The Simple Life

For the record, I am not one of those moms who claims she has only been to the mall twice since she's been in Alaska. I grew up loving the mall and I still love the mall. I'll admit that I don't go to the mall as often as I used to back home, but I do still go once or twice a month. If you don't go to the mall here, you are in and out of the same few stores over and over again. We buy our clothes at the same store we buy our toilet paper and deodorant at.

I don't think I realized how pathetic our shopping is here until recently. The boys' Little League season is starting and we had to go out and purchase a few items such as cleats, socks, sleeves, etc. There is really only one place to shop for said items and that would be at Sports Authority. If Sports Authority doesn't have the size, color, or style you need you better start looking online. Literally, when it comes to specialty type items, we have one store with only one location. We have one Sports Authority, one REI, one Pier One, one Toys R Us...I think you get the picture.

Aside from the lack of variety, I find that because competition is lacking here, prices are sometimes higher. For example, if you need baseball pants, socks, cleats, etc. you have to pay the price Sports Authority is charging. We don't have the luxury of going to the Chicks down the street or to Target (there's one coming soon though) to see if they have the same thing for a lower price. A dollar doesn't seem to buy much in this neck of the woods, but then again, where does it these days?

I do have to say that because we lack shopping variety, it has simplified our lives a bit. If we went to every store in town looking for a particular item, we would only have a handful to choose from. If the kids are looking for something special and we can't find it, we can't find it. Driving to another store isn't always an option. The kids know, if you see something you like at Wal-Mart nobody will care that you bought it at Wal-Mart, just buy it. We're all in the same boat.

The next time I call and ask you to go to the local store to see if they have something specific, please take pity on me. The amazing thing is, although there aren't many places to shop, I still manage to spend plenty of money. Go figure!!!!!