Our Kohl's just opened last week!! I got DS thermal shirts for 0.60 ea!! I was glad to see the Kohl's come here. From what I can tell, they have good sales on toys also. Frugal me is excited because I have gotten great deals on clearance there in the past and I can't wait for January to come so I can start shopping their clearance racks also!!

As far as Costco, BJ's & Aldi's, we have don't have them. I have toyed with the idea of getting a BJ's membership and shopping when we go to see our parents (we go right past BJ's). BJ's takes coupons right? I get the ALdi's add via email and call MIL if I see anything in the ad that is a good deal and she picks it up for me.

I am kind of excited about this new challenge! I am going to print my spreadsheets tonight and do my comparison shopping while DD is in school!

Thanks for all the advice & keep it coming!!

my biggest tip is if you don't want to shop there simply don't its really is as simple as that you have to make the choice to not go there. there are alot of places we don't go for one reason or another and we simply just had to break the tie as i would say. good luck on your adventure i'm sure you will be able to find comparable prices with a little effort.. you might be surprised you could have been missing good shopping somewhere else all along.

I've recently decided to make the same choice. I rarely shop at Walmart, but unfortunately I do most of our large shopping at Sam's Club. Our membership just ran out at Sam's, so I am toying with the idea of getting a Costco membership. It's about 45 minutes away, so 1 1/2 hours round trip. I really hope we get one around our house, since they are building like crazy...I know a Super Target is going up about 3 blocks from my house.

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Just don't shop there!! Target and other places have paper goods and cleaning supplies. Personally, WalMart is just too convient for me, I would never stop shopping there. Before we moved here, though, I very rarely shoped at WalMart. It was not handy.

Now, Sam's I could never quit going to!! I used to drive an hour each way to get there once a month!!!!

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Probably the best tip of all!

What is so bad about walmart??

Maybe I am in the dark on it...

I Know Alot of people hate it - But I don't know anyone personally who avoids it- at all costs.


I don't get to attached to stores to care much about them - I love to Shop but like to Get the best deal - so I Shop anywhere.

I've heard various things in the past about how they treat their employees. DH just watched a special on Walmart and it talked about how underpaid the employees are and how they actually encourage them to get state funded health insurance and medicaid instead of taking what walmart offers. It also talked about how the 5 members of the Walton family are worth many billions of dollars, but contribute very little to charity. The employees as a whole contributed more money to charity through payroll deduct than the company's owners did.

Also the crime rate on walmart property is huge. In the show the walmarts in the last 2 towns I lived in were mentioned regarding crime, 1 being an abduction, rape & then murder of a college student.

Now, I don't beleive everything I hear and read, but I know that walmart is not the same company it was when Sam Walton was alive. I worked for them then, but I wouldn't work for them today. He would roll over in his grave if he saw the way the employees dress & carry themselves and to actually see alchohol sold at walmart just blew my mind!! (don;t get me wrong, we llike our beer & wine just as much as the next person.)

The final straw for me was when we passed a walmart that had moved across the street over 2 years ago and the old building was just sitting there empty. Alot of times when a walmart abandons an older store for a new one, the other stores in the strip mall suffer and may even go out of business. (This is from my own observation.)

I'm sure others know more than I do. It is a personal choice that we have made to try and voice our opinion by not giving them our business.

Around where I live, Dollar General is the cheapest place for paper products and cleaning supplies. They are also the cheapest for baking soda and vinegar - which is all I use to clean with now. Brand name cleaning products are just too pricey for my budget. I try to shop Dollar General first for what's on my list, then the "mom & pop" grocery store for meats, and then Walmart for the rest. That's the extent of my shopping choices, because there's nowhere else to shop around here. Yes, it takes more time and planning, but I get the best prices all the way around this way.

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I'm no fan of WalMart, but I find it hard to believe that WalMart properties have more or more offensive crimes than other places...

Ya know, I really think it might depend on the area. Where I live, Yes Walmart is ruining the mom and pop stores, BUT alot of people do enjoy working there. The employees are far from underpaid. In fact, the graveyard shift there makes almost as much as I do, which is very comparable. I was told by the cashiers that they START at almost $9 an hour. The problem is, they do not like to hire full time workers to avoid paying benefits, so almost every person that works there are part time.

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Meghan8.Samantha7,Cameron4