Having Fun at Aldi

Last week was just fabulous.

Even the (really, really) early start on Wednesday couldn't dampen my enthusiasm. Nor could the humidity in Perth. It was so humid I thought I was back on Cape York! And then when we arrived in Adelaide it was so cool I put a jacket on - and counted my blessings because the week before it was over 40 degrees.

I had so much fun at the three Aldi workshops and met so many really lovely people and was finally able to put faces to names I've known for years, I just love my job!

I was doing my three favourite things: talking, meeting old friends and showing them how they really can trim their grocery budgets, without compromising on quality, taste, texture, colour, health - you get the idea.

I was on my Cheapskating soapbox and had a willing audience - it was almost as good as heaven to me :)

Wednesday afternoon Today Tonight in Perth invited me to Mirabooka Square, where I met a lovely Aldi newbie, Juliana, and showed her just how easy it is to feed the family for less at Aldi. We made a meal plan, whipped up the shopping list and off we went.  Lots of fun and along the way we converted another Australian homemaker to shopping the Cheapskates way at Aldi.

One of my monthly grocery top-up shops, to replace what was used from the stockpile

Over the three workshops 79 people were introduced to shopping the Cheapskates way at Aldi. Some were already Aldi shoppers, but only for the things they recognised. And some were new to Aldi, never having stepped foot through the doors before.

Oh boy did I have fun introducing them all to Aldi's range of exclusive brand products and shopping the Cheapskates way.

I talked about the products I love and the ones I don't.

I talked about the two tiers of products found on Aldi shelves.

I explained how I buy some things in bulk (for example dishwashing liquid, tomato soup, pasta).

I also talked about the no questions asked, 60 day money back guarantee (Aldi really do stand by their guarantee, I've tested it).

I mentioned how Aldi was the first supermarket chain in Australia to introduce unit pricing and how easy it makes comparing brands and sizes and how Aldi is the first supermarket in Australia to be completely free of all artificial colourings across the entire range of its own brands.

I talked so much that by Thursday night my throat was scratchy and my voice was hoarse. By Friday morning I couldn't talk, and there was still one workshop to do. Lots of rest, lots of fluids and lots of soothers helped and I had a little voice by Saturday afternoon, ready to head off to Westlakes and meet more lovely Cheapskaters.

We had a crew from Today Tonight in Adelaide follow us around the store, asking lots of questions. You can watch the video here.

There were lots of questions at all the workshops. Some of the questions asked were:
What are haystacks?
Am I employed by Aldi? (I answered this one in this week's newsletter)
Do I really only shop once a month?
How do I catch shower water (that one was from left field)?
How do I manage to keep the fruit and veg good between shops?
Do I buy meat from Aldi, because I always talk about Tasman and Australian Butcher?
Does Aldi really stand by the no questions asked, 60 day, money back guarantee?

Over the next few days I'll try to answer them for you, starting with this one.

How do I catch shower water?

Well the short answer is in a bucket. The long answer is that each bathroom has a bucket used just for catching the warm-up water. The bucket is put under the showerhead before it's turned on and it catches the water until it warms up. This is good, clean water so I will either pour it into the washing machine or use it for watering pot plants. I've been known to put a clean jug under the shower and then put it in the fridge when it's full to use for drinking water.

And that's how I catch the shower water. No secrets, no special containers. Just a bucket in the shower.