Finances

Mondays, man. Am I right? Especially the Monday after a long holiday weekend! It’s not easy to jump back in.

Since Mondays are kind of a tough day for pretty much everyone I know – I’ve decided to start posting a “Happy List” each Monday. It seems like a fun way to lift my spirits. Maybe it will for you too if you like something I post. Remember, I am trying to focus on the positive and be grateful for all the happy things in my life (there are many!). It’s just a healthier way to live and I’m learning to think more positively each day.

There are quite a few options out there if you’re looking to do a menu plan based specifically off of what Aldi sells. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

I have had these pinned on Pinterest for forever and plan on trying one of these meal plans this month so I can report back to you all at the end of the month. Or . . . I may just try to create my own meal plan for you to copy. We’ll see if I can manage to be organized enough to do this.

I realized I totally forgot to mention Aldi’s awesome Double Guarantee!

Now, first things first. I want you to know there has only been ONE time in almost four years that I have had to take something back to Aldi. Unfortunately, I bought some lunch meat that ended up being . . . questionable. The expiration date had not been met. But I wasn’t taking a chance on it. I was simply unsatisfied with the product. But I knew there was an easy fix at Aldi.

There are so many wonderful snack choices at Aldi so I plan to highlight some of my faves this month. The first thing you should know about me is I have a serious sweet tooth! I have found this to be even more true while breastfeeding my daughter. I crave anything sweet! But as we all know sweets can be pretty terrible for you. Thankfully, Aldi has some awesome choices for healthier sweet snacks.

It’s true – Aldi sells quite a few organic items under their Simply Nature line.

These are just a few of my favorites!

Organic pasta sauce, salsa and chicken broth are a few of my favorite items. I also found this “seeds of change” packet the other day, certified organic. I have also tried their organic milk, pasta, salad dressing, coffee, honey, and beef (more on the beef later).

I’m not a foodie by any means but everything I have tried tastes great! Aldi is constantly adding new organic items to their Simply Nature line. You will pay a bit more than if you were to just buy the non-organic items. But if you follow a strictly organic diet at least you know you can find certified organic items for less at Aldi!

Just an FYI on this series – Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays will typically be short and sweet. I don’t usually blog on the weekends but I’m going to give you short posts about some of my favorite Aldi finds. YAY!

Since it’s Friday (holla!) it seems only natural to discuss wine. Because TGIF and this mama needs a drink.

Actually, I’m not a big drinker at all. I know there are some real serious wine drinkers out there. They know their stuff and know like the names of the specific grapes and the specifics of the dirt that is best to make them grow. That’s not me. If I’m going to drink wine it’s usually on a Friday night and only a couple glasses because three glasses is when I start to text friends and tell them how much I love them. That’s called drunk texting. I don’t recommend it. Moving right along . . .

I’m not the best planner. There are so many times I haven’t prepared to shop beforehand and of course, end up forgetting half the things I need. Aldi makes it super simple to prepare for your shopping trip. There are a couple ways to do this.

These days almost everybody has a smartphone. If you do you can download the free Aldi app (yep, they have an app!) for iphone and android users.

If you haven’t read my post on the 31 Days Writing Challenge, no worries, you can catch up. I’ll be writing about Aldi every day in October.

Find out if you have an Aldi near you before we get started.

Aldi isn’t like every other grocery store. They are special in so many ways. But first, let’s discuss Aldi basics, shall we?

The Carts <—–

Get your quarters ready! The carts are located outside the store. You put your quarter in and it “releases” the cart for you. Then after you shop you have to put the cart back and voila! You get your quarter back. Does that seem weird? Maybe at first. But it’s actually awesome. Because unlike every other store parking lot there are not random grocery carts haphazardly blocking you from getting the spot you want (that’s happened to you too, right?). Another nifty thing that this brings about is friendliness. Yes! Someone who needs a cart will often give you their quarter and take your empty cart from you when you’re done so you don’t have to walk to take it back. Then you say “thank you so much” with a smile and you realize you’ve just had a positive human interaction! Amazing!

List of all my posts for this series:

Day 1 —> The Basics

Day 2 —> Prepare to Shop

Day 3 —> The Wine Selection

Day 4 –> BREAK

Day 5 –> BREAK

Day 6 –> Organic Items

Day 7 –> Healthier Sweet Snacks

Day 8 –> I kinda suck at this 31 days thing, don’t I?

Day 9 –> Double Guarantee

You guys I’m having a love affair . . . with a grocery store. I know, right? Who even am I?! Well, I’ll tell you who I am. I’m a 35-year-old mom of three children who is trying to save money for her family. Because these people I live with? They eat a lot of food. I mean, they are stealing it off my plate!

Valentine’s Day is coming up quick and what better way to mark the occasion than with a beautiful new piece of jewelry for yourself (or a loved one)! When Blue Nile contacted me about offering one of my lucky readers this gorgeous sterling silver branch necklace I jumped at the chance. I love their website and I’ll let you in on a silly little secret. Before I was engaged (circa 2005) I used to hop on their website and design engagement rings when I got bored. Try it. It’s super fun. Especially when you design yourself a $650,000 diamond ring. A girl can dream, am I right?

Ahhh, Christmas has come and gone already. I honestly can’t believe it’s over! I must say, one of the things I was most excited about on Christmas day was gearing up to give my dad his awesome gift. I wrote about giving my dad his first smartphone from Walmart mobile in November. Plus, I’m giving him three months of free phone service!

The phone sat in the top of my pantry just waiting to be opened and admired! I was a little nervous with what my dad’s reaction would be. My parents have both been talking about upgrading their old-fashioned flip phones for forever! I think new technology is a little bit intimidating for them. But I was ready to assure my dad that I would help him get it all set up.

I love my parents but man, do they need to upgrade their cell phones. They’ve been talking about it for over a year now. Right now they have very basic phones through their service provider. I’m not even sure they can take pictures with them, which is sad since they have five grandchildren (soon to be six!).  And they are old phone versions too that don’t work very well. So when I signed up for the Walmart Family Mobile campaign I knew exactly who would be getting a new smart phone for Christmas!