How have you cut back?

[Daryl Z71]

Not my type of thing, but that is a really nice boat!

[K.C.]

Tahoe 265 with a 496. Yum.....

Very very nice Satty! You gonna take it to Table Rock?

[Satty]

Very very nice Satty! You gonna take it to Table Rock?

If I were allowed to buy it, yeah. Table Rock is a pretty sweet lake in the summer. She's somewhat warm to the idea of a pontoon boat, and Sun Trackers start at about $11k before you start throwing options on. Since I know some of the higher ups on the marine side of the company pretty well, I could likely swing an ok deal. But that still doesn't take storage or transportation into account. I have no clue what it would run to store a boat down by the lake. I know there are storage places up here that are reasonably priced, but that goes back to the other problem. The Prius isn't going to tow a boat. The MINI sure as hell wont either. The Buick could if it weren't for the hilly, twisty terrain. I wouldn't be very comfortable towing anything larger/heavier than a jet ski behind it. Renting a pickup would probably be more cost effective than buying something just for towing. I dunno, I've just got boat fever, it being spring and all.

[Intrepidation]

Buy a used truck?

[daves87rs]

Buy a used truck?

+1

Any old truck would do....

My buddy has a 94 f150 reg cab.....moves all his toys...

[Satty]

Buy a used truck?

There is a 1990 GMC crew cab on Craigslist for $2900 that would be pretty perfect. A few other old GM pickups for $1500-3000. But we really, really dont have room to house 3 cars, a truck and a boat. Plus there's no telling where we're going to be living a year from now.

[Satty]

I am really f@#king glad we didn't buy that boat.

And to keep with the original theme, I've started keeping pennies in a jar whenever I get them instead of letting them pile up. In my boredom, I counted them a short while ago. 1191 in about 6 months. Hardly seems worth the effort of not letting them slip between the seats or whatever.

Edited March 31, 2011 by Satty

[Drew Dowdell]

2 years of habit changes and we live pretty lean. We've been shopping at Aldi more often as our main grocery chain here has REALLY jacked up the prices. We've been really happy with the food we get at Aldi even though it's all off brand. My favorite kind of snack cookie bar for my lunch is 1/3 !! the price at Aldi and it actually tastes better than the name brand version. The pre-marinated pork ($2.99) or turkey ($4.99) tenderloins taste great and feed Albert and I six meals worth.

You can't buy everything there, but we stock up on what we can and then fill in the rest with Costco and a small local grocery chain.

[Satty]

Eating cheap can be very satisfying. I can live off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, not out of cutting back, but due to the sheer awesomeness of PB&J. There are certain things that off brands can't match, like Spicy Nacho Doritos, those things are fantastic.

[Drew Dowdell]

Well, just to reiterate, If you're afraid of trying Aldi because they don't have any name brand stuff (it's all Aldi house brand) don't be. The only thing there we haven't liked was the yogurt (for Albert) when I accidentally bought the "light" stuff with nutrasweet in it instead of the regular flavor.

Every time I leave there, I have a look at the receipt and say "we only spent THAT much for all of this?"

Three things though:

1. Bring your own bags, they charge you for bags.

2. They only accept cash or debit, no credit cards or checks

3. Bring a quarter - to unlock the shopping cart costs a quarter, but you get your quarter back when you return it to it's spot.

If you've ever been curious as to what a German grocery store is like, this is about as close as you get. Aldis are from europe and the stores are identical over there.

[FAPTurbo]

Aldi is a great store. When I was in Europe, I'd buy food from either them, or Lidl. They saved me a lot of money, and I ended up eating way better than if I had to go to restaurants or cafe's. I found it quite easy to tell what products were garbage, and fortunately, very few of them were.

[regfootball]

Here are some of the items I consistently search for at the Aldi.

Box of saltines, 79 cents. why someone would pay 2.50 for the Keebler saltines is beyond me. pays for the gas out there.

Basic staples, sugar and flour can be had cheaper.

Dairy, sometimes I buy milk, sliced cheese, eggs, cottage cheese there. Generally a local supermarket will have close to the same prices on that stuff.

Cereal. Not all but for example a huge box of corn flakes for like 1.19. You can't make that $h! up.

Adult multivitamins although now i take the kids ones from target.

1.5 lb. bags of tilapia.

Produce. If it looks good, the small bags of onions, the bell peppers, the mushrooms, avacoados, berries, celery, sometimes tomatoes.

Snacks, sometimes snack crackers and such.

Pasta. Two pound box of spaghetti for insane price.

I don't really get much canned food at Aldi. They don't have much for low sodium options.

Aldi is a good place, its just not glamorous to shop there.

Edited March 31, 2011 by regfootball

[balthazar]

The one Aldi near me is not in a neighborhood where I'd care to get out of the car.

[daves87rs]

Aldis rock!

Been using those here....snacks are great!

[SAmadei]

The one Aldi near me is not in a neighborhood where I'd care to get out of the car.

I can understand that. Our local Aldi is in a meh 'hood... not quite that bad, though. During daylight.

Still cheaper to break into the neighbor's fridge, though.

[Cory Wolfe]

I've been taking advantage of job perks. $5 worth of food a day at no cost to me is almost enough to live on.

[ocnblu]

Drew, please call Lancaster and tell them to put in an Aldi down here.

[CSpec]

Since I live in the capital of the free world, there is no recession. Unemployment in Arlington, VA is 4% and housing prices are rising rapidly. Thanks, taxpayers!

[Intrepidation]

We've decided that its more cost effective to make the 42 minute drive to the closest Market Basket, which is in (tax free) NH, than go to Hannaford 7 minutes away for big shopping trips.

Spent $180 for more than two week's worth of food which would have cost closer to $250 at Hannaford. It's worth the $8 in gas.