Shopping Well on a Budget-Questions on Company Values

    

     

     Aldi would have been a game changer for my family when my kids were young and I had tow then three little mouths to feed. I thought I was a good shopper, finding the store or generic brands that were as good as the store brands, shopping and sticking up on loss leaders and such. I used coupons, but sparingly because most often the product was still the most expensive option even after the coupon. Aldi, even though their prices are keeping up like everywhere else, constantly amazes me. Sure, there have been some things we haven't liked, and either just don't use that product or still buy  the brand option, but I would guess that is  10% of the items or less. I am in and out quickly because there is not a dizzying array of choices lie in a big store like Cub, or high prices, but so convenient because it is  just blocks form my house, neighborhood Cobornes. I only really discovered Aldi for regular shopping about eight years ago, but there wasn't one near my home, just work, so used sparingly. It's been the last four years or so that I've adopted regular stops, and the last year, it has been my primary store. 

     I like my math exercises, so wondered if I could calculate how much I might have saved in groceries over the last 32 years of being a family had I always had this option. conservatively, I think Aldi saves me 20% from the store sin town. If I even just averaged $400 a month, less when just the two of us and DS as a baby, way, way , way more when DS and DD1 were teenagers and we had extra kids frequently in and out, and then back down after the older kids grew up and moved out, the 30% would be $80 a month. $960 a year times 30 years of non Aldi shopping is $28,800! Enough for a full year of DD2's college tuition. A gift of a down payment on a house for  DD1. Maybe another five family vacations over the years. Who knows how we might have used it and if we would have used it well. 

     

     I do know that this week my aim was to keep the spending on household and groceries to $65. I've spent $62.50, but realized I forgot oats, so might have been a dollar or two higher. I bought a bulk thing of TP, dish soap, dishwasher detergent and several of the spices I needed. I'm giving Aldi brand dish washing liquid and dishwasher detergent a try. The washer detergent was 1/2 the price of the same size Cascade-if it does the job, I'll keep it up. I've had bad results with other store brands. The Dawn like liquid was $ .50 less than Dawn. Even though I wasn't going to buy much meat, I couldn't pass up a massive package of chicken legs for under $5, which will easily yield four  meals. I added treats for football watching, the cheese DH likes, more Triscuit like cracks, chips and cheese dip and my hummus that is my go to snack or packed lunch item with vegetables. I also splurged on a  marinated pork loin, again yielding more than one meal. I'm not even going to bother trying to list a meal plan this week, as it is the same options as usual. Safe to say, no one will go hungry and I have loads to take me to next week when the plan was just a very minor top up shop. 

     I wonder all the time though about ethics and values of companies. Through all these savings, I know practically nothing about Aldi as a company. Our local Aldi (the next town over) has hiring signs of starting pay at $14.30 per hour. Not a fortune, but much higher than minimum wage. The workers seem pleasant enough, helpful, and our store is clean. and tidy. I get more frustrated in the large grocery store. They are constantly changing where things are, have fewer working tills and the same self check-out options of Walmart and Target. For Aldi though, I'm not sure where all their food is sourced. I look for the higher quality when possible, organic and fair trade, but do they do the same or better than  major grocery stores? I've not seen bad press on Aldi, but maybe I just haven't looked or have been in denial. Tell me what you know. What drives your shopping decisions? Besides the prices, I like the easy in and out of my Aldi, again, because I just don't have to make choices. Do you like the vast array in bigger stores? Are you a master at mixing coupons and loss leaders? Let's chat about our store habits and why you shop where you do.