How Much Do You Spend Locally?
Decatur Metro | September 15, 2010The city of Decatur has been touting/mentioning the “3/50 Project” for over a year now, encouraging residents to spend just $50 between three local businesses over the course of a month.
A noble goal certainly, but it was only recently that I took a moment and actually thought about how much my household actually spends at “local”, independent businesses in a given month. And between the restaurants, shops and haircuts, I determined the total monthly amount was a heck of a lot more than $50.
So it’s sort of shocking from inside the “Decatur bubble” to think that a majority of the population can go through a month without spending 50 clams at a local business. Having not always lived in a state of local-euphoria, I can certainly see how it’s possible, especially when cost is a strong, #1 priority. Still it’s impressive how EASY it is to spend money locally in this city.
So I’m curious how much other local residents spend locally in a given month, and what prevents you from spending even MORE locally?
Latest from Decaturish
Never tried to pinpoint the amount, but it is certainly multiples of $50/month.
I would spend more in Decatur if we had a good local movie theater. My wife and I often eat over near Midtown Arts Cinema…
That being said we are way over $50 per month … that’s an incredibly low target considering what Decatur has on offer.
I wish I could put a small theater in decatur. I’d love to put on beside the bank of america, that building has been vacant for a while. I think someone bought it recently tho.
I’m scared to look at this carefully but I’m going to keep track of expenditures at “local, independent businesses” for the next month. I’m going to assume that the following don’t count:
– School fundraisers, donations, or lunch costs
– Decatur rec fees
– Donations/fundraisers for charities, including church, Girl/Boy Scouts, etc.
– Kroger/Publix/CVS/Chick Fil-A/McDonalds/Starbucks because they are chains
– US Postal Service
– Gas stations
What about YDFM? Figos (there’s sister restaurants elsewhere)? Intown (Ace) Hardware?
Chick fil a is owned by an ASC grad (’97 I think) so it’s kinda local
Uh, no. They OWN Peachtree City.
I think she means the franchise operator.
If I had to guess I would say btw $300 – $500 a month when you look at little Kroger, CVS, eating out, etc…..
If you look at just locally owned businesses it might be $150 – $300 per month.
An idea to consider is to create a competing currency to be used only within the city of Decatur.
Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-05-scrip_N.htm
Local Exchange Trading Systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Exchange_Trading_Systems
We already have it. Decatur Dollars!
I don’t think so. Your example is just a promotional tool….it’s a gift card.
True . . . you can make a gift to yourself.
Rather than setup a totally new fiat currency, I’d be much happier seeing local Decatur establishments accepting silver – whether we minted our own, or just used pre-64 US coins.
it;s easy to spend $50 in Decatur if you had one or two meals a week, and who dosen’t? The occassional cup of coffee at the various coffee houses, the scone you have to have with the coffee, i would say most of us spend that per week, not month
Who doesn’t eat out once or twice a week? That would be the folks in the “other” Decatur. The folks who would probably also enjoy a scone, but can’t quite justify its place on the have to have list.
Lots of people don’t eat out once a week, or even more than once a month. Curtail discretionary spending, as many of us have been forced to do, and it’s easy to spend less than $50/month in Decatur. “Bubble” indeed.
Just this last weekend we had guests from out of town. Friday night drinks at Brick for 4 / drinks at Mac McGees for 4 / Dinner for 4 at Taco Mac / cab ride home (too far to walk after too many drinks) / Breakfast for 4 at Thumbs Up / Lunch for 2 at Sawicki’s….I hate to calculate what we spent!
We spend way more than $50 in Decatur every week without even trying, mostly in restaurants, but also in the shops on occasion. Heliotrope and (when it was open) Taste are my go-to spots for cards and small gifts. Purchases at Little Shop of Stories are mandatory when my nieces stay over (or if my wife and I happen to be walking by, honestly). Over Labor Day weekend, we checked out Home Grown and my wife zeroed in on a little $30 painting that I thought was hideous but acquiesced to if for no other reason than to support the “loconomy.”
Now how to burn that thing without her noticing.
I spend fifty bucks a month at Decatur CD alone. I would count Ace Intown as a local business, too, given the nature of its ownership. Is it in the city limits, though? I think not.
I spend a hundred bucks a month at Decatur Yoga & Pilates alone. Hubby and I spent two hundred at Fleet Feet last month (that’s a once a year expenditure, though). One meal out a week for four of us is usually fifty bucks.. The occasional trip to Little Shop amounts to about fifty dollars a month. I don’t do a lot of shopping at the boutiques/gifty stores, nor do we eat out any place fancier than Farm Burger, but still we manage to spend plenty (more than I thought!) locally each month.
