Aldi Trip: 4/7
The coupon deals have been pretty slim these past couple weeks, so I haven't been out to stock up on things that were at their lowest prices. I had actually been putting off going to the store altogether. But I was almost out of milk, and I had been out of bread for three days, and I was getting pretty tired of scrounging around in my pantry. I was running low of several other things also. Yes, couponers do actually run out of things at times..even ketchup! For shame! So, I went to Aldi for a pretty big stock up trip. They have the lowest prices on most items in my area, so I choose to shop there for my everyday needs to save even more. You can read my thoughts on why that is important here.
Just to satisfy my curiosity, I used the handy grocery price comparison list over at The Aldi Spot to roughly calculate my savings based on lowest prices seen at other stores. She is in Florida, so some of her prices were a little different, so I switched out my local prices for her's if I knew them. I calculated my savings to be roughly $20 over even Wal-Mart prices (probably even more, because I used sale prices from a few different stores, so I even saved a few trips chasing down the low prices!)
Here is everything I got today. I stocked up on a lot of fresh produce and a good bit of variety for lunch and snack options (click to enlarge):
This trip along with my $0.72 CVS trip is all the shopping I've done this week. I am planning a small trip to Albertson's, but may put that off until after Sunday...could get more coupons to use. ;) Even so, I would still be under my newly lowered grocery budget of $70/week and I would love to lower that even more. Wish me luck. ;)
Do you have any great shopping success stories from this week, or even defeats? I'd love to hear about them! Leave a comment or a link!
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6 comments:
I do the same thing at Aldi...shop for most of my groceries and go to Kroger when they are having a great sale & I have coupon match ups. Have tried several things at Aldi but my family prefers the taste of a few name brand items over Aldi so I try to get them on sale at Kroger and stock up (if I can). Would love to see your comparison list, as I have seen the one on the Aldi Spot but can't relate because of the price differences.
I was having a hard time with the price differences also, but it has honestly been soooo long since I've been shopping at Wal-Mart that I'm not even sure what things cost there anymore. What I am going to try to do is put together a list of the things that I frequently buy at Aldi so I can quickly compare sale prices with coupons at the grocery stores. I will gladly email it to you when I finish it if you think that will help. It will be something that will need to be updated periodically, and your store prices even sound a little bit different than mine, so you would have a make whatever changes you need. Of course the produce can't really be tracked.
I really need to be more organized about this and make a price comparison sheet but I haven't (I don't know how to do a spreadsheet on the computer) but I have written down several items on paper (old school!) I have just started keeping track of my monthly grocery spending to see if I am saving money. Mine flutuates because I have a son in college who comes home during Thanksgiving, Christmas and summer so my groc. bill skyrockets when he is home (I have an 18yr old son, 14yr old son and 12yr old daughter) so mine eat a little more than yours do right now! I am pretty new to all of this (only couponing for about 4-5mos) so a lot of my time and extra money has gone into trying to stockpile some HBA items because they are so darn expensive! I have only been able to get a good deal on Finish, Gain dryer sheets and pasta to really call it a stockpile on those items. Love you blog and insight that you can provide!
You are doing better than me. I haven't gotten anything written down. I keep it in my head, but that doesn't work well at times. ;) I think you are doing exactly the right thing trying to stock up on the HBA products. Those can take a huge chunk out of a budget. Have you tried shopping at CVS? I love if. You will pay a little bit more up front, but it is kind of like an investment because after that, then you get back your ECBs and then you have their money to spend each time, so its like you are spending that initial investment over and over. It's great! That is where most of my stuff has come from. I know when my kids get older my grocery bill will skyrocket. Hope to have the bills paid down my then..LOL.
Amanda, you really did get a whole load for your money. You know I shop just like you, and even I run out of staples at times. I almost had to try the Aldi ketchup, but then Publix had a BOGO sale, and a mail-in-rebate, and now I am good to go again for the next year or so. I did the same kind of deal last year, and you just cannot beat $0.32 per bottle of ketchup...not even at Aldi:)
One of the things I think would help out a lot with my budget, would be an extra freezer. We have a tiny freezer, which means I cannot really stock up on frozen foods and meat.
About the spread sheet, just go to your excel and start typing up. To get the list neat for your blog, highlight your list, got to the Insert Tab, then Table and press ok. Voila, and you have a perfect list.
A little warning...it's A LOT of work:)
I used to do mine in my head all the time, and I still do, but I have had to pull out the list a few times while shopping to see, if I should buy an item at Publix, Target or Aldi, so it is great to have. The worst part is that the prices changes constantly, and the stores have different cycles.
Thank you for linking up at the Aldi SavingsLinky at the Aldi Spot.
I saw all of your ketchup! And hunts is my favorite kind. aldi's is more like heinz which is not my favorite but the kids use it more than I do and they dont care.
Thanks for the advice! It's been so long since I used excel! like college..LOL. Except this savings tracker I downloaded so I'm way out of practice.
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