If only Aldi sold plastic eggs...

...I would not have had to step foot inside of Wal-Mart, which was sold out off all the individually wrapped Easter candy (which is what i needed to stuff the plastic eggs with for the church egg hunt).  I ended up getting a big bag of the cheap stuff from the regular candy aisle instead of the Easter aisle, which probably saved me money anyway.  But, this is not about Wal-mart.  It's about Aldi. 

Aldi is a new store around here.  It just opened up a few weeks ago.  When I noticed that it was being built, I started reading good things about it on other blogs, and I must say I love it!  What an easy way to save money on essentials without having to worry with coupons.  They don't sell many brand name items, and they don't do much advertising.  The store brand items are very low-priced.  In fact I was walking through the store looking for things on my list and noticed that the boxed macaroni and cheese (which I did need, but I had forgotten to add to my list) was priced at only $0.35 per box!!!  This is my daughters favorite meal (along with chicken nuggets, which I found last time I shopped there for $3.99 a bag--and shaped like jungle animals at that!  No more Tyson for me.)  So I grabbed a few mac and cheese, a few packets of seeds that were on special for $0.69 (more on that later), and all of the things on my shopping list that were most urgent.   Here's what I ended up with:

What did I pay for all of this?  $20.63.  Not bad for not using any coupons.  Oh, that bag of salad..only $0.39!  I just know that if I would have gotten all this stuff at Wal-Mart like I originally planned, it would have cost me at least $30, not counting the extras that I would have no doubt picked up.  As it is, they still got me at the register.  I went in there, only for candy and plastic eggs, with my three year old daughter.  I got up to the register with my two items, and she picks up a big bottle of bubble solution.  Well, truth be told, she was all out of bubbles (she'd spilled the last one she had) and this was a big bottle (you can see the bottom of it in the background above) for only $1, so I bought it.  Yes I did.  Not really a big deal.  I think it was a good deal, but it just makes me mad that I cannot seem to walk in that place without coming out with SOMETHING I had not planned to buy, good deal or not.  But that new Aldi store, oh they are very smart.  Where did they build it?  Right across the street from the rear entrance to the new Wal-Mart.  Much easier to get in and out of, too.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't really have anything against Wal-Mart.  My mom has worked there since I was 2 years old, so I grew up shopping there.  They have great prices on many things, but that's what makes it so tempting to buy more than you need.  So, for me, I avoid it unless I have a large list.  But I've found that since I started using coupons avidly that my list of stuff I needed has gotten shorter and shorter come payday every month.  In fact, this month we did not even have to make a large Wal-Mart run on payday, which has been a monthly ritual in the past...always leaving there quite depressed.  Hooray for small victories. =)