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I keep seeing shopping come up in threads about moving to rural areas. Maybe I'm too set in my ways, but I rarely need anything I can't find at the supermarket, NAPA or the Farmer's Co-op. There's a Wal-Mart about 20 miles away. I was in it about 5 years ago, but my local membership discount store started stocking 5 quart jugs of motor oil, which was the only thing I bought there. Costco is just a little farther, but I let my membership lapse after I bought hearing aids and glasses the last time. I also bought about 20 LED light bulbs there. My local big box supermarket has prices as good as Costco with a better selection, so I'm not tempted to buy pallet loads of toilet paper. If I can't find something in town, I just buy it on the internet. I bought a tractor 12 years ago. How many tractors do you need?
Is shopping really so important to people that they have to seek out places to spend money?
If we need something, we buy it. If we want something, we buy it. It's not hard to understand.
Some people make shopping a hobby. It's a reason to get out of the house and walk around a mall or big box store for several hours. I think people like this aren't really shopping, their just bored. Look at the retirement thread and see how many people won't move anywhere unless there's an upscale mall within 15 minutes.
I always ask what the obsession is around here with mudding, hunting and fishing? I suppose it's a cultural trait or a biological trait, similar to how women are attracted to "badasses" ... why do so many men love sports when I hardly watch them? Why do some people feel the need to travel all over and visit 20 different countries? Does it matter? Find someone who vibes with your likes and don't try to change people who don't.
Running your 4 wheel drive truck through mud. I don't see the appeal of it since most of the guys I know who do it are anal about keeping their trucks clean and have to spend hours cleaning them afterwards.
But then again, I grew up in an area with a lot of dirt roads which turned to mud when it rained so it wasn't a recreational thing to drive on them, you had to in order to get anywhere.
Last edited by North Beach Person; 10-02-2016 at 12:56 PM..
Reason: Damned autocorrect
Because we only go "Shopping" about once a month for most of the year and not at all during the Winter months we do stock up on both the necessities and the trivial. My wife and I try to keep a minimum of 3 months of necessities on hand at all times. We also make certain we always have at least 2 vehicles on hand and never let them have less than half a tank of gas.
Here one can never know when the utilities will be down or for how long or when the roads may be impassable. We always anticipate that there will be times we will not be able to even get out of the driveway for up to 4 months.
So yes when we go shopping it does look like we are on a major spending spree. Our nearest discount store is a Wal-Mart 42 miles away. The Closest Costco is over 100 miles away. We hit Wal-mart every other month and our shopping tab is nearly always over $500. We get to Costco about twice a year and have yet to get out spending less than $1000. So yes when we shop it does look like we are spending money like it is going out of style.
It spite of the inconveniences we still moved from one rural area to an area that is even more rural. I guess we kind of get a kick at the look on the cashiers face when we buy 100 loaves of bread at a time. (Yes we have more than one freezer.)
Because we only go "Shopping" about once a month for most of the year and not at all during the Winter months we do stock up on both the necessities and the trivial. My wife and I try to keep a minimum of 3 months of necessities on hand at all times. We also make certain we always have at least 2 vehicles on hand and never let them have less than half a tank of gas.
Here one can never know when the utilities will be down or for how long or when the roads may be impassable. We always anticipate that there will be times we will not be able to even get out of the driveway for up to 4 months.
So yes when we go shopping it does look like we are on a major spending spree. Our nearest discount store is a Wal-Mart 42 miles away. The Closest Costco is over 100 miles away. We hit Wal-mart every other month and our shopping tab is nearly always over $500. We get to Costco about twice a year and have yet to get out spending less than $1000. So yes when we shop it does look like we are spending money like it is going out of style.
It spite of the inconveniences we still moved from one rural area to an area that is even more rural. I guess we kind of get a kick at the look on the cashiers face when we buy 100 loaves of bread at a time. (Yes we have more than one freezer.)
I do the same with once a month shopping, but don't freeze bread. Instead, I bought a bread machine and just make bread when we need some. Potato starch helps keep home made bread moist, so I add potato flakes to the dough mix. I do buy butter 10 lbs at a time and tuck it into the freezer. I like to keep fresh milk on hand, and it will last 2 or 3 weeks in the fridge, but if I'm out I just mix canned cow with powdered milk.
I don't have anything against grocery shopping more often, but going to town is such a nuisance. My wife and I will spend half a day making a shopping list of everything we need, then stop at 3 or 4 stores to get everything. We haven't made the current list yet, but know we need:
Battery for the generator (NAPA)
Safety pins (wherever)
UV water purifier (Farmer's Co-op)
Water system insulation (Lowe's)
100 lb. propane tank (Suburban Propane)
Optical sight rings and sight for a very long barrel .44 magnum revolver. (gun shop)
Flashlight batteries (sale shopping)
Off-road diesel for tractor
No-ethanol gas for chainsaw
We'll probably roll a grocery shopping trip in if we have the time, but it's a full day in town that hopefully won't have to be repeated any time this year. My family quit exchanging Christmas presents 20 years ago because we all have more stuff than we need, so there won't be any Christmas shopping. I'm ordering some stuff off the internet that isn't available in town.
I don't shop as entertainment, I shop when I have a need to fulfill. I LOVE things like Amazon Prime, because they allow me to avoid setting foot in places like malls and big box stores, which I loathe.
It's not so much that but the complaints people who move to small towns and rural areas make about a lack of shopping.
Which is super annoying, to be fair.
I grew up rurally, and on occasion, we'd get transplants from the suburbs who were wanting the "fun" of a "hobby farm" and to get away from ubiquitous strip malls and Starbucks. Invariably, the first thing they would do is squawk about there being...no strip malls or Starbucks. Given a bit more time, they'd often also revise their opinion that maintaining and feeding horses or alpacas or goats or whatever the trend was was a lot of work, and not so much "fun" after all.
I think these people go in with a slanted view of rural/small-town living that's idealized on TV shows, etc., and don't anticipate the reality.
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