Little Lesson in Economics

Those of you that know about Aldi and shop at Aldi are exempt from this post- unless you would just like to read with a smug little smile as you pat yourself on the back knowing you are a smart momma! Those of you that haven't found the treasure that is Aldi- read on!

I needed a few items for this week's groceries. Mostly canned goods, juice, & fruit. I went to my local handy dandy Aldi store. The kids were with me this week and I have to tell you the idea of having to put a deposit on the grocery cart kinda freaked them out. However, they were troopers and off we shopped. Then, because I posess a teeny tiny bit of...whats the word...let's just call it perfectionism...I had a NEED to go to Walmart and price the items there. Before you people start getting together to plan an intervention let me assure you that I won't do this every week but I just had to be SURE that I was saving money- and a significant amount of money.

After the Walmart trip- which was much more stressful by the way- I created a document noting the price of each item at Aldi as well as at WalMart and then totaled the amount I saved. Today I saved $10.21. I feel good about that and when I consider this was a small shopping list week--and that on a heavy week I will save upwards to $20- I feel great about that!

However, this little lesson is based on today's facts so lets back up to my $10.21. If that is all I save each week after 1 year I have saved $530.92!!! That will go quite a way in paying for our beach house next summer! A $15 per week savings will yield $780 a year. Keep in mind these are comparisons to WalMart- if you currently shop at Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods, or Homeland (for the Okies) your savings would likely be even greater.

When we got home I asked the kids how they felt about Aldi. They both answered that it was weird- until I shared with them how the savings could add up to half the price of the beach house....to which they responded..."Hey, tell Erin about this so she can save enough for the other half of the beach house!" Ahhh....they are catching on.... Suddenly what was weird moments before was now very appealing. If that doesn't make you feel like the opening scene in the Mary Tyler Moore show where she tosses her hat up in triumph, I don't know what will!