A month without Walmart: Day three: hair cuts and dog food

Today's challenge in my Walmart-free month consisted of getting a haircut and dog food.

I'm required to get a haircut once a month, which is the exact number of times I get one a month. I used to just go to a random barber or hair shop to get it cut, but when I lived in Moscow I accidentally stumbled into a place where this awesome lady cut it and an awesome price and I liked talking to her, so I kept coming back.

I liked having a regular hair cut person, it was fun seeing the same person once a month and she did a great job with my hair. When I moved back to Mountain Home this summer I decided I should have a regular hair cut person here and pretty much decided that the first person who cut it would be that person. That worked well for me until recently when the girl who was cutting it here in town left the place she was working at to go to the hair place at Walmart.

I really wasn't that disappointed about not being able to get it cut by the same person who has the past few months because 1) it's just hair; 2) self-ban on Walmart; and 3) they charged me an extra dollar for conditioner. I never use conditioner in my hair and I doubt using it once did any good at all. I was shocked to discover the charge, which I had no idea I had received until that I went to pay, on my bill, but it was $1 so I didn't want to be the guy who argues about having to pay an extra $1. But then I started thinking about it, if they charged everyone who comes up there an extra $1 and hope that no one wants to call them out on it, that's a whole lot of dollars at the end of the day, week, month and year.

I was able to get my hair cut someplace else today, which was a nonevent. But I'm still interested in finding someone to do it regularly if anyone has any good recommendations on places or people that cut guy's hair, I'd appreciate it.

After I got my hair cut, and my beard trimmed, I made a trip to Albertsons and quickly reminded just how cold Idaho's winter wind is on a face without any hair on it for protection.

When I normally need dog food I make a trip to Walmart and get a bag. There are two brands of dog food I alternate feeding my dog and both of them were available at Albertsons, though one was a few dollars more than I would pay for it at Walmart. But the second one was just about the same price and available in more favors than Walmart carries.

I selected an option that isn't available at Walmart and my dog ate his dinner faster tonight than he normally does and licked his bowl until I gave him more. At the very least, he has seemed to have benefited from my self-imposed Walmart ban.

I've had some feedback, both positive and negative, on my decision to shop elsewhere this month than Walmart. Well, more actually, the decision to write about that decision.

Someone pointed out today that I should consider how much Walmart contributes to the community, specifically the humane society and donations to local food banks. I do not currently know how much the store donates each year to the community. In light of this suggestion, I plan to contact Walmart's store manager and request these numbers from him, which he is under no obligation to provide.

I will follow up once I've had a chance to request those numbers and the store manager's response.