People send me all sorts of suggestions and (unsolicited) advice all the time.

Some things make my roll my eyes and sigh heavily.

But there are plenty of things I am willing to try.

The last couple years have just been so crazy that I haven’t acted on most of the ideas I think might be good.

But I have filed away some of the tips that have come my way for a time when things slowed down a little bit.

I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to tie up loose ends and get things organized.

I actually feel like today, for the first time since I’ve had kids, that I’m on the side of more organized rather than less organized.

I feel like I have about 55% of my shit together with the other 45% still a pretty big mess.

But I’m getting there. I think in about two more weeks the split will be closer to 90/10.

So anyway, I want to acknowledge (and share) two suggestions I  finally took my friends up on today.

When they read this, they are both going to roll their eyes and send me a huge I TOLD YOU SO.

These things aren’t big deals. You’re probably going to be like, um…  you couldn’t do that?

But I’ve felt so overwhelmed that for whatever reason, I just couldn’t get my shit together until today.

And now, of course, I wish I had listened to my friends when they first made these suggestions a long time ago. Because one is going to make my life a little bit easier, and one is going to make it a lot easier and save me a bunch of money.

Okay.

Here’s the first one.

Like I said, it’s not a big deal, so don’t get too excited.

But every time I show a picture of a mess in a blog post or on the Facebook page, my friend Kathy sends me a message and tells me to buy Awesome. It’s an all purpose cleaner.

You can get it on Amazon. It’s like $8.80 for two bottles.

But Kathy told me it’s at the dollar store, too.

She was right. It’s there, and today I got some.

One bottle of that stuff costs over four bucks on Amazon, but the exact same bottle is only a dollar at the Dollar Tree!

And it works!

Number 7’s favorite shirt had some stains on it that I could not get out no matter what I tried. So this morning I went to Dollar Tree and I got some.

I had to put some elbow grease into it, but those mothereffing stains are gone, and now Number 7 can wear that shirt to school.

She’s going to be so psyched!

So thank you, Kathy.

And you’re right.

You told me so.

The moral of the story is don’t be like me.

Listen to Kathy now, and the next time you’re at the dollar store, buy yourself some Awesome.

Because it’s awesome.

Now the second thing.

My other friend, Lori, has been telling me to shop at Aldi for a long time.

And I just haven’t been able to do it.

I’m a creature of habit in some areas, I guess.

Plus, Aldi is like a seven minute longer drive for me than Costco and Shoprite are, and even that small difference seemed like too much for me to deal with.

Until today.

Aldi is right next to the Dollar Tree.

So after I got my Awesome, I went to Aldi for the first time ever.

What an idiot I am.

To start with, you all know how I feel about people who don’t return their fucking shopping carts.

In fact, I’ve been so vocal about this that I get texts like this one on a  regular basis:

And before you start defending yourself and saying things like stores have people whose job it is to return the carts, um…

The only reason stores have people to do that is because people are too fucking lazy to return their carts!!!

And stores have to pay these people. And the money to pay them has to come from somewhere.

(And it comes from you, because you have to pay higher prices to cover the cost of your being too lazy to return your damn cart).

So anyway, Aldi is so inexpensive.

Like  SO inexpensive.

And one reason for that is because you have to deposit a quarter to get a cart. And you don’t get it back if you don’t return the cart.

People will do anything for a quarter, apparently.

So anyway there are no lazy fuckers at Aldi who won’t return their carts.

That’s reason #1 why I am a convert.

Reason #2.

The prices are ridiculously low.

How do they do this?

Well, for starters, they don’t pay someone to retrieve shopping carts.

They also don’t do plastic bags. You need to bring your own.

They don’t have 450,000 different brands in their stores, so the actual buildings are smaller and their energy costs are lower.

And they aren’t open 24/7. Or even super late.

But the last time I did a massive shop at 10 or 11 pm was like, um…

Well, never.

So that doesn’t affect me, either.

But the amount of food I got for $117 today was unbelievable.

Um, yeah.

I should have listened to Lori a long time ago.

And go ahead, Lori. Rub it in.

You seriously fucking told me so.

Well, I really wish I hadn’t waited on the Aldi thing, but better late than never!

Now if you haven’t discovered Awesome or Aldi, don’t be a dumbass like me. Don’t wait a couple of years.

Check them out.

They are two simple things that could improve your life today, and all you need is a dollar, a quarter, the desire to save money, and the willingness to return your damn cart.