I worked at Walmart briefly, for about 6 months, while taking care of a terminal parent—-it gave me something to do in a foreign city other than sit at the hospital bedside and I was able to float my expenses without relying on savings. It was actually kind of fun to be at a job that was solely a distraction.
Your ID card is also attached to an account, so you could theoretically (most did) have your paycheck direct deposited to your card. I didn’t like that idea so I had it sent to my normal checking account and I didn’t like the idea of work/shop in the same place so I would go to Food Lion about 80% of the time.
But on my breaks, i would stroll around and see what was possible.
Chicken packets—-generally a cut up chicken for $8 to 10 dollars for several pounds.
Beef strips/steak $10—-I became obsessed with making the perfect Mongolian beef (there was not much else to do but cook and write there. lol)
Rice, beans, frozen veggies—generally $1 or $2 per packet/pound. (which gets chili and soups once or thrice a month)
Fresh vegetables were cheap—-average $1–2 per pound—-broccoli, kale, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, onions.
Pasta—$1 per pound for a box or packet.
Pasta Sauce $3 per jar.
I generally look at 2–3 meals from one cooking of $5–10 (high end by myself) a day—- dinner, lunch, dinner or dinner/lunch. Sometimes I keep working a soup or stew or meat pasta sauce just adding more meat/veggies to it and getting several days of meals out of it.
I mainly just fed myself and really didn’t have much to do so the trip to Food Lion or work were kind of the highlights of my days so I stuck to the above budget—-maybe closer to $50. One thing I did that is common down in Charlotte is I donated plasma—-many people do it for gas money, but I was unsure of how long I’d be there so I decided a car would become more of a bill than a freedom tool—-I became a bus expert. The bus stopped literally 30 feet from the front door/lawn and directly across the 4 lane road coming back—-Walmart was its’ last stop and mid-downtown and full downtown was along the route—-90 cents each way to Walmart and 70 cents more to downtown or to transfer to the bus to the hospital.
Food Lion was 8 country blocks from the house (about half a mile).
WalMart had lots of sales I remember or large quantities of food—-meats, frozen vegetables, etc.—-I’m not big on processed foods, I cook everything from scratch so sodas and juices and snacks were my big purchases daily to take home as there was no easy “corner store”, the closest was a 24 gas station across from Food Lion.
I did buy DVDs from Walmart, $5 or so. (used for $1 a piece from a nearby pawn shop. I think I sold some back, cleaned out my collection.)
What I’m thinking about, comparing then to living now in NYC, where I average about $100 myself/per person on groceries—I just got some yesterday—-is that my grocery costs were lower because everything surrounding it was lower, the cost of living from there to NYC is maybe 2/3s.
I could use the plasma money (about average $50 twice week, about 3 hours total time spent) on more food. I remember that about once a month I did a big stock up—-which might be the key to $35 or $50 a week at Walmart from there and Food Lion—-$150 or more—-of rice, meats, etc.. Walmart is best for bulk but not for weekly shopping I found because the food section——(1/4 of the store and then I, in my walking sojourns miles in each road direction, found that there are now Walmart supermarkets—-both places my discount card/ID working so I got 10–30% off of stuff, which was generally when I relented and shopped there. We also had a freezer in the house so I could load up and just need meats and fresh fruits and vegetables through the month) is geared towards massive shopping loads—-when visiting I’d stocked up my parents house with about $400 worth of groceries and sundries every couple of months. The oversized carts and buying in mass bulk seemed to be the idea. I went to Costco once and it was like land of the insane because everything was buy a 12, 24, 50 pack from food to toiletries and the joint was packed. It was like the addiction—-the dopamine rush was from the portion sixes (I remember even the baked pies were huge) and yes, it was populated by at least 75% fat people pushing ginormous carts.
My being there specifically to aid in the terminal issues of a diabetic, high blood pressure, leg amputated, 5 way bypass, no core strength obese parent kind of inured me to eating healthier and less Southern abundance.
$25 Bucks a Week for 1 Adult
The tightest I’ve ever done in NYC was after a job lay off, the next position to start at the end of a summer, I got Unemployment (I didn’t know/understand it’s existence for years) but it was reduced to $25 a week for like 10 weeks. I had savings and it was just me so I decided to experiment with just that $25 for food—-I did lots of pork roasts, rice, fresh vegetables.
