When I think about making my money matter, I really love to spend it at local, independent places instead of chains when I can. It’s so important for the community and small businesses, and I’ve found that the services and atmosphere they provide are incredible. For example, this past year we decided to switch from a bank to a credit union, we have a local car mechanic that we trust (sooo important when you don’t know anything about cars!) and I’m super excited that I just found a natural soap maker who is one of my patient’s daughters!
Anyway, over the weekend we wanted to spend a little extra time as a family so we decided to visit a couple of our favorite local places.
The Bagel Cafe is tucked away in a corner of a strip center and is easy to miss, but once you discover it you’ll be going back. It’s delicious, the employees are always friendly, they have great coffee, and it is Christian-based which I love.
Meredith’s sandwich on the left, my meal on the right.
Of course she was only interested in my food.
Trying to pose and all she wants to do is eat.
After we fed our faces we went to our awesome local independent bookstore. They have this semi-annual sale that is amazing and to my delight it was still going on!
They also have kids’ toys and sell other local vendors’ goods like candles and jewelry.
I found three copies of one of my favorite books in the sale pile – only 75 cents each! People need to come snatch these up. I ended up purchasing used copies of Beautiful Ruins and The Shadow of the Wind, both on my to-read list, for a grand total of $1.61. Total score.
It was such a fun family afternoon! What I really want to find now is an awesome independent cafe. I only know of one in our area and I didn’t like the coffee much which was a bummer. I admit I’m a little bit hooked on Starbucks right now!
What about you, do you have favorite local places? How do you make your money matter? Have you thought about seeking out independent shops?
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This post is sponsored by Make Your Money Matter, in association with PSCU, though all views expressed are my own.
From Nora:
I LOVE shopping local anytime I can.
definitely love the community support and how friendly people are. Working for a small family-owned business, I’m all about supporting local! We also have a local mechanic, we prefer to skip chain restaurants and support locally owned/operated ones as often as we can! We don’t have a great local café near us, but there is a really excellent one on the Hill (the Italian part of STL) which we enjoy anytime we are in the area.
Also, $1.61 for two books? JACKPOT!
From Sarah @ Beauty School Dropout:
I’m so jealous of your local bookstore! We don’t have anything like that where we live, but we do have tons of local coffee shops, so I guess I should count my blessings.
From emily:
If you ever find “Owl Moon” you should get that for Meredith. Great book!
From lauren:
Did I buy that dress? It looks like something I would buy.
From kapachino:
I think you probably did! You have great toddler style. :)