Make sure you read the introduction prior to reading this post.
When my husband and I decided to do the Aldi experiment, we had to think of some ground rules. For instance, what do we do with the savings? What is our budget? What are we not going to compromise on? What are we willing to compromise on? So, after some thought here’s what we came up with:
- Our grocery budget of $100 per week will not change. We cannot go over that amount of money, unless there is some drastic reason.
- The savings from shopping at Aldi will go straight into an envelope marked “Family Fun” (this is as a result of deciding we will do something fun as a family with the savings).
- We will not roll the money leftover from one week into another.
- $20- $25 per week will go towards the grocery items we will not compromise on. These items include: organic milk for our 3 year old daughter, low sugar juice for our daughter, Breyer’s ice cream, Arnold’s bread (it’s the only kind without high fructose corn syrup) and 2 packages of veggie protein substitutes like Morningstar Farms for me (the vegetarian).
- It is OK to supplement our grocery shopping with anything free that might appear (like leftover turkey from Christmas), and it is fine use what we already have in the freezer. We do not have to start from scratch.
- We will not be going out to dinner at all during the experiment.
- The experiment will last for 6 weeks.
That’s it. Those are the rules in all their glory. I think the only rule that will be hard to follow for us is #6. I hate cooking on Friday nights. After spending all week working and cooking every night, I’d like a day off. But even I can suck it up for 6 weeks. The more money left over, the better.