I’m thinking about budgets and food expenses, now through regions of the country for myself—-I think I did about $50 a week on average in Buffalo, undergraduate, I bought two mini fridges, cooked illegally (on a full 4 set of hot plates in the dorms—-and one time served a delicious curry chicken to RAs and Public Safety in my double room. lol I was super careful with the hot plates and microwave). Eventually living on my own I did about $75 a week, often having steaks, lobsters and such but again Buffalo is cheaper than NYC and I was just one person and have been shopping and cooking for myself and a family since I was a child. (I’m doing math in my head, sometimes to the penny as I shop.
I was just in Target, my 2nd time being there—-I walked from one side of Manhattan to the other for it as an adventure and the self checkout was closed so we lined up for cashiers and the lady ahead of me—-blonde and obese, tattoos, scratching like crack had been a part of her diet—-I cart snooped—-yup, lots of processed foods and clothing—-(Target combining a supermarket and home/department store too, like the Wal-Mart I worked at—-which made it impossible for customers and employees to get out without buying something. I was pretty good, maybe spending 10% of my 6 months worth of pay there)—-in her green fluorescent sweatpants—-yes, it was a scene——she announced loudly she had $93—-no, wait—-$94 dollars!—-and Raya, the cashier, said okay—-it came to $86. But it occurred to me that the customer couldn’t do the math and that I had done the math and as a teacher I see one snowball sort of explaining the avalanche of mess she appeared to be.)
My point of my cart snooping and judgment was that I was thinking about some video I saw and it talked about dopamine hits for women from shopping—-and I looked around and sure as glitter—-it was me and like 50 women shoppers. And, I was thinking as a man, I was just wanted to get the flibbity gibbidity out of there, a store, every store. 2 pillows, two juices, Rao’s Spicy Arrabiata sauce (on sale for $5.99, usually 8.99, 9.99===-it is the best, I should’ve bought 2!
Yes, I actually went there for a mini-bookcase but the walk tuckered me out that I didn’t feel like carrying it onto a bus or train. lol Next week.)
My deep thought in here that men and women react differently to shopping—-so I could maybe do a just the basics for $25 to $35 a week indefinitely—-I don’t get a dopamine dose from shopping. I have no doubt that stores, Walmart and others, I saw the design and propaganda—-know this—- so getting out of Walmart with $35, is a challenge.
What If We Helped Everyone?
This question got me thinking about SNAP benefits that students have been on, and twice at Columbia University, we were encouraged having legal student status to walk 3 blocks to the Social Services office and get this one shot SNAP deal—-which was $200 each time.
I’ve always thought about, when I used SNAP, those two times, and saw others over the years, could it be margined digitally so that say of the $200—-$50—— could only be spent on non-essentials—-soda, cookies cakes, etc. and the rest on produce and meats?
Often I’ve seen in line and when at Walmart, that people spend so much on processed foods—-bright sugary cereals, frozen foods like Hot Pockets, pizza rolls, etc.—-Yes, I cart watch and secretly judge——and I think about obesity rates.
I’ve thought for years that we should have a Universal Basic Income but it was more delineated—-say that $200 in SNAP for every American over 18 or even more—-or say $300 for every employed American but with the digital limits. I know lots of my co-workers at Walmart got some sort of aid/services but the question became how could they be supplemented and how much was really going towards non-nutritious food by habit?
It’s an interesting question that leads into obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.—-which is what was killing my parents—-mainly because there was no regulator to them and food. Perhaps SSD was akin to SNAP so they weren’t as conscious as I have been because every food purchase for me has been in cash 99.5% of my adult life, ever since 16–18 when I started large monies contributing to the household.
If Folks Had Lived Even Longer
I was going to start gardening in the backyard in Charlotte. The husband of the patient next to my mother talked about his huge garden of greens, turnips, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, etc. and that he would teach me how to do it too and I seriously thought about doing it the following year. There was a half acre of land or so behind the house—-I could’ve started a roadside store! lol
Could the thought experiment of $35 a week, times roughly 4.5x, to $150 a month supplement for all single Americans work?
What if in the city we had like window gardens, maybe a meter wide, set in multiple windows 3 or 4?
Thinking, thinking, thinking………
#KylePhoenix
#TheKylePhoenixShow
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