Thrifty Thursday!

When I started this blog, my intention was not to just post cool stuff I found at the thrift stores, but also to share some other things.  Like what?  Oh, like pictures of my collections, some thrifty tips, the occasional good recipe.  That kind of stuff.

Let me tell you, I'm the world's biggest cheapskate a pretty frugal kind of guy.  I hate paying a penny more for anything than I absolutely have to.  I clip coupons, I buy generic stuff, I shop sales.

So let's get this show on the road by sharing my thrifty Tip O' The Week:  Shop at Aldi.

Seriously, does anyone shop there?  (Disclaimer:  Aldi isn't paying me to say this, they don't know who I am, and probably couldn't care less that I'm talking about them.)  We would occasionally go to one that's near home but it's so badly managed (only one checkout open on Saturday afternoon with a line snaking around the store) that we usually avoided it.  Now they've opened up another one near where we do our marketing anyway and it has become another scheduled stop on our rounds.  The prices are incredible.

Now you have to realize that 95% of what they carry is their own brand of stuff.  This is fine with me because I usually buy store brands anyway (because why pay any more than you have to?)  We've tried a lot of their stuff and so far we have liked everything except their bagels and cheese crackers (see below.)  They have a lot of interesting frozen stuff, too, that changes often.  They'll do a Mexican food promotion, or an Oktoberfest kind of thing and feature appropriate food, but you need to get it while they have it because it won't hang around long.

It's worth going there just for the butter, which (around here, anyway) hovers around $2.00/lb even when the regular markets are selling it closer to $5.00.  This alone makes a huge dent in my Christmas baking budget.  This is also the place to go if you're throwing a party; you can cut your costs way down without anyone noticing.  (And by the way, if you ever throw a party, never give in to that urge to add up how much you've spent.  It's just too depressing.)

I love their flyers, by the way, because they always have something totally random on sale.  Among the cookies, the peanut butter, the chicken breasts, the mayonnaise, they throw in something like a tent.  Or an air compressor.  Or patio furniture.

So give them a try.  And make sure to take your own bags.

Now then.  Even I know there comes a time when being thrifty just doesn't work, when you have to open up the wallet and part with some serious scratch.  Therefore, here are

Three items it's not worth trying to cheap out on:

1.  Toilet paper.  For reasons I hope I don't have to go into.

2.  Dishwasher detergent.  Just get Cascade.  Look for sales and use a coupon if you can.  If you try the cheap stuff you'll just be disappointed.

3.  Cheez-Its.  Nobody has managed to copy the incredible deliciousness of the original, so don't even bother.