This past week has been a homeowner disaster. While George was doing laundry on Sunday (yes, I’m a lucky girl) he noticed a gurgle sound in our basement and then noticed a water back up in our sewer drain. He was off on Monday so it was decided that he would call Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) to have them take a look. MSD was a great suggestion by my Aunt Karen in November of 2009 when our tree roots invaded our sewer line. It seemed to be the same issue and we thought that MSD was able to come once a year to rod the line which they do for free. LONG story short MSD said they couldn’t do the job because in fact they were only able to come once every two years and suggested we call a plumber. Plumber came Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but said we had to call MSD again to finish the job. MSD came out again last night and within 15 minutes we were golden. As they left one of the MSD representatives suggested we use bleach and water to clean the concrete in our laundry room to rid the smell of sewer.

I ran out to get some gas, dinner and bleach and while I was getting gas near my house the employee of the station asked if I needed anything from inside because she was going to lock it up to go clean the bathrooms. I thought I would try to kill two birds with one stone and asked if she sold bleach. She said she didn’t and referred to the little market next door that would have bleach but it was extremely overpriced. She asked which direction I was heading and I told her I was headed to Chipotle for dinner (don’t worry, I’m counting all those points). Oddly enough, she didn’t know what Chipotle was but she did say that I should head to the “mexican place down the street” because they sold bleach for a cheap price.

At first I had NO clue what “mexican place” she was referring to but she did say it was down the hill on Glendale-Milford Road. I figured I would just head in that direction as their was a Chipotle near the intersection of Reading Road and Glendale-Milford Road, what did I have to lose. As I was approaching the intersection I realized she was either referring to Aldi or the Asian market in the plaza on Glendale-Milford Road. Neither one struck me as “mexican places” but I went ahead and stopped in at Aldi.

{MY NEW DISCOVERY}

I know that my mom often goes to Aldi (especially now that she is angry with Kroger) but I have never been nor have I really thought to go. This place was CLEAN and organized even if it was all stacked on pallets and in boxes, it had friendly staff and I was curious about the brands they sold. I made my way around the aisles even though there were only a few because it was so small. I didn’t grab a grocery cart because I was only there to pick up bleach but I did notice that you needed to insert a quarter in order to use a cart, small inconvenience but was later told that it kept the carts collected and in good shape because you got your quarter back if it was returned. I was checking out and asked the cashier if by any chance Aldi was a Mexican-owned company. She laughed and asked where I heard that information. She then went on to explain that Aldi was a German-owned company and that Aldi also owned Trader Joe’s. How many of you have shopped at Trader Joe’s and never knew that it was owned by Aldi? I’ll raise my hand on that one!

The cashier continued on explaining the history of Aldi and since she knew I was a first-time shopper she filled me in on the process of the shopping carts, the reason they don’t accept credit cards (to save money), why they encourage you to bring your own bags and their own private label. She suggested that I check out the website and now I’m suggesting it to you. There is a link that also encourages you to take the Aldi One Week Shopping Challenge where they promise that you will save money. I might try this and if I do I’ll let you know.