I've Been Shopping at Aldi for a Month Now. Here's How Much I've Saved

It's not a staggering amount, but every little bit helps.

When a friend of mine introduced me to Aldi a little over a month ago, I was skeptical about shopping there. I liked the idea of keeping my credit card tab to a minimum in the course of buying groceries. But I knew that some of the lesser-known brands stocked by Aldi would not fly with my picky-eater kids. I also figured my savings at Aldi would be minimal given that I shop regularly at Costco and save money there.

In the end, shopping at Aldi over the past month has only saved me about $30. But hey, the more money I can keep in my bank account, the better. At the same time, going forward, I may not make Aldi a regular weekly stop.

How I've saved at Aldi

Buying certain produce items at Aldi has allowed me to save money over the past month. My kids eat a lot of cucumbers, for example, and at Costco, these cost $1.99 each. At Aldi, they're $1.25 each, so I'm saving about $0.75 per cucumber.

Meanwhile, I commonly buy six cucumbers a week, or about 24 per month. So all told, I've saved around $18 on cucumbers alone by getting them at Aldi.

Grapes have been another area where I've saved. Costco grapes retail for $1.86 a pound, while Aldi grapes are $1.29 a pound. By my estimates, I've saved about $10 on grapes by getting them at Aldi.

Finally, Aldi blackberries are $1.29 for 6 ounces, or about $0.21 per ounce. Costco blackberries are $4.38 a pound, or $0.27 per ounce. The difference here isn't so substantial, but blackberries are popular in my house, so I've saved around $2 by purchasing these at Aldi rather than Costco. So all told, I've spent about $30 less by buying these specific produce items at Aldi.

I'm not always going to make time for the extra trip

At this point, I know there are certain produce items I can generally scoop up for less at Aldi compared to Costco. And since my local Aldi is in the same shopping center as Costco, it's easy enough to pop in before doing my Costco run.

But I'll also be honest and say that for those weeks when I'm really busy, I may just skip the Aldi stop and stick to Costco since that's apt to save me time. I'm all for spending less on groceries, but at the end of the day, I'm only looking at about $7 or so in weekly savings by stopping at Aldi. It's enough of a savings for me to make the extra trip when I can, but when I'm swamped, it's not worth it.

Since I'm self-employed, sometimes freeing up 15 or 20 minutes to work can be far more lucrative than saving $7. So while I still intend to shop at Aldi, I can't say with certainty that I'll shop there so regularly. The off-brands and limited selection make it so that I'm really only buying produce there, and a few select items at that.