Shopping Extravaganza

Sunday, May 9, 2010

So, I’ve been waiting for this weekend for a while now. We have been spending the last 5-6 weeks eating all of the groceries in our kitchen to the best of our ability. I’ve been purchasing only foods and dry goods that we needed to finish off everything in our arsenal. When I looked in the pantry on Friday, I saw rice, Triscuits, and cereal. In the fridge – milk, condiments, grapes, and celery. The freezer: dinner rolls, popsicles, and some banana baby food. Now, don’t call CPS…I did all of this on purpose.

Before you freak – see my blog entitled “Stretching Your Meal Options” from April 1st.

Before I got to the end of the groceries and meal options, I knew that my shopping ventures would be expensive because we were out of everything: mustard, ranch, paper towel, canned goods, chicken breast, EVERYTHING. You name it, we were out of it! So I started by buttering up my husband. “Babe, we’re going to need to do the BIG PUSH this weekend and it’s gonna be ugly.” This way, he was prepared to go with me, help me, and make the whole nightmare that much easier.

However, you KNOW that when you shop with your husband, you often buy stuff that isn’t on the list; it’s just how it goes. They don’t usually do the shopping, so they see things that you never buy, and they want them! I, personally, will take the help and spend a few extra dollars.

Having said all of this, we went to four different stores in two days to complete our list. We started at Aldi – our brand new, discount grocery store to save as much money as we possibly could, and scratch as much off the list as possible. I had a detailed list, but I certainly picked things up as I saw them. After Aldi, we hit up Big Lots to get the majority of the list taken care of. They do not have a cold or frozen section, and I knew I’d need to visit Target or Wal-Mart thirdly.

Big Lots was important for one reason, mostly: Insanely low prices on sandwich bags in all sizes. A nice bonus was the canned goods, crackers, pretzels and chips, and dry goods like pasta and rice all at extremely discounted prices.

Target was third on my list – produce (only the items that I was unable to purchase at Aldi), lunch meat, and Stauffer’s Whales – found in the $1 section which beats the HECK out of the prices on Goldfish.

Wal-Mart was last, and we wanted to kill ourselves momentarily, as we were TIRED OF SHOPPING! Paper towel, frozen chicken breasts, store-brand allergy medicine, and canned tuna fish. DONE!

Now, we have purchased everything that we need except a FEW things that we only purchase in bulk at Sam’s…Purina Dog Food, Splenda, Coffee, lean ground beef, and bacon.

Stay with me – I know you’re exhausted! We were tired and cranky by the end.

Let’s break it down…
1. Aldi: $78.16
2. Big Lots: $51.39
3. Target: $36.54
4. Wal-Mart: $35.71

TOTAL: $201.80

By taking some time…and a great deal of patients…to travel to four different stores in order to complete my list and save the most money possible, I was able to stuff our pantry, freezer, and refrigerator FULL TO THE BRIM with groceries that will last us about six weeks. Of course I will be going to the store for fresh dairy, produce, and the few items that I still need from Sam’s, but I believe I truly saved a great deal of money by doing it this way.

Give my new technique a try one time, and see how much money you are saving. The savings is significant and it is such a good feeling to empty your pantry as much as possible, and then fill it, starting the whole process over again!

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Aldi = ALL THAT!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

So my Aldi Store FINALLY opened today! Halleluiah! My Mom, Emily and I have been planning to check it out for months now, and we were so excited to see what it was like!

Well, Aldi is everything they claim to be – low prices on the things that you buy regularly. The store was clean, organized, and very well run. The store employees were very helpful, friendly and knowledgeable.

We both pay very close attention to what we pay for the items that we purchase regularly, and the quantity that we purchase them in. We found that Aldi had extremely competitive prices on nearly every item we purchased. If we did not find the price to be LOWER than the prices at Wal-Mart or a similar grocery store, we found that the price was the SAME as the prices we pay at similar grocery stores. The produce was fresh, attractive-looking, and huge in quantity.

A couple of items that I found to be insanely great prices:
1. 64 oz. Apple Juice - $1.19
2. Boxed dog biscuits - $.99
3. Cellulose Sponges - 6 pack - $.99
4. Boxes of fresh strawberries - $.99
5. Varied spices - $1.09 each
6. 32 oz. tub of vanilla yogurt - $1.59
7. One dozen eggs - $.89

See?! I told ya!

All in all, every item that we bought was purchased with excitement as we saved significantly.

At the cash register, we were excited to see that as they totaled our purchases, they then offered us a $5 coupon on top of the savings we already received. BONUS!

I am definitely going to add Aldi to my shopping rounds. I can now reduce my grocery budget every month and spend that money elsewhere.

There are a couple of things that you should know before shopping at Aldi:
1. Aldi charges 25 cents to borrow a shopping cart. You get your quarter back when you return the cart.
2. Aldi does not bag your groceries. You must come prepared with shopping bags, or they offer them for purchase ($1.99) at the register.
3. Aldi is a one-directional grocery store. If you realize you forgot to grab something and have to go back, your best bet is to leave your cart behind and sneak back to the forgotten item. People were very understanding as we had this happen numerous times.

Visit Aldi.com to find the store nearest you! Your wallet will be SO grateful!

Save-A-Lot

Saturday, March 27, 2010

So…Save-A-Lot was a no-go. I decided to venture out yesterday, load up the baby, and drive across two cities to save some money on my groceries. My experience was unusual, to say the least.

I wasn’t able to complete my whole grocery list which was frustrating. They did not have any romaine lettuce, their assortment of meats was slightly creepy, and I was dissatisfied with their selection of toothpaste, to name a few. Selection was, in fact, a huge issue for me. There was often no variety to choose from.

The store was small, offering significantly fewer products than a typical grocery store. There is no bakery, and no deli.

I am not interested in being bombarded with sales associates and their questions, but it is always nice to know that they’ve seen you come in. No one spoke with me the entire time I was in their store (roughly an hour). I would have appreciated a, “are you finding everything ok today?” or “how are you today?”

Shortly after I arrived at Save-A-Lot, they launched a soup kitchen of sorts in the front of the store between the check-out and the produce. The entire situation was awkward and uncomfortable for me, and several other shoppers that were purchasing groceries around the same time.

Having said all of this, I will probably not be returning to Save-A-Lot. I am, however, EXTREMELY excited about visiting my new Aldi store when it opens on April 22nd. I have heard great things about this store, mostly from my Aunt, who shops at Aldi regularly. She mentioned to me that they stand behind each and every product that they carry. If you are dissatisfied with a product, Aldi will reimburse you for DOUBLE the retail price of the item. What a great way to demonstrate their dedication to superior products! Visit ALDI to find the store nearest you!

Just a tiny reminder – World Market sent an email this morning boasting 25% off Easter items. World Market is a GREAT place to find unusual toys that your kids are sure to love. Finish up those Easter Baskets for less!