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Cheaper groceries without the fuss

January 13th, 2006 at 04:01 am

Cardinal rule #324 don't buy items other than groceries at the grocery store - you'll pay more. Rule #623 use your coupons to save money, etc., etc. Well, I didn't follow the rules tonight other than making sure my belly was full before I went, but it looks to me like I have spent quite a few dollars LESS than I would have at any other store. ALDI's has arrived. It's been in town for a few months and I've gone there occasionally, but after spending the last few weeks price comparing and checking out some food samples from ALDI's, I'm hooked.
$1.99 for liquid laundry detergent... 34 loads (and nobody uses a full cup anyway)
$.39 for baking soda
$.89 for Pringles
In sum, $52.15 for 32 items and that included vitamins, red meat, cheeses, and condiments.
Wal-mart is not a hero in our household. We loathe their big ugly stores and their abuse of employees. Anyone read "Nickel and Dimed?" If you've ever felt humiliated and over-controlled, and taken advantage of in your job, you'll definitely understand. Wal-mart is the antithesis of creativity for its employees. In the marketplace, however, they're brilliant.
Anyway, we don't like shopping at Wal-mart, but have in the past because sometimes we don't have the money to go to the smaller stores.
Since ALDI's arrived, I don't think we'll need to go to Wal-mart anymore. Have we jumped from the frying pan into the fire? I'm not sure. I only know that ALDI is a German company. They keep very few people on staff, the items are not on shelves (saves $ on labor), they only take cash or debit cards, you have to put a quarter in the grocery cart to use it (no need to pay somebody to herd the carts back to the building) and they have everything a person needs. They have many wants as well.

My last deposit to ING will be ready tomorrow and I'll "withdraw" the money into a CD. I was waiting for the balance in the savings account to get a little bigger before putting it in a certificate of deposit. I'm starting a laddering system and am very proud of myself. This is my first $500 saved just from paychecks and not from windfalls from family, etc. I think it marks progress and I'm pretty proud. I've always had to have money set aside automatically so I wouldn't touch it, for example, my retirement funded before I saw the cash. This cash in the CD will be money that I have physically set aside - on my own. Woohoo!

The stink is not gone, yet, but it's better. I've opened one of the vents in the basement a little tiny bit to help with the air circulation, too. I'm giving the baking soda one week to work it's magic, I'm going to mop the floor in the laundry room one more time and if those don't work, I swear I'll call the cadaver clean-up crew. Wink

1 Responses to “Cheaper groceries without the fuss”

  1. Anonymous Says:
    1137162225

    Congratulations on the ING/CD savings. What a great accomplishment! It will be great for you to see that anytime you get discouraged about the whole frugal/saving thing...

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