Wes and Beckee's Quest

A couple of weeks ago, Wes and I (and family) drove to Coeur d'Alene for me to do a secret shop. While we were there, we found some impressive prices on a few things we really wanted, like real Doc Marten shoes for Solace for $17, which we bought. The other thing we found was a warm coat that fit me for less that $20. Wes really wanted to buy it, but I had a hard time pulling the trigger as I realize that I have about 3 coats (packed somewhere) that I just need to find and I would be set for the winter. So, I vetoed the coat.

On the way home Wes convinced me that I really need to buy a coat. The 3 coats I have are all hand me downs-1 from my little sister, Mel that I have had for like 5 years (yes she handed it down to me when she was like 14 and she got a new coat), and 2 hand me down coats from my dad. Now if you know my dad, you can imagine how well these coats fit me-it looks like I am a 3 year old that got into her parents closet when I were them because they are that big on me (my dad's really tall). One of those 2 coats from dad is one he gave me cause he didn't like how big and bulky it was on him when he bought it...all 3 of these coast I have had for at least 4 years.

So, I was convinced that I needed a coat finally, and the other day when Wes came home from work in the morning, we dropped the older 2 kids off at school , and headed to Walmart to try to get a cheap, but warm coat for me. We stopped at Ross and looked there, looked at Eddie Bauer's outlet, then finally in Walmart.

As some of you might know from my constant complaining, groceries here in Spokane are pretty expensive. More than Salt Lake, and much more than Omaha. Also, there is huge discrepancies in prices depending on where you shop. By that, I mean whether you shop at Walmart or at a plain grocery store. Let me just give you some price comparisons between Walmart and the nearest grocery store to my house: 1 Gallon Whole milk: Walmart, $2.99, Neighborhood store: $3.99. Cheapest Loaf of white sandwich bread: W: $1.09, NS: $2.19, and the most shocking comparison, a 12-pack of any Coke product: W:$2.99-3.50 reg price, NS: $5.99 on sale, reg price $12.99-14.99 (yes that is really the "regular price" on the shelf). Now I know many people are opposed to shopping at Walmart as they are taking over the world and whatnot, but must I quote Wes here and say of course we shop at Walmart because "I am addicted to low prices." He also says that "Shopping at Walmart is like doubling my salary." So, obviously we shop at Walmart a lot, which means we drive about a 25 minute drive all the way across town to shop at the Super Walmart 1-2 times a week. This was one of those trips-but specifically for a coat instead of groceries.

Apparently in the past 2 weeks since we last looked at coats, the season has changed, and it is now MUCH more expensive to buy coats-even at Walmart the cheapest was just shy of $40. So, we decided to stop by the mall and check there as well before making a purchase.

There was not much to find there, though it was an adventure. While we were walking through the mall, Wes, Armour and I ran into my Uncle Dave who lives in Utah. Obviously we were surprised, but not nearly as surprised as he was as nobody had told him we had moved to Spokane from Omaha. Evidently for his job he travels to Spokane quite often, and we had just run into him on one of his trips. So, we visited with him for a few minutes and plan to get together on one of his next trips here. That was a pleasant surprise.

At this point in our quest for the perfect (and cheap) coat, we had realized that we needed to return to town and pick up the kids at school, so we had failed in our quest.

Fast forward to yesterday...well-first a bit of background...when we moved here, a lot of our friends told us a new Walmart was opening right near us in September, so the 25 minute trips (that's one way BTW) would end and we would be 5 minutes away. Well, September came and went, and no Walmart. SO, I figured I would not get so excited and worked up for the big opening and had all but forgotten it until yesterday. When I got my mail yesterday, I was pleased to get an announcement that the new Walmart had opened! So, obviously I went there!

Wes kept the older children, and I headed to Walmart with Army. It rocked, as it was THE grand opening day-they had like Walmart prices cut in half for tons of things-including coats!! So, I did my shopping, and stopped by the coats, found one I liked for $27 (priced $40 at the other Walmart and well over $100 in the mall). And thus, our seemingly failed quest was accomplished with a happy result thanks to the Walmart Grand Opening! Ah, I love when life works out! (Also, avocados were cheaper than I have ever seen them ever-$0.50 each-among other exciting deals! It was an invigorating shopping trip!!)

BTW-pictures of said coat are forthcoming.