You Can't Beat These Prices

Dear Ladies,

I was so excited when a new Aldi Food Market opened in Stafford. Eric first introduced me to Aldi when we were newly weds. There is an Aldi just down the street from his childhood home. At the time you could only find stores in the Midwest, so we would stock up on a few things and take it home. We found the canned fruit to be very cheap and we blended it up for baby food. Now Aldi has expanded and they are much easier to find, but I never thought we would get one in Stafford.

For this letter I just wanted to share a little with you about this unique store. You wouldn't find everything you need at Aldi, but for the staple items their prices are great. Be sure to a have a quarter with you to unlock a grocery cart and bring bags for your groceries. If you need to you can purchase bags for .05 for paper and .10 for nice large plastic bags that can be reused or pick up a box while shopping. The majority of the products are in boxes on pallets, nothing fancy in this store. Most products are the Aldi store brand, but for the most part everything is good quality.

The only product my family doesn't really likes is the cheapest spaghetti sauce, but it has been a long time since we have tried it. Below is a list of a few products and the prices, so you can get an idea of what items cost.

Large box of corn flakes $1.19

A pound of bacon $1.99

A dozen of large eggs $1.25

A bag of tortilla chips $.99

A 16oz of shredded cheddar cheese $2.99

A pound of butter $1.99

A large jug of 100% cranberry juice $2.49

Sometimes I buy my meat at Aldi, but I've found that when meat is on sale at Giant it is a better price and that Wegmans has the best price on ground beef.

Aldi also sells fresh produce, but if you're shopping for organic foods you wouldn't find much.

For those of you who don't live in Stafford, you can check the website for a location near you.http://www.aldifoods.com/index_ENU_HTML.htm

One last thing, you have to pay with a debit card or cash.

Happy shopping ladies. I would love to know what you think.

Melissa

Helpful Christmas Ideas

Dear Ladies,

My husband is away again, so we are going shopping. When Eric is home I like to be here when he arrives home after a long day at work. So when he is away the kids and I will use it as a opportunity to be out late. Today we are heading out after lunch to do some birthday and Christmas shopping. I have to finish up some birthday shopping for Caleb and the kids need to do some birthday shopping for dear OLD mom. We have 3 birthday in our household that are close to Christmas, so this season becomes one big party for us.

With four children and a large extended family I have a lot of gift buying to accomplish. I thought for this letter I would share with you a few ideas to help make your shopping season easier.

1. The best thing to do is start shopping right after Christmas and buy on sale or clearance, but I never know what the plan is for the next Christmas or what the kids will be interested in, so I don't buy many gifts for family members. After Christmas sales are a good time to purchase hostess gifts or Christmas decorations for the next year.

2. Make lists. I have each child make a list for me. I purchase some gifts that are on the list and some that I know they will like.

3. My children love books, so they always get a new book at Christmas. I have found it is best to buy them online at sites like www.half.com Online you can find several sites that sell used books and many times I have paid much less for a book then if I went to a local bookstore. The sites are also good for purchasing music CD's or DVD's.

4. Magazines are fun for children; they enjoy receiving something in the mail all year long. Many magazines subscriptions can be found for under $10. One good site is http://www.magazinepricesearch.com/5to10.html

5. Purchase online. I love shopping online. I have been buying online for 10 years and never had a problem with a credit card information being stolen. I have found by shopping online I can find gifts cheaper then in a retail store, I can shop whenever I want while sitting in my pj's, and I can find difficult items, that would might be hard to find locally(this year I looking for fencing swords).

6. Start early and make multiple trips. If I putting together a box to send to someone I focus on that and then another trip I will focus on the kids.

7. Set a budget. I have an ideas in my head how much to spend per child and I try to stick with it. We don't purchase a lot of large dollar amount gifts for our children, but we buy a lot of little items and we wrap everything, so they have a lot to open. I also buy them a practical item that I have been wanting them to have, such as duffel bags for traveling, comforters and sleeping bags. Try not to over spend; no one wants to be still paying for Christmas gifts in July.

8. Look for coupon codes when shopping online. I check www.mycoupons.com for codes to use, sometimes stores offer free shipping codes or a few dollars off your order.

9. Pick a day that you can hire a sitter or have your husband watch the children, so you can spend a day just Christmas shopping.

10. Make a few gifts. Don't over extend in this area; that will only add stress to the season. This year I am making homemade vanilla. I saw the recipe online and it was very easy. I have purchased some fancy bottles that I will put pretty labels on and I bought measuring spoons to give with the vanilla.
Here is the site for the vanilla recipes; it super easy to make. http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/007340how_to_make_vanilla_extract.php

Have a wonderful holiday season and set aside a lot of time to enjoy your children. Try not to let the holiday stress steal the joy of the season from you.
Melissa