If you are not familiar with Aldi, it is a small grocer that carries mainly private label brands at oftentimes significantly lower prices. They do this by carrying the most frequently bought items and closely controlling costs. Because the experience can be quite a bit different than the normal big box stores, here are a few tips for those of you who want to try it out.
1. Carry a quarter with you to unlock the grocery carts in front of the store. Return the cart to receive your quarter back by locking the cart back
2. Bring in your own grocery bags or pay approximatly $0.05 for each one. Paper, plastic (and maybe insulated) are available.
3. Research your layout first. The store on Walnut in Rogers has a bit of a maze like feel and it may be hard to fight traffic going the wrong direction. You might organize your grocery list in the order that the store does.
4. Taste test. You may want to just buy a few of things at first. We enjoy the generic saltines, the generic club cracker, and most of the baking good. We did not like the bacon, the green beans (have stems sometimes), and the generic vanilla oreos. Aldi is well known for their produce and sometimes for their meats as well.
5. Watch the check out lines. There may only be 1 checker and if a mass of people are headed toward the front, you may want to scurry up. They are good about pulling another checker if needed though. Put everything up on the roller belt and stand back because they are fast.
6. Paying. Only cash or debit are accepted with no coupons or credit cards allowed. They will ask if you want cash back and will require a pin number. You cannot run a credit as a debit.
7. Bagging your own groceries. Take your cart to the bagging area. I suggest bags that can stand up on their own to speed up the process. You can also grab boxes as you are shopping as well.
8. Returns. I have not been required to have my receipt if I keep the packaging as it is typically unique to Aldi. They advertise a Double Guarantee which means a refund plus replacement, but I wasn't offered it when I did my return. Ask and see what they say.
Feel free to respond with other Aldi thoughts. Your store may be different than mine. I'd love to hear from you!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Some Savings Today
Bought 20 dollars of Oil of Olay items I normally use and am going to send in a 15 dollar rebate coupon I found on dealseekingmom.com.
Tried out the Alice.com home supplies website mentioned on dealseekingmom.com but found Sam's Club was cheaper.
Bought 30 dollars of items at Walgreens using a 1 dollar Revlon coupon from the Sunday ads plus their buy one get one half off special that is almost always running, Walgreen inhouse lotion equivalent to Vaseline Intensive Care is on sale 1 dollar off (making it cheaper than Sam's Club bottom price), bought 2 Old Spice with a 1 dollar off coupon from the Sunday ads, and used a Register Rewards Coupon for 5 dollars. To learn about Register Rewards, go to passionforsavings.com. Essentially if you by certain items advertised in Walgreens' circulars, you get a coupon good for anything at your next visit.
It seems that Vaseline Intensive Care and Old Spice win for least expensive products of their type if you like them. Always wondered why I bought them!
Tried out the Alice.com home supplies website mentioned on dealseekingmom.com but found Sam's Club was cheaper.
Bought 30 dollars of items at Walgreens using a 1 dollar Revlon coupon from the Sunday ads plus their buy one get one half off special that is almost always running, Walgreen inhouse lotion equivalent to Vaseline Intensive Care is on sale 1 dollar off (making it cheaper than Sam's Club bottom price), bought 2 Old Spice with a 1 dollar off coupon from the Sunday ads, and used a Register Rewards Coupon for 5 dollars. To learn about Register Rewards, go to passionforsavings.com. Essentially if you by certain items advertised in Walgreens' circulars, you get a coupon good for anything at your next visit.
It seems that Vaseline Intensive Care and Old Spice win for least expensive products of their type if you like them. Always wondered why I bought them!
Blog Post Ideas
Here are some posting ideas for the future. Please comment with other ideas you have and we will try to get to them as we can.
Where and how to buy the best organic foods?
How to Click N Pull at Sam's?
How to Shop Ald's?
The Best Items at Aldi's?
The Best Items at Walgreen's?
The Best Items at Sam's?
Your Favorite Great Value Item's at Walmart?
Your Favorite Coupon of the Week?
Where and how to buy the best organic foods?
How to Click N Pull at Sam's?
How to Shop Ald's?
The Best Items at Aldi's?
The Best Items at Walgreen's?
The Best Items at Sam's?
Your Favorite Great Value Item's at Walmart?
Your Favorite Coupon of the Week?
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The Coupon Mom Book Review
I recently read a book called "The Coupon Mom's Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills In Half" by Stephanie Nelson($9.73 at Sam's Club) that inspired me to take a look at where I can cut costs. This will enable me to do more for my family and for others with what I save. It takes some effort but will reap nice rewards. I will be posting ideas and would welcome yours as well. That way we can combine all of our knowledge to discover even more.
