Walmart vs Aldi - a REAL comparison

I must confess: well it's no secret I have a love-hate relationship with Walmart. I hate the parking lot, the morons inside and everything in between. But a girl on a budget can't beat the prices. Or so I thought. Lately in the Atlanta area, I'm sure across the country as well, Walmart has been running price comparison ads where you can save 13%!!! Wake me when I can save 30-40%, then we'll talk. Thirteen percent isn't enough to cover the road rage I experience trying to get up and down each miserable aisle in an effort just to get the hell out as quickly as possible!!!

So I decided to do my own comparison, to Aldi. My wonderful, small, easy to get in and out Aldi.

Let's see how Walmart stacks up to ALDI!!!

I went yesterday, 12.20.12, around lunch time, to Aldi then I left there, when 1 mile up the road to Walmart. That's right! I must be insane, but it brought me much joy to do the comparison on things I buy regularly. I compared store brand, since that's pretty much all Aldi is, to store brand at Walmart, Great Value. Same sizes and when the sizes were not comparable I did a unit price break down.

Here's what I found:

Item	Aldi	Walmart
gallon of milk	2.39	3.23
dozen eggs	0.99	1.88
16 oz butter (sticks)	1.99	2.49
5 lb bag of flour	1.59	1.78
sugar (Aldi 4lb $2.12, Walmart 5lb $2.88)	.53 per lb	.576 per lb
48 oz vegetable oil	2.49	2.64
8oz cream cheese (bar)	0.99	1.78
16oz tub sour cream	1.29	1.48
24oz jar spaghetti sauce	1.19	1.33
angel hair pasta (Aldi 32oz $1.69, Walmart 16oz $1.00)	.0528 per oz	.0625 per oz
15 oz breadcrumbs	0.89	1.08
15 oz canned peas	0.65	0.68
canned corn (Aldi 15oz $.49, Walmart 15.25oz $.68)	.03266 per oz	.0445 per oz
28oz can whole tomatoes	0.99	1.08
8oz block mozzarella cheese	1.49	2.32
8oz pre-sliced swiss cheese	1.99	2.38
24 oz bottle dish soap	1.89	1.97
6pk full size Hershey bars	3.79	3.94

WHAT?! Walmart wasn't cheaper?! That's what I've been trying to tell you! Walmart does not always have the best price!  If you don't have an Aldi in your area, then yes Walmart is the best price option. But if you do have an Aldi, I URGE you to check it out. Wait till I do a cereal comparison!  You'll be stunned! And no Aldi does not carry everything.  Example: yesterday red wine vinegar was on my list, but Aldi doesn't carry it, so I bought it at Walmart.  But I have noticed that over the last 4 years, Aldi has expanded their food selections and they offer more and more items all the time.

In the meantime I will continue to buy everything I possibly can at Aldi at much better prices! 

Happy Saving! 

Wendy

The $5 Savings Plan

I must confess: I love saving money. Not much of a big confession, but still. A few years ago I read about a woman who saved all of her $5 bills. Over the course of so many years she had accrued a nice tidy sum of over $10, 000. WHAT?!?! So I decided to give it a try and see what I could do. So any time I received change back that included a $5 bill. I tucked it away. Even if I gave someone a $20 for something that was only $4 and received $15 in fives, I put them a side.

After about a month I had about $100, I was surprised at how quickly it adds up, but its not so big that you would miss, it like a $20 or so small that it would take forever to add up, like spare change. The first thing I did with what I call my '$5 money' is I went Christmas shopping with it last year. It paid for my lunch, shopping and even an afternoon pick me up snack. And I still had $5 left over to put right back into my savings plan. You'd be surprised how quickly it adds up and even my hubby gives me any $5 bills he has. It has given us the opportunity to do something when it might not have been in the budget that week. It was the best thing I had read about saving money in a long time. And I will continue to do so!

Happy Saving!

Wendy