Aldi

I don't know what Aldi means, maybe it's a person's name, or maybe it means "yummy food", but I'm hoping it means "dirt cheap". Aldi is the name of a new grocery store in town. I hear they're popping up all over the southestern U.S. People who know of this Aldi place from other such places as Tennessee and Georgia speak of it as being an absolute wonderland for cheap, frugal mommas like myself. Now, this cheap momma use to shop at Walmart strictly for the (falling) prices, NOT for the customer service if you know what I mean. But there came a point, I'm not sure if it was the profuse sweating every time I walked into the place, the fact that it took longer to get through the lines than it did to shop for everything on my list, perhaps it was the "overly friendly" employees who seemed to have just been released from the prison work program, or maybe it was the filthiness of the store which made me feel like I needed to bathe my entire family upon returning home, I can't remember which of these things put me over the edge. But I had finally had ENOUGH and decided to find myself a new cheap place to shop except that there wasn't another cheap place to shop. Oh sure, Cary occassionally stops at Sac N Save on the way home to pick up the staple items. And there are the buy one get one free items at Winn Dixie and Publix. But still, my grocery bills climbed drastically when I quit shopping at Walmart. However, it was a price I was willing to pay because that's how much I despise going to Walmart. My grandmother got a kick out of me when she was here because I drove to the opposite side of town to go to this one Winn Dixie, despite the fact that there is one about 4 miles down the road from me. But the one on the OTHER side of town has the best shopping carts, you know, the race car ones. Not the ones where the kids sit in the back of the cart and steer the wheel. No, not those. I mean the ones where it actually has a REAL double seater kid car attached to the front of the cart which is separate from the rest of the basket. And there was only ONE in the whole store. And every time I would go, I would pray that the grocery gods were on my side and that the "special cart" would be waiting for me in the parking lot. And low and behold, it always worked. Even though the last time I went, I had to clean an entire birthday cake that had been sat on, stepped on, and crumbled up in the car just so my kids could ride in it. Still, it's better than Walmart!

But today, friends, I am leaving the "special cart" behind to shop at the new place in town, Aldi. I have high expectations about this Aldi place. On the news this weekend, they had a typical family shopping list with items that most families with children would buy at the store each week. One shopper went to Aldi and one went to Walmart and if they didn't have the same brand as they did at Aldi, they bought the cheapest brand of that item at Walmart. At Aldi, the total was $50 and at Walmart, the total was $59. That's pretty amazing if you ask me because truly, until now, Walmart has always had the best grocery prices. So I'm kind of excited about my grocery shopping experience tonight. It's not often that I'm excited about grocery shopping. In fact, I don't think I've ever gotten excited about grocery shopping. I'll let you know what I think of Aldi when I return!