I Will Survive!

At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you down the street, but then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong and I grew strong; I learned how to get along!

Part Three: Surviving without Walmart

So, I'm obviously doing these posts in a very haphazard order... I just post what I'm feeling that day, and today I'm feeling Walmart (not literally, of course). Off subject, you can thank my Mom for the little ditty above, her ability to turn any mundane thing into a song throughout my youth has carried over to me. My students thank her every day I'm sure of it!

Back on subject.. Yes, I have lived the last 2 years without Walmart.. and I LOVED IT!! Do you realize how much extra money is spent in superstores such as that?!?! I didn't until I moved here! We are way old school here in England, like we still have butchers and bakers, and probably candlestick makers... And they all set up shop on High Street. The closest thing they have to Walmart here is called ASDA, and the closest one is about 30 mins away. Too far.

I'm not going to lie, this was one of my biggest fears of moving overseas. Yes, I was afraid of not having a Walmart within 1 mile of my house. Where in the world was I going to buy my shampoo at?! Luckily we do have the BX on base (that's the Base eXchange for all you non mil out there) where I buy most of my household goodies now. But it's just not convenient like Walmart. Because there are 3 bases within about 15 miles of each other over here, our BX is split up between the 3 bases which makes it way inconvenient. On RAF Mildenhall (where Everett works), we have sporting goods, pets, toys, gardening, and tools. On RAF Lakenheath (where I work), we have household goods, clothing, make up, and electronics. On RAF Feltwell, they have furniture. If I wanted pet food, a new desk, and a waffle iron, I'd have to go to THREE stores instead of just one. Oh, and don't even think about buying food there! You have to go to a commissary for that....

Obviously, though, I'm fairing much better than if we were to solely live off the economy (that means buying off base). I don't even know where I would purchase something like a waffle iron at here in England!

I promise I didn't intend for this post to sound like a huge rant. My point was to say, "Yes America, it is possible to live without Walmart!" Second, I'm truly scared of seeing my money saving skills go down the drain once I live closer to a Walmart again. Third, well... I don't have a third reason... Really I'm just bored and procrastinating on studying for an upcoming test...

On a last and final random note, I didn't really think about it until I was discussing this with friends the other day, but whenever us overseas folks go back home and enter a Walmart again for the first time it is extremely overwhelming to us. Because we don't have stores so large over here, it takes us a bit of time to get used to it again. So don't laugh when I'm home next and you take me to Walmart and I cower in the corner with pee dribbling down my leg... Just take my hand and let me know that everything's gonna be alright...