Here are some of the Coupon Mom's ideas worth noting. First she has a website link you may want to visit to get links to various couponing sites, such as Red Plum, Smart Source, and Coupon.com. If you sign up for email reminders, the site will let you know when new coupons are posted. You can select the ones you want and print them off. There are a few limitations to these sites as the coupons will eventually run out and you can only download them a certain number of times. The Coupon Mom site also has summaries of current deals running at stores, such as Walgreens, Walmart, and Target as well.
The book also gives you saving techniques such as stocking up on sale/couponed items to be able to shop your pantry later and pricing all of your grocery items at multiple stores (like I did with my excel spread sheet of Walmart, Aldi's, Sam's, and the Neighborhood Market) so you will know who has the best everyday, sale, and couponed price. Let me know if you would like an emailed copy of mine as I don't know how to attach to a blog.
The book gives a list of 8 saving steps to start with:
1.Plan a grocery budget that you can afford. It may help to write down your spending for several weeks to months by saving your recipts.
2.Break your spending down into weekly amounts to make saving more easily.
3.Spend cash as this has been proven to hurt you more mentally so you spend less.
4.Make sure to not waste your food by monitoring what isn't eaten and making it accessible or taking it off your grocery list. Some examples are serving "reasonable portions to children, having leftover night or lunch, and having a leftover shelf in your frig.
5.Buy items that take you 5 minutes or less to prepare instead of "pre-cooked, pre-washed, or pre-cut" as the money you save justifies your time.
6.Cook at home.
7.Avoid fast food.
8.Use her ideas to find "less-expensive, comparable substitutes for common foods". This is an area we can share with one another in another blog post.
Grocery List Planning
1.Make your list of meals and all ingredients you will need, plus snacks, paper and cleaning products, and toiletries. Make sure to take your schedule and perishables into account.
2.If you have time, examine the weekly specials online or in the newspaper to determine what are the deals you need. Several of the websites will let you make a shopping list straight from their circular to save time and confusion such as Walgreens. Sam's Club has their Click N Pull list you can make and submit for your groceries to be shopped and ready for you.
2.Try to shop only one time a week. The more you are in the stores, the more you spend.
She also discusses couponing which I am only still learning to do, so I will wait to post more on this once I am more learned. I have included several existing blogs at link and and that discuss couponing strategies. Check them out!
There are a bunch more tips in her book. Buy it or watch for more posts if I get a chance.
Here are some of the Coupon Mom's ideas worth noting. First she has a website link you may want to visit to get links to various couponing sites, such as Red Plum, Smart Source, and Coupon.com. If you sign up for email reminders, the site will let you know when new coupons are posted. You can select the ones you want and print them off. There are a few limitations to these sites as the coupons will eventually run out and you can only download them a certain number of times. The Coupon Mom site also has summaries of current deals running at stores, such as Walgreens, Walmart, and Target as well.
The book also gives you saving techniques such as stocking up on sale/couponed items to be able to shop your pantry later and pricing all of your grocery items at multiple stores (like I did with my excel spread sheet of Walmart, Aldi's, Sam's, and the Neighborhood Market) so you will know who has the best everyday, sale, and couponed price. Let me know if you would like an emailed copy of mine as I don't know how to attach to a blog.
The book gives a list of 8 saving steps to start with:
1.Plan a grocery budget that you can afford. It may help to write down your spending for several weeks to months by saving your recipts.
2.Break your spending down into weekly amounts to make saving more easily.
3.Spend cash as this has been proven to hurt you more mentally so you spend less.
4.Make sure to not waste your food by monitoring what isn't eaten and making it accessible or taking it off your grocery list. Some examples are serving "reasonable portions to children, having leftover night or lunch, and having a leftover shelf in your frig.
5.Buy items that take you 5 minutes or less to prepare instead of "pre-cooked, pre-washed, or pre-cut" as the money you save justifies your time.
6.Cook at home.
7.Avoid fast food.
8.Use her ideas to find "less-expensive, comparable substitutes for common foods". This is an area we can share with one another in another blog post.
Grocery List Planning
1.Make your list of meals and all ingredients you will need, plus snacks, paper and cleaning products, and toiletries. Make sure to take your schedule and perishables into account.
2.If you have time, examine the weekly specials online or in the newspaper to determine what are the deals you need. Several of the websites will let you make a shopping list straight from their circular to save time and confusion such as Walgreens. Sam's Club has their Click N Pull list you can make and submit for your groceries to be shopped and ready for you.
2.Try to shop only one time a week. The more you are in the stores, the more you spend.
She also discusses couponing which I am only still learning to do, so I will wait to post more on this once I am more learned. I have included several existing blogs at link and and that discuss couponing strategies. Check them out!
There are a bunch more tips in her book. Buy it or watch for more posts if I get a chance.
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