Just the same, if you’ve ever watched the Antique Roadshow, you’re familiar with the idea of people bringing in their old lunchboxes and magazines and suddenly finding out that they’re worth a boatload of money. On the flip side, sometimes their stuff isn’t worth anything. Which would be me. I sometimes fantasize about carrying in a box full of Walmart dishes and having an appraisal just to see what they say. Nevertheless, I’m still brought to this thought: I have nothing that’s worth over ten bucks in my house. Okay, scratch that. The furniture may be worth a couple hundred. Total. And that’s because the furniture wasn’t purchased at Walmart, but everything else I own is basically value-less.

And, here’s how I blame Walmart. Being part of the “Walmart Generation”, which I’ve officially invented and nominated myself the President of, means that I’ve purchased darn near everything I own from them. Which further means, that none of this is worth anything, because as everyone knows anything you buy from Walmart depreciates in value to nothing as soon as you say goodbye to the Walmart greeter. I have no collection of fancy figurines because for one, no one purchases figurines from Walmart or the Dollar Store with the thought that they’ll one day be worth something. “Someday, darling. This will all be yours.”

When I am old and dusty and my daughter is cleaning out my old and dusty home, there will be no great finds, no treasures that she’ll need to google, no investigating the worth of anything. Pretty sure that set of $2 GladWare isn’t going to be worth much. (Even though I do take pretty good care of them.)

The only good thing about having a house by Walmart is that hopefully we’re saving enough money to make that our gift when we’re gone. It’s not nearly as fun as finding an incorrectly printed stamp or a chair that just happened to be handmade by Charles Ingalls, but something tells me that cash will be appreciated just the same.

Let’s hope anyway. Otherwise I need to start on a collection. Any suggestions?

I realized Saturday that there is another store I adore besides Walmart, and it’s TJ Maxx. If you don’t have one near you, you’re sorely missing out. TJ Maxx is similar to Marshalls and sells really marked down name brand merchandise. You can find lots of designer clothes and accessories and even household furnishings and lots of artsy, cool stuff.

An important tip for shopping is to find stores that you can buy name brand stuff from for those times that Walmart won’t work. Name brand and designer don’t always equal better quality, but a lot of times it does. If there’s something that you know you’ll have to spend a little more on or costs about the same as a lesser quality item at Walmart, go to TJ Maxx. Although not a Christmas gift or part of my Christmas budget, I found the cutest puffy white winter coat for my daughter, with a removable furry hood for only $15.00. I was even able to get it in a size 7/8 so she may even be able to wear it next year. You can’t find a decent winter coat for a kid even at Walmart for $15.00.  I also found a couple other gifts on my list at TJ Maxx, and even though some people wouldn’t even know the difference, it feels good buying name brand and designer brand items for gifts.

I bought all of the toys from Toys R Us, which was having their “Doorbusters” sale. They also have a number of other promotions including $20 off purchases over $75  if  you use your PayPal account and free shipping on purchases of $49 or more.

I almost forgot, I also got the tree up (finally) and even though I believe it may be leaning to the right a little, and some of the lights aren’t working, it looks pretty good. My daughter helped me get the presents wrapped as well so for now I think we’re looking pretty good.

And it’s still a couple weeks before Christmas. Hey, as long as it’s before Christmas Eve I’m pretty impressed with myself.

The budget is another story. I need to buy groceries still this month…but I’ll cover that some other time.

Granted, there are a ton of great deals. The first round occurs tomorrow, the 7th and includes an HP Notebook Computer for $298, a Panasonic 46 inch HDTV for $788 and an Xbox 360 Arcade Console for $199 with a $100 Walmart gift card.
They are also advertising some pretty sweet Thanksgiving meal deals with 12 pound turkeys for less than $5.

Unfortunately, I’m not a morning person so I won’t be up at the break of dawn tomorrow to take advantage of any of these weekly Black Friday specials (I don’t know what else to call them).

One year I did get up and go with my sister. We grabbed a coffee at like 6 a.m., went to Shopko and stood in line until 7 with one sweater and one shirt each. (Great deals, of course.) And then we went to Menard’s which was so crowded, it took at least a half hour to find somewhere to park. When we actually got inside, the lines wrapped all the way to the back of the store back up to the front, which was enough for us to realize we were done Black Friday shopping.

It’s me, of course. I just don’t have the energy for it. My sister does quite well when she goes with her husband or other family members. I consider it every year–how much money could I save if I got my arse out of bed early and stood in line with the other deal chasers? Usually I’m not looking for any big ticket items, so unless I need a great deal on a tv, computer or gaming system, it’s not really worth it.

