Affects of Buying Local

There are campaigns all across the country to buy local. I totally agree with that. We are trying to do our part in buying local. When shopping for our family we have two things we look at, price and is it local. Because we live on a tight budget, price is usually a very important factor.  But if the price isn't very different we do our best to buy local. There are even some things that we do with less so that we can buy local, such as meat. We buy our meat from a local butcher. The cost is a little bit more, so we don't eat as much meat.
I say all this as a lead up to Wear Creations as a local business. It may not be local to each of you, but it is local. Our family depends on local businesses. Whether you know it or not you do to. All those little specialty items that big box stores don't carry, you find those at local shops. Or you don't find them. Yes the internet has an answer to most of our needs, but what if you need it now?
We all need that little place that has a bit of everything. And if we all just spent a few dollars there, it might just make a difference.
We've all heard how supporting local makes such a difference, but how many of us realize what it means to the people running those businesses.
Here is what it means to us. If someone buys a bag we made, we can buy a plant for our yard. If someone buys a shawl we can get some the wood to finish the deck, when we then turn around and put it into another local company it makes a difference again. Those kinds of "little things"  make all the difference to a local company.
Take a look at our local butcher, not only do they have local meat, but also the employees are local. When we decide after a day at the craft fair to have a cookout and go get our hamburger from them, we take the money invested in our company and invest it not in just a local company but in people.
This is the kind of difference that buying locally achieves. In the last 2 years we have increased our local shopping and cut down on big box stores (I would say they might not even notice we spend less with them) we are happier seeing our friends doing good, than we were saving  $10 here and there.