With all of the talk about the recession and the messed up economy you may be wondering how you can continue to trim the fat off of your fat-free budget. The government seems to tell us that we need to buy to strengthen the economy but it seems to never be enough.

It's a cruel, vicious cycle, really.

As the economy gets worse our money is worth less. Our money is worth less, thus we have to spend more to get by. So, we spend it smart, or so we think, by paying less for what we need. We think if we can save money at the large chain stores we will be helping the economy stabilize and save money as well. There-in lies the problem.

The large stores, like Wal-mart and others, don't have much to do with the American economy. Most of the large stores are international in scope. The products are made in China, Korea, or some other nation. Even the customer service help line may be jobbed out to another country. How many times have you called customer service and talked to a person you couldn't understand? Assuming you talked to a real person at all. If the chain is national you are still not supporting the local economy, which ultimately effects on the value of your paycheck.

Rather than supporting local, small farmers you are supporting large, corporate farms. Huge businesses in other states that use pesticides to get the most fruit in a crop. They pick the fruit before its really ripe so it doesn't rot before it gets halfway across the country. They treat it with chemicals to it looks 'fresh' in the stores.

You are supporting the gas and oil companies that get the money from shipping the goods. The gas and oil companies do not care about the local economies. Lets be honest here, nobody has job security like they do.

You are supporting the chemical companies that supply the chemicals and pesticides to the corporate farms. They don't care if its bad for the environment or for the people. They just want to do everything they can to make as much money as they can without breaking the law. Don't give me that look, its true.

You are supporting the refineries that process and reprocess the grain crops until it has almost no nutritional value and will get them as much money as possible for those products.

But what about the people that work in those places? They get a set wage based on the local economy whether you spend money there or not.

The big department stores aren't even supporting our country. You are supporting China, more often than not when you shop at those stores. They get much cheaper goods and labor in China.

Don't get me wrong, the big chains have their place. You are generally not going to find Pop-tarts and Kool-aid in the small, local grocery and produce stores, if these places even still exist. You are also going to find a lot more variety at the large chain stores, especially prepackaged foods, toys, and housewares.

Some of those things, however, you'd pay a little bit more for much higher quality at a small local business. Unlike the big chains, smaller local businesses can't afford to anger or alienate the customers and employees. Unlike the big chains, they depend on those people to stay open and profitable.

As a result they do they're best to give you good quality goods and exceptional customer service.

They also tend to offer things like local produce the same price, if not cheaper, than the large chain stores. Local farmers can't afford the chemicals the big farms use. They may dust for bugs, or use Miracle-gro but that is about it.

You'll never find real local honey or locally made goods in the big chain stores, either. Its not worth it when they can get it from the bigger companies for pennies. Local stores will have things that cannot be found anywhere else, period.

Furniture is another big deal, if you can find it. Locally made furniture is a little pricey, but will usually last for years. Or, if your lucky, local consignment shops. Talk about double duty! That's helping your local economy AND your budget, big time.

Consignment shops are almost always locally owned, and can carry anywhere from high-rank furniture to garage sale treasures, and most have fairly high standards for what they will sell. They pay for it up front, and won't do that unless they think they can sell it. That includes making sure it works. Thrift stores are another beauty in this area. Again, things are almost always in good working order.

Clothes are best at consignment and gently used shops, kids clothes particularly. How many moms have had countless outfits worn once, maybe twice, before the kids grew out of it due to a growth spurt, or favorite outfit they would rather wear to its death? Those kinds of clothes are in these shops. Worn once or twice, maybe, many still with original price tags. The shops that deal strictly with clothes have exceptional standards.

You don't have to go driving all over town to find the good ones anymore, either. There are several sites listed below that will let you search for local business based on what your after. I searched for 'produce' in my area and made sure it came up with the stands I shop at regularly. They even came up with a couple I didn't know existed!

• Local Yahoo- Efficient and accurate with reviews. Get in and get out kind of site.

• Yellow Pages-I'm generally not a fan of yellowpages.com, but its was impressive with local businesses. It pulled up lots of sites, and reviews. It was very simple to go through.
• Google Local- If you are a fan of Google maps, you'll love this. It's basically just Google maps but once you have it centered on your area, search for the type of business your after, and links will pop up all over the map. Unfortunately, its not always accurate. Twice I've used this one and found a store that was no longer in business.
• Welcome Wagon- this is my favorite. Not only will it help you find local businesses, if there is a offer/special or coupon, that info pops up too. I love it!
• Local Harvest- this is fantastic for finding local small farms and farmers.
  

Buying local may seem difficult at first. It is a different mindset for most people that were born in the 1970s and later. Some people have difficulty in choosing to spend more of their hard earned money on an item. However is you look at the big picture, buying local is the only way to stabilize the American economy. As an American your purchasing priorities should be:

1. Your neighborhood
2. Your town
3. Your county
4. Your state
5. The United States
6. North America
7. International

No matter what you choose the next several years are going to be rough economically. Buying local is the only viable, permanent solution, not only for the economy but ultimately for the environment as well.