Post inspired by
Snoskred.
R is very different to me in some ways. When shopping for clothes, he likes to touch and look at so many different items. He will take them off a rack and look at them, even though they may be totally inappropriate or way too expensive. I am a person on a mission. I know what I want, say a shirt, this colour, this size, this style, pocket for glasses, preferably a button down collar and then the price. Well, I already know that a bargain is to be had if I am there. I make a beeline to where the shirts are and I am rarely distracted by other clothing.
Yet put me in a hardware store, I am quite different. I like to gather information and so, ah, there is that product for doing that. That looks useful. Well, finally someone has invented a tool to do this. Ah, there is a bargain to be had. We paid how much for ours and look how cheap it is here. I can't say the information I gather in a hardware store is useless. It was useful today.
We did well this Sunday, with a pretty easy completion of a new towel rail and back of the door hook. I much prefer fitting the olden days stuff when no one bothered with concealed fixing and screws were exposed, but then it wasn't the concealed fixing that was the problem yesterday, but what we were fixing to.
Speaking of Snoskred, she has been wondering how we have been going at Aldi, after we were forced to change because of the closure of the Prahran carpark and could no long easily access Coles and Woolworths supermarkets by car.
We are very happy with Aldi in South Melbourne. We always get a parking space easily at, plus or minus, 10am on Saturday mornings. We have cut the cost of food, Wella and Vim shopping to nearly half. The shopping takes half the time.
The good is the cereals, the Weet Bix seems to be the same as Weet Bix, though incredibly cheap. Plenty of variety of biscuits, including a delicious peanut biscuit. Crisps, all good. Yoghurt, all good. Bread, as nice as Helgas and Country Bakehouse. Sauces, cheese, oils, pretty well all good. Limited range of soft drink, which we only buy for visitors. Milk powder and UHT, all good.
There are some items that you cannot buy at Aldi, so we just pop across the road to Woolworths for those. South Melbourne Market is close by.
The only real negatives about Aldi is the limited variety of the same item, perhaps not a bad thing, and that you have to take great care with fresh meat and vegetables. They are mostly locally grown, but at times can be of doubtful standard and may be cheaper and better elsewhere. We have yet to really try its alcohol offerings, wine and scotch.
Going back to hardware stuffs, of course I peruse those centre Aldi ailes for new and unusual products that are bargains. The last time we saw Bone Doctor, it was cold and from her jacket pocket she pulled out a holey pair of gloves for her hands. Aldi had some smart gloves on sale for $12, including little pads on the thumb and forefinger sleeves to be able to click and swipe on a screen. I threw into the trolley a pair for Bone Doctor for her birthday in a couple of weeks. Well done you, said R.
In summary, not perfect, but we really like Aldi. While the profits may go overseas, much of their goods are Australian made and grown.
I needed a specific sized electric timber drill bit today and I knew the old ones of that similar size were blunt. I selected the correct drill bit at the big green shed. It cost nearly $4 and was no doubt of high quality and would stay sharp, but given how often we now drill, it doesn't matter. Then I saw a full pack of drill bits for $17. We bought them. R insisted I throw away the old drill bits, but no, I protested. Some are sharp and nearly new. He was probably right, but I did throw away many that I did identify as being blunt. No need for masonry drills here either.