I am on a quest to completely change my life so I am only visiting local vendors and businesses for all my needs. No Wal-mart. No Target. No Meijer. Yeah it may be convenient to get everything at the same place, but when I spend my money it stays in my community. Not going to the pockets of rich people in Arkansas. Not going to support questionable labor practices throughout the world. I want to know where things come from and I want to know who they come from, so to speak.
A lot of people, when I mentioned this project, said it would be impossible. I didn't doubt it would be difficult, and I do not know if 100% I will be free of big corporations. Hell, right after I got the idea for this project my mortgage was bought by Bank of America. (Grrrr!!!!!)
But here is the basic project.
Throughout the year I will phase out the major corporations in my life. Instead of Petsmart, I will need to find a local vendor for pet food. Same for soaps. Dial will not be part of my life. I will not get my food at Kroger, either.
But then the argument comes in "All corporations are not evil."
I never said they were all evil, but I would like the money I spend to stay within my community. I have a bank, one that is in most states, who I will continue to bank with for the time being. They have not wronged me, and I feel they are worthy of my business. However, Chase Bank can go to hell. Capital One can go to hell. Bank of America can go to hell.
The first step in this process was to join a credit union instead of a bank, which I did in November. I will post about this after I have had my account open for six months to compare and contrast. But in the meantime, I am trying to get my life ready to make the adjustments necessary.
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I found you from FV.
ReplyDeleteI agree whole heartedly and have tried to buy local all my life. Fortunately I live in an area with few Big Box stores and don't even have Walmart.
Can't do without a car though. Not with 3 teens in a very rural area (we have a bus that comes by 3 times a day....). Sure wish we could.
Love to have more details on how you paid down all that debt on 60 K income (does that include your overtime?). Do you have children?
Anyways looking forward to your blog.