I do need a printer for my laptop. Maybe I’ll try it this year.

Are you a Black Friday shopper? And what do you think of the new Pre Black Friday sales at Walmart?

Okay, so yeah I had prepaid cell phone service years ago and it was a big pain in the arse. No one wants to worry about running out of minutes exactly when you need to make an important phone call. The good news is that you’ll be able to reload the phone at either the Walmart store or online at walmart.com or straighttalk.com. Reloading can be as simple as paying a bill online, right?

According to the press release there will be two phone plans. One will be the “All You Need” plan for $30 a month with 1000 minutes, 1000 texts, 30MB of web access and 411 calls at no extra charge. The other is the Unlimited Plan for $45 a month and includes unlimited minutes, unlimited text, unlimited web access and unlimited 411 Information calls. I will save a huge chunk of money even with the unlimited plan. Just the unlimited texting is probably worth almost $30.00 and the unlimited minutes are priceless, in my opinion, anyway.

Obviously there are drawbacks, the main one being that I have to either pay to get out of my AT&T contract, which I believe is $150.00 or wait until it is fulfilled. I’ll have to do the math and see if the savings will cover that cost or if just waiting it out is cheaper.

Another phone will need to be purchased as well. Straight Talk is offering cell phones that range from a regular LG Flip phone for $39.98, to a Samsung 451  QWERTY keyboard phone for $99.88. I’m not sure yet which cell phones if any will be compatible with their prepaid service.

My biggest concern though is the quality of service. Of course it probably isn’t worth it if you can’t get any service or calls and messages don’t go through as they should. After all, it is Walmart. I love em but they don’t always offer the best quality products.

Immediate Benefits:  My monthly cell phone bill will be cut in half and no overages to worry about (see previous post regarding) because when you run out your phone doesn’t work. I’m in love with the idea of unlimited minutes. Maybe I can stop texting so damn much and actually have a conversation…maybe.

I will have to weigh the savings and the drawbacks but I’m  happy and excited that there is a cheaper alternative to what I thought was a fixed part of my budget.

Other products/services I wish Walmart would offer:  Discount electricity/water/gas/internet/cable and any other utility services, breast implants and hair plugs.

Don’t ask.  Anyway, have a great weekend! (And Happy Anniversary mom and dad

Operation WITHIMMG: No expenses primarily because we’ve been cooped up in the sick house. My daughter is doing fine, I on the other hand have been a bit groggy.

Day 23-0

Day 24-0

I think it’s funny that we always have someone else to blame for our issues. Never shall we ever have to accept responsibility for our own actions because we can always blame Walmart.

Of course it’s a marketing strategy. If for some reason you have a weakness for Doritos and Mountain Dew, then listening to your kids whine about chips and sodas in the middle of the toy aisle may send you right into the shakes. I don’t know. I avoid the toy aisle anyway. I mean I’ll push a rickety, squeaky cart with only 3 wheels completely around the front of the store just to avoid the toy aisle. I have been known to yell “Hey, is that Grandma over there?” just to divert my daughter’s attention if I’m accidentally in the danger zone. I’m not ashamed. It works for me. Good exercise anyway.

Walmart has even admitted to placing items together to make shopping easier, ie putting the chips and soda near the DVDs. Why wouldn’t they? If I were interested in a cozy movie night I’d be more than appreciative if everything was all in one place. I’d be even more appreciative though if someone in electronics could actually answer an electronics question…but again I digress.

I love Walmart. If I’ve ever been brainwashed by anyone it would be that big yellow happy face. Though I know no one there by name, I feel as though we’re friends (me and Walmart that is). I’m no saint, and although I’ve considered living completely off the land, you still will find not one bag of chips or can of soda in my house. I don’t buy the stuff. It makes no difference where they stick it in the store, it’s not on my list.

It’s not the responsibility of Walmart or anyone else to raise healthy children. At the end of the day, Walmart serves its purpose. To sell cheap stuff.

Walmart could tie the chips and soda to my head and if it costs me money, that stuff still isn’t leaving the store with me.

My suggestion for Walmart shoppers is to not focus so much on the layout of the store or all the “traps” that are laid out to trick you into buying stuff.

I worry about getting in the line with the cashier that talks to much.

Or not finding my car in the parking lot. I can buy everything I need for under $10 most of the time. For that, they can put their chips where they want.