First, I need to thank Clark and the team. I had never heard of Aldi, except on The Clark Howard show. And when one opened up, I made 75 cents from lazy people not putting their carts away!
So…today, I happened upon a deal that would have been a bargain in 1980. It had to be some kind of screw up, and I almost felt like I was stealing.
They had 19 ounce packages of 5 links of Polish Sausage, regular price $3.39. A bargain at that price already, compared to Publix or Wal-mart. But these gems were $2 off!! I bought all they had.
I still feel kind of like I stole something, but at that price, I’d be a fool not to get them.
So, thanks Clark, for putting Aldi on my radar!
It kind of makes up for telling me about Costco, and when I leave there - I can’t get out for less than $100 bucks - and that’s limiting myself to only what I can carry!
In fact, because of Aldi, I am planning on dropping my Costco membership, and just using a gift card purchased online for those times when I absolutely need something from there.
I tried Aldi many years ago, probably when Clark started talking about them. I found many deals but I thought (at the time) that the fresh produce was not all that great (this was about 20 years ago). I only found one item that I did not like and it was their cola. However, it was not bad enough to ask for a refund. I especially liked the steaks they had in the freezer.
I had a friend visit me in Atlanta and it took some convincing to get him to go with me to Aldi. He had heard my raves but thought I was just crazy. As we walked the store he started getting junk food and had quite a few bags for his drive back to Florida. I think I made a convert. My Sister also was leary but eventually shopped there some.
I instantly understood the quarter shopping cart thing, but heard other people say that they were not going to pay a quarter to shop. I tried to tell them it was returned when they returned the cart.
I like Aldi and had a guy in the office who could not understand why I would drive across town to both Aldi and Big Lots to save money, yet then would go to casinos to ‘loose it’. I explained that generally I won in the casinos and the saving I made by driving and carefully shopping discounts is how I could afford to go gambling in the first place.
My biggest complaint about Aldi is that I often don’t have a quarter, and there’s no good way to get one. I could stand in line to get change for a dollar, but who wants to do that? I try to keep one in the car, but sometimes it disappears.