Have You Been To An Aldi Special Buy – No? Here’s Some Tips

Aldi Special Buys are fuc*en stressful!

Note from the Editor – I love Aldi.  Aldi is where we do our fortnightly food shop.  It’s great.  I love it.  Pack you own items, be fast to put it in your trolley and then go back and return your trolley.  Oh and the kicker, the food is great quality and much cheaper than Woolworths and Coles!  #aldiforlife

I went to an Aldi Special Buy and I don’t think I want to ever go to another one ever again.  Picture this. 

Husband:  We should get a new vacuum Babe, you deserve it. 

Me: That’s a good idea, I’ll read the reviews

Husband:  The sale starts Saturday

*Disclaimer – I’m a cleaner and my husband saying I ‘deserve’ a vacuum is because he hates my work vacuum because he doesn’t know how to empty it nor does he know how to use it correctly. 

I read the reviews and they were good and for the price, it was a bargain.  Here’s a hot tip for all the non married people in the world or for all the single people in the world.  When the wife or husband says “we” it does not necessarily mean YOU or ME.  In my experience as a married woman it means ‘one of us’.  Given the fact that it was me that was going to use it every day for work then of course I would be the one to actually go buy it.  I reluctantly said I would go get it.  What I didn’t know was that it was on sale on a Saturday.  At Aldi.  If you are an active Aldi shopper or a shopper at all, you know that Aldi is crazy on Wednesdays and Saturdays – those are the Special Buy days. 

I go shopping fortnightly and on a Wednesday at Aldi. I haven’t been working for the last few months so I would drop my son off at school at then go to Aldi.  Totally oblivious to Special Buy Wednesday I was ready to leave the car, with my trolley token and begin my shop.  It was 5 minutes before opening time (8:25), by the time I crossed the car park, got my trolley I would be ready to roll.  However there was a situation.  Just as I was getting out of my car I noticed heaps of people lined up, I’m seeing at least 50 people all lined up before the doors opened.  It was at this point I returned to my car and sat there for 10mins.  What the hell is going on?

While I was in the car – I googled the Aldi sale that started that day. There was a lot of wooden kid toys – like doll houses and doll house furniture and for something totally not related to dolls houses or kids were DeLongi coffee machines and the most loved appliance in our house, the humble air fryer.  Flashback to May, I made my husband go to Aldi the day before Mothers Day to get the air   fryer that was on sale that day.  Although I had no idea how crazy the sales were at that time.  I just said the opening time is 8am so told him to get there before then.  My Husband is pretty clicked on to these things it seems, news to me as he never does any sort of shopping.  This is the same Husband that does absolutely NO Christmas shopping unless he knows exactly where to go and he knows exactly what product to get.  Yet, his presents are top notch.  So annoying.  The morning he went to get the air fryer he was out of bed, dressed, had his coffee and in the car by 7:20.  He said he was 3^rd in line and 1^st to get an air fryer.  Yes, this is the same man that never goes shopping.  Ever.  But somehow nabs the most wanted present for Mother’s Day.  Although, secretly, I think he did all that because there wasn’t a Plan B for another Mother’s Day present.  Husband said he loved it – loved the thrill of racing people and ‘power walking’ to the back of the store to get what he came for.  My experience was the total opposite. 

The morning I went to get the vacuum, I woke up at 7am, was in line by 7:35.  This is under the ‘direction’ of my Husband (eye roll) Surely it can’t be that bad?  Oh it was.  It was all that and more.  By the time I lined up I was the 6^th person in line.  I text Husband and he said and I quote “oh dear, you might miss out”  What the fuck? I’m the 6^th person in line?  That was when I started to stress out.  At the same time I was messaging my bestie telling her that I was freaking out because of what my husband said.  Then she said the same bloody thing!  What the fuck?  I went to her for support and she totally sent me to the wolves.  Well, not really.  But this whole situation had become very stressful and there was 5 mins until they opened the door.  Then to add to my stress levels, I was thinking about the protocol of what to do when you actually get in the store? 

Do you run, do you jog, do you power walk? What’s the procedure?  Then when you grab the item that you’ve been standing in line for 40 minutes for do you just grab it and stuff everyone else?  And what if you go on the wrong side of the aisle and there’s 1 left and you and someone else go to grab it at the same time?  So much crap like this was going through my head.  It’s very stressful.  Tell me you can relate?

Finally, the doors opened and it was Go Time. I walked faster than usual while driving my trolley.  I totally fluked it and got the correct aisle.  Low and behold, there it was.  The $99 vacuum that I had been stressing about for the last 1 hour.  I quickly put one in my trolley, then I turned around and a massive wave of people came towards me.  I say about 6.  All with trolleys. They were either buying the vacuum or the steel cap boots that were also a Special Buy.  At that point I really couldn’t give a shit what was going on.  I wanted out!  Pronto!  There was a lady calling out to her friend Sally, who was on the other side of the aisle calling out to her friend, a baby crying, a toddler that had walked away from their parents and the Dad was yelling at her to come back as they were looking at something.  I was the first person to leave the area, go to the register and get the hell out of there.  The checkout lady asked how I was going?  I said better now, that I’m leaving.  She told me that on a Special Buy Saturday a guy was lined up at 5:30AM for a TV!!  5:30 in the morning.  2.5 hours before opening time.  For a TV.  Now, I love a bargain, but I am definitely not committed to getting up that early and sitting in a line for a TV or a phone or a burger.  I have however, lined up for a Powderfinger cd and a few concerts at The Arena in Fortitude Valley but that was in the 90s – the world was much better then than it is now.  But kudos to that man that got his tv.  He would have been as happy as I would have been when I was 16. 

My first Saturday Aldi Special Buy was a success.  Excluding the major stress levels that I went through in 1 hour.  I got home by 8:20, had myself a nice breakfast and then started the day.  It was a stress free day.  Funny little confession though – I didn’t use the vacuum until about 1 month after I bought it.  I’m not a fan of the hose, but it does the job that it is intended too. 

So, if you ever have to go to an Aldi Special Buy day be that either on a Wednesday or a Saturday – I wish you ALL the luck in the world.  Like seriously, ALL the luck.  Maybe have a shot of vodka before you leave home or send you husband or a teenager.  Teenagers are brutal, they give zero shits about anything, am I right? Wonder if being in Aldi would make a difference?  Actually, it would.  I take that back.  Or just be like me, get there early, be totally naïve, wing it, get your item and get the heck out of there and drive home.  What was the worst that could happen?  It could be like those horrible videos you seen on the internet where ladies are fighting over wedding dresses and toilet paper.  Then the police get called, their hair is a mess, they have black eyes and they are going absolutely nuts. Then you’re an internet sensation for all the wrong reasons and then end up on A Current Affair and the local or national news or the Today Show.  Whatever you do to get your Aldi Special Buy I am sending many, many good vibes from the universe to you.  You will need it! 

Happy Shopping friends!!