Frugal Friday: Where to Grocery Shop?

Like many of you (as I suspect), I'm relatively new to being frugal. I've only been married a little over 8 months, and have been clipping coupons & CVSing about that long. So, I'm still trying to figure a lot of things out - like where to grocery shop on a regular basis.

We live in a mid-sized city, so there are several grocery store options. I realize I wouldn't have this problem if I lived somewhere smaller - but I can choose between Aldi, Walmart, Bi-lo, Ingles, Publix, and a few others I don't usually consider.

Typically, Aldi is my fallback. I try to buy all my staples there, and have a price list so if I'm somewhere else, I know whether or not the other price beats Aldi. If a week is especially busy, Aldi is the only place I go.

After Aldi is where it seems to get confusing. Bi-lo, Publix and Ingles all double coupons, and all seem to have at least one really great deal every week. For now, I'm trying to skim the three ads, see which one looks most appealing for the week, then hit that one store after I go to Aldi. (I always go to the other store after Aldi because I never know when Aldi might be out of something they normally carry - last week it was spinach!) Currently, I'm finding I can get the best deals if I can go to Aldi and one other grocery store every week.

What about you? How do you handle multiple enticing grocery stores where you live? As I'm still learning, I'd love to hear how you do this!

Remembering Others This Christmas

Many of the readers of this blog, and others like it, are incredibly frugal. Let's face it, a lot of you use coupons, only shop sales, play "the drugstore game", and just generally know the best ways to save. So today I'd like to challenge you - who better to help others than those who know how to stretch a penny the farthest?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not trying guilt-trip you into donating some of your hard-earned stash! I'm simply suggesting that this is the perfect time of year to consider who else could benefit from your thriftiness. Times are tough for everyone, and I heard this past week how food pantries are particularly suffering.

My challenge to you this week: consider how others can benefit from your frugality! You can bless not only your family, but many others this holiday season.

And, in case you thought I was being a little vague with this post - this was intentional: be creative in ways you can help others! You know you and your family's strengths and how to best utilize them. :) For more frugal tips, head on over to Frugal Friday to check them out.

I'd love to hear specific ways your family has found to (frugally) be a blessing to others this Christmas! Please share in the comments so we can all benefit from your ideas.

Goog 411

Today for Frugal Friday, I want to share about Goog 411. This amazing service offered by Google has saved me lots of time, money & frustration! (FYI - I am in no way associated with Google - I just love this service!)

Goog 411 is a lot like Free 411, except without the ads. All you do is dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411). An automated, voice-activated service picks up & asks you for which city & state you wish to search. You just speak the city & state back into the phone, Goog 411 confirms this, then asks which store or business you wish to find. Once it has found the business, it tells you the address, then connects you directly to the business. And... all this is 100% FREE!

As I'm relatively new to my city, I have used this when running errands and realize I need directions or store hours. This has definitely kept me from being lost at times, and also prevented me from going to a store that was about to close.

For more frugal tips, be sure to check out Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood.

Date night!

Ever since my husband & I met, we have enjoyed coming up with creative ways to have a date night. Some have been frugal, some not so frugal, but recently we've realized more the benefits from living frugally - so now they mostly fall into this category. :)

Today's date night idea:
Explore your city! You may have just moved there, or you may have lived there for years - but I'll bet there are some parts you haven't driven through yet. A lot of times this is tacked onto something else for us - say, we're on the way home from dinner - but this is almost always tons of fun. We've gotten lost, found new things, stopped to check out a park we didn't know about, and just overall enjoyed some quality time together - no distractions from a dirty house, we're not watching a movie, and we can have good, uninterrupted conversation.

If you try this, let me know what you find! You may be surprised by what's in your city that you never knew was there. :)

Also, for more frugal tips, be sure to check out Frugal Friday.