Hmmmm…Mr. Libre & I usually eat out in town at least once or twice a week, and we do enjoy our frosty adult beverages, so our check is never less than $45. When Eviva was open, I spent a lot more (shoes are a sickness with me), but Squash Blossom still gets its claws in our wallets at least once a month. I can’t even count the number of times we go to Yogurt Tap (getting to be a sickness, too). We have lots of nieces & nephews who love books, so Little Shop gets its cut as well. I think we’re doing pretty good for the burg!
Wonder how often we cross paths there and never know it?
I mean at Yogurt Tap.
I know! And I do wonder, when we’re wandering about, who we might be passing on the street that might be a DM-er…
Here’s a start: writerchad walks around with a magnifying glass and is the spitting image of John Cleese, the original Decatur Mom is straight out of a 1960s advertisement, Judd is in a silent-movie prison, Karass is a 1992 Windows 3.1 icon, and Walrus is well, a walrus.
Must….find…chaaaaad……
With 3 children, I spend almost all of my spare $$ at Little Shop of Stories, Greenes, Dairy Queen, and the Yogurt Tap.
we easily spend over $50 when we hit Iberian Pig at least once a month (tapas are so deceivingly cheap — not! ) but we love it. heliotrope, coffee at goats on a saturday, and a pint or two at the marlay, and we’re major Decatur supporters — I know during the book festival we got carried away with a few “aviations” at leon’s (very tasy libation!) and bought a giant basket at mingei arts for way too much money — but we supported some other local economy by doing so!
p.s. you can spot me anywhere you see an old cranky person.
Does that mean I’ll find you at Kroger every Wednesday??
Is there some sort of senior discount days at the Kroger on Wednesdays?? I rarely go in there but needed some pullups (by the way, order child hygiene accessories on diapers.com- you can get chlorine-free cheaper in bulk than the store brand at Target or any other big box) and ice cream sundae stuff (for no apparent reason) yesterday and was nearly murdered by aggressive senior ladies with brimming carts on several occasions. (Though they all may have been agents of Gibbets, out to get me). I foiled them but was rather frightened by the sheer determination.
Oh yeah! Sometimes I forget and go there on a Wednesday, then see the Clairmont Oaks van and smack myself on the head. Bless their hearts, but everytime I leave I vow that when I am aged I am at least going to know how to use a debit card.
Congratulations on your grammatically correct use of locally rather than spend local.
god i’d be scared to total the receipts. I do love living in downtown decatur, we can walk to everything, and that’s what gets me into trouble! we rarely go out to eat outside of downtown decatur/oakhurst anymore. I think half my income goes local !
Hmm..with 4 kids in the family we don’t have a lot of disposable income for eating out, although FarmBurger has allowed us to eat inside the city limits more often (love you FB). I guess the couple hundred we spend per month at DSOB counts? And my high-schooler’s trips to Yogurt Tap and CFA should count toward the household local-total?
I shudder to think how much we spend at Taqueria de Sol alone each month not to mention everywhere else we frequent in downtown Decatur.
My husband and I spend way more than $50/month in Decatur. We eat out every Friday and almost exclusively in downtown Decatur. Always seems to be at least a hundred bucks! Except that one time my husband was on anti-biotics and in solidarity, I didn’t order a drink. Then is was closer to $40.
I laughed at Cranky Old Timer’s comment on not cheap tapas. One non-Friday night my husband and I decided we weren’t super hungry and tapas would be exactly the right thing. $107 worth. Including drinks, of course.
I also shop at Squash Blossom and Boogaloos, Blue Elephant, Decatur CD, Heliotrope and other shops but not necessarily every month. On an annual basis, I’d say at least $1,000. Now, if you count YDFM, add $5k.
I shudder to think what i’ve spent weekly at Yogurt tap and now that combined with New Orleans Snowball cafe i’m gonna go broke!
Fifty a month? I bet I spend that on coffee.
I would spend more in Decatur but the clothing stores are too young and hip for me.
Try Peggy’s Boutique. (Unless you are male in which case I think you are out of luck now that Whit’s End is gone. But there is male running gear at Fleet Feet and I don’t think it’s only for the under 30 crowd.).
I just started adding it up and had to stop. We spend way more than $50 a month. In fact, I am pretty sure we spend at least $50 a week in Decatur. I know we spend at least $20 a week at TDS and at least $5 a week if we just go for snoballs once a week, and it is usually more than that. Luckily Hubbs has been out of town recently or our BrickStore bill would be outrageous. We have also gotten sick of their wait, so we just walk to Leon’s instead.
Sometimes I think it would be nice to just walk into the Decatur merchants, get what I need/want and have them all bill me on a monthly basis. However, that could be very bad for them – then I would realize how much I spend at each place and curtail my spending. Hubbs would also see how much I was spending, and while he prefers I spend it locally, it does not seem as bad when we pay each store each time we make a transaction.
You know, I have no idea what most of these alphabet soup abbreviations mean.