plains, NY (the closest I could get to Manhattan without going into the Bronx): $299, 900 – 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment, 750 square feet, built in 1987. So, I guess I am luckier than those who live in White Plains, at least I would get double this square footage!
• Colorado Springs, CO (where my step-brother and his family plan to build a house): $300,000 – 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2, 789 square feet, built in 1998. No interior photos, so again I’m not sure if this would need major repairs inside. The exterior looks nice.

Again, I’m basing this off what Zillow has in their database. I know nothing of these neighborhoods, so maybe, like Detroit, MI, the homes are inexpensive and large, but the neighborhood is really bad. Here are the images to go along with my above descriptions:

Northridge, CA in comparison to Denver, CO homes for sale

Dallas, TX in comparison to Raleigh, NC homes for sale

White Plains, NY in comparison to Colorado Springs, CO homes for sale

Based on these comparisons, Raleigh, NC or Denver, CO look like the best places by far. What do you think? Did I miss something in my comparison? Should I have also focused on crime rates in each of these neighborhoods? Do you live in an overpriced or under-priced gem of a city?

Yesterday morning I read a Get Rich Slowly guest post about the lease-to-own option for owning your own home. I, myself, feel that this option is a bit risky, especially in today’s down turned housing market. Too many home owners are underwater on their mortgages, and my guess is that there are just too many unknown variables that could jeopardize this type of agreement. However, this post got me thinking about people, like myself, who were working to improve their credit and save money for a down payment to own a home. It also made me ‘think outside of the box’ (to use an educational phrase I’ve come to like a lot) on other alternative’s to conventional home ownership.

I’ve gathered some great information on building small houses from reading TinyHouseBlog.com. This blog focuses on wonderful and refreshing little house plans that seem simple enough to build.  I am still researching the details of purchasing land suitable for building a residential structure and all that entails, but in the mean time, I’m exploring all of my options (this ‘my’ includes my husband too.) ThisTinyHouse.com showcases alternative living arrangements, and according to the ‘about’ page, Hillary (the blog author), has lived in some very unusual and non-conventional housing structures.

As I continue to research all of my options, the one thing that I keep turning to are small house plans. The kind of do-it-yourself, build-your-dream-house, mentality. Here is an example of what I’m thinking about; this adorable, quaint cottage house plan illustration makes me want to curl up near the fireplace with a good book. The cottage’s square footage, under 400 square feet, is a little small for my husband and me, but when I see such a house, I can’t help but melt.

The Hobbit House (a cob house) from TinyHouseBlog.com. This house inspires thoughts of fairies!

The alternative living arrangements I read about on ThisTinyHouse.com are also inspiring. I often discuss some of them with my husband as ways we could save money quicker towards a down payment on land or a house. He is always open to this method; we recently scouted out some large shed’s at The Home Depot and bantered around the idea of living in one on land we purchase. (I think it could actually be done since it doesn’t snow where I live, we wouldn’t freeze to death!)

As our journey continues, and we reassess our time line for purchasing a house (or land to build a house), I’m keeping all of my options open and not settling for something that I will be unhappy with in a few years time. We also want to choose a financially intelligent option and not take on too much debt. The more I research, the more ideas I acquire that will lead us to our ultimate little house in the valley.

I consider myself a fairly organized person. I have to be. I’m juggling many balls, or wearing many hats, to use a metaphor describing my current life style. I help my husband with his graphic design business, I teach elementary school, I am attending school myself part-time to finish up my teaching credential, and I’ve started a blog because I enjoy writing. So, being organized, or managing my time wisely, is a must for me.

However, my wallet (or wallets) is/are the one area where I’m just not as organized. Now, I read years ago that a messy,or disorganized, wallet is an indicator of a messy financial situation. I don’t know how much I agree with this, though I can see where one would make that connection. My situation, though, is different. In some ways, I have achieved superb wallet organization, in others, I’ve not. For example, I have two wallets. One wallet holds all of my credit cards, which I rarely use, my AAA membership card, my health insurance, dental insurance, and pharmacy card, and a Border’s Books Club card. This is a wallet that I don’t pull out very often.

My other wallet, a small, fake-leather, coin purse I purchased in Mexico almost two years ago, holds my debit/ATM card, my Starbucks Gold Reward Card, my savings account ATM card, my Ralph’s Club card, my driver’s license, and (here is the surprise) a couple of Starbucks Gift Cards. I use this wallet on a daily basis. It’s small enough to fit in my pocket when I ride my bike to Starbucks in the morning or to the grocery store. It’s also convenient to place in a small clutch when, and this is rare, I go out and need a smaller purse. I knew I had a couple of Starbucks Gift Cards in there, but I thought they only had a dollar or less on them, so haven’t bothered to pull them out in a while.

Starbucks Gift Card, a pleasant surprise!

The other day, my husband needed my debit card to renew our AAA membership. He pulled out my small coin purse and emptied the contents on his desk (this was easier for him to do than file through the cards with his large fingers). When the two Starbucks Gift Cards fell out, along with the debit card he needed, he announced his finding to me. He even had the time to look online and check their balances. To both of our amazements, one of the gift cards still had $20.00 on it! I was shocked. Not only did I not realize I had this kind of credit on one of the gift cards, I don’t even remember saving it for future use.

A few days have passed and I still haven’t used my gift card. I am now subconsciously ‘saving’ it for a rainy day. However, that little surprise was delightful, sort of a similar feeling to finding cash in a washed article of clothing.

Do you find pleasure in surprises such as these? How many of us misplaced a gift card only later to find it? Did you use it right away, or save it?

My parent’s recently asked me if our graphic and web design business was doing alright in this down-turned economy. I told them that we were pretty much making about the same, or a little less, but spending less; so overall we were doing okay. They tend to worry a little bit about us because we are self-employed, even though they know that I also substitute teach to bring in additional income and provide us with health insurance coverage. Due to their questions,  I decided to pull a couple of QuickBooks reports to verify my answer and make sure I was correct.

Sometimes, it’s easy to say, “Oh, we’re fine,” but I didn’t really have any substantiating evidence. Throughout this year I have been comparing our total income to our total expenses through QuickBooks, and my answer to my parents was pretty much on the mark. We have made a little less this year, so far we’ve brought in about $11,000 less than this time last year. However, we’ve also spent an equal amount less, about $10,000 less.

So far this year, we've earned less than last year, but managed to also spend less.

When I thought about how we did this, it all boiled down to really thinking about what we needed versus what we wanted. Last year, we had a few additional business expenses because we decided to upgrade our computer network. So, right there we saved money this year in comparison to last year on business expenses. We also made a point of eating at home more often and becoming more aware shoppers. We also spent less on things we needed and have put off a couple of other items that are not necessities. In addition, I reduced my travel this year. Usually I plan a trip back east to visit my family, this year I decided I could wait an additional 6-12 months and intend to focus on saving up that money instead. You can see in my comparison image that we have significantly reduced business expenses, eating out, and household items.

With the holiday’s approaching, my husband and I will need to get creative with gifts for his family. His family seems to go bonkers during the holiday season and shop mindlessly for ‘things’ instead of thoughtful items that someone might need. My husband and I have always felt good about the gifts we’ve purchased for them and we try to get creative and stick to a budget. This year, I think we will redefine that budget and see if we can reduce our overall amount. This amount usually tends to fall somewhere between $700 – $900 (there are a total of 8 people we shop for.) I’d like to reduce this amount to $500. If we can continue reducing our overall expenses, and live below our means (basically spending less than we earn), we will be on our way to financial freedom, our ultimate goal!