5 Things I Bought At Aldi That I Definitely Didn’t Go In For…

I’ve been shopping at Aldi for years now. Before it became ‘trendy’ to shop there. Before the funny adverts with Gin drinking grannies brought shoppers there in their droves. Ever since I lived in France and it was basically our only choice of Supermarket. Once we returned to the UK and a wealth of shopping choices on most street corners, I stuck with Aldi because, frankly, how do you go back to spending ‘normal’ money when Aldi is so much cheaper than everywhere else??

It’s a lot more popular these days, which to be honest kinda pisses me off because it used to feel like a little secret that only I knew about. But I guess it was inevitable that people would catch on – It’s come a long way over the years. Once upon a time the range was a little limited, so I tended to buy all my basics there and do a top up shop in a bigger Supermarket like Tesco to get the Branded or more ‘niche’ products, but these days there is little that I can’t buy there, and the price point has managed to stay so affordable that I can’t imagine shopping elsewhere now. I will actually go out of my way to make sure I can do a big shop there specifically, and I’m pretty lazy, so that says a lot….

My favourite thing about the store is also my least favourite thing, and that is the endless supply of completely random surprise items you find in those middle aisles. Sometimes you find the most wonderful treats, but it also means you can go in there with every intention of just picking up some milk and bread, and come out having sent £50 on ‘extras’…. This happens to me on a pretty regular basis if this lot has anything to go by…

A Broom…

You know how you’ll be picking up the ingredients to make your tea and you suddenly remember the broom is broken and you need a new one…? No, me neither, actually, but that’s the beauty of Aldi. There you are, minding your own business in Fruit and Veg, when you spot something out of the corner of your eye and realise, ‘Why yes, I DO need a new steam cooker, actually….!’ This broom was a prime example of that. It was a bit of a challenge getting in through the checkout though, good job we were doing a big shop that day….

Faux Jo Malone…

Last week, as I stopped to peruse their heavily Jo Malone inspired home fragrance range, Danny asked me, ‘Don’t we have enough candles already..?’ which of course was a stupid question, because everyone knows you can never have enough candles! Obviously he doesn’t understand the importance of making sure you have collected every scent – boys, amirite?? Anyway, these of course, at a fraction of the price, don’t hold a candle (geddit??) to the original, but they do smell pretty darn lovely, and I love the classy packaging which is nicely neutral and looks far more expensive than it actually is. My favourite is the Freesia & Pear, which I’ve only managed to snag in room spray form so far – so sorry Danny, but there will be many more stops to look at candles on future shops until I have rectified this issue…

Flowers…

Ok, so it isn’t particularly unusual to buy flowers in the Supermarket, right? I like to have flowers in my home and it’s just so easy to obtain them these days without having to make a special trip to a florist. What might be a little more unusual though, is my complete inability to leave Aldi without buying a bunch of flowers, because they are just so cheap and so darn attractive. Honestly, I could have actually opened my own florist with the amount of blooms we had dotted around the house at Easter. Still, there are worse habits to have I suppose!

Gorilla Glue…

From the most girly of purchases to the least! Who woulda thunk this girl here would be in the market for super-strong super glue? Well, normally I wouldn’t be, but this one has a story. A few years ago a friend gave me Kurt Geiger gift card, with which I bought the most beautiful pair of ‘Dazzle’ shoes – made of a gorgeous mauve fabric and adorned with an vintage style brooch, I loved these shoes so much. Around a year later, disaster struck. I have no idea how to this day, but one day I reached for them and found that on one of the shoes the brooch had snapped in half and was dangling unattractively off to one side. A couple of weeks later the same had inexplicably happened to the other shoe! Evidently it must have been some kind of design flaw. I spent months trying to find a fix, starting with my reliable fix-it man (my Dad!) and ending in a schlep around multiple cobblers to see if anyone could suggest a solution, but alas they all came up blank. The last cobblers we tried told me to cut my losses and find a new brooch to stick on the toe, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I also couldn’t bring myself to throw them out either because it seemed like such a waste. If only I could find some kind of glue that was strong enough to glue metal?? I’m sure you can guess the rest! The amazing news is – IT FREAKING WORKED!! I have my beautiful shoes back, and I no longer feel stupid for keeping a broken pair of shoes for so long! Thanks, Aldi!

Gin…

I don’t need many excuses to buy Gin. I should probably think of some actually because I’m genuinely running out of space… Anyway, Aldi is most definitely acting as an enabler here because they just keep on bringing out MORE GIN! Their standard Gin is just £10 a bottle and last year was named one of the best in the world. Their premium Gin, Topaz Blue, is even nicer, but best of all, you can regularly find a cheeky little small batch Gin nestled on the shelves, so it is not by any means rare that an extra bottle finds it’s way into my basket! This Christmas was exceptional, with  range of quite a few limited varieties available which led to an almost compulsive obsession with tracking all of them down. The most impressive had to be the Gin Lane Old Tom and Pink Gin – retailing for £10 cheaper than in Selfridges – which I obviously snapped up with vigour, and I’m looking forward to seeing what treats their Summer ranges might hold! I’m hoping they might follow Lidl’s example and bring out some flavoured ones…!

So incase you were thinking my impulsive shopping habits were isolated to shoes and dresses, nope. It’s just shopping in general, sadly. No store is a safe haven, if they will take my money, I will find something to buy. IT’S A DISEASE, PEOPLE!

Are you an Aldi fan? What treats have you managed to bag yourself?

Love,

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