Aldi - All In All A Good Experience

Had my first shopping experience at Aldi today. I got a pineapple for .99 cents!!!!! I did a happy dance right there in their produce aisle! I also got a fresh pizza that I took home and baked immediately for $4.99!!! Sorry for the excessive exclamation point thing.. but can you believe this??? Oops, there I go again ;o)

I.J. went with me and he was so excited about the quarter-for-a-cart thing. If you haven't made it to Aldi yet. Here's the low-down.

1. Make sure you have a quarter in your purse!
You have to put a quarter into some mechanism on the handle of the cart to unlock it from the other carts. This ensures less cart theft. Though I did not know it was a problem. I think it actually saves them money from having people there to put your groceries in your car and walk the cart back and or paying someone to "round up" the carts in the parking lot. Either way, good idea.

2. BYOB - Bring your own bags.
They do not load up groceries for you nor do they provide bags. This saves obvious money. I loved being able to use a cute little bag that is all tucked into itself and purse friendly that I have been carrying around in my purse every day. It was given to me by our Japanese Exchange Student. And not in my purse the first time I went to Aldi.

3. BYOC - They do not accept any form of payment other than your card.
Guess it saves time? Not sure why. Or maybe they have some secret money making thing with the credit card companies... a little paranoid, I know.

4. Expect to spend some money.
I mean this in a good way. I went in for just a couple of things and came out with a shopping cart full and spent $50! But it was because the deals are HUGE!


All in all it was a good experience. And may I take a moment to recommend that you get some reusable bags? I love mine and LOVE using them. My house used to look like this. Please click the Link to see a great site that has ideas on what to do with those bags that are in the house that you hold onto. Or worse yet, throw away.