[Sugar952]

I shop once a week by car and if I need something during the week I go by golf cart , as for storage I love to cook and bake everything from scratch so I have a lot of different pots pans and baking pans , we had a wall in our garage custom done with tall cabinets for all my cookware ( and I have a large kitchen ) we also had our 3 bedroom and hall closet done and we put the wire shelves in my laundry room where we keep all paper and cleaning supplies, as to what size home you need depends on your needs , do you get a lot of company that will stay with you ,do you entertain in your home often , the size will matter if you do , we get family and friends that stay with us and have a three bedroom 3 bathroom designer home and this size works for us , hope this helps answer your question ( as for dining out we do but I enjoy cooking we also do take out sometimes )

[Travel41]

Aldi does not own Trader Joe’s. The connection is 2 brothers who have passed away. Theo left Aldi and bought Trader Joe’s originally from CA

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Gulfcoast

I assure you it's an innocent question and one that could be asked on any neighborhood forum. We are interested in possibly moving to TV. I am starting to think about the logistics of what size house we'll need, the amount of storage we'll need, etc. In order to make the most of our visit there, I need to think about what type of house we would like to buy because we obviously can not look at every possible possibility while we're there.

It's nice to get a general sense of what to expect once we get there. Another question that I might post is: What is your routine now that you live in TV? I would ask that just to get an idea as to how many activities people actually engage in day to day.

I have no idea where any of these people live and TV is a huge community so this all very general, getting a ballpark feel for what to expect as a Villager.

Good answer. It appears the mods deleted mortal1's response.


When you get here, try to find a map of TV. There are several places you could live that would be within walking distance of grocery stores, if that's what you are wanting. Just north of CR 44 there is a Publix with housing behind it, also walking distance to the town square in Brownwood with restaurants, a produce store, groomer, hairdresser, spice shop, gym, a couple of clothing/knickknack stores. It's also just a few minutes from that area up to 466A where there is a huge non-Villages string of grocery stores (Aldi's, Publix, Winn-Dixie), gas stations, Walgreens, Lowe's, restaurants, nail salons, banks, soon-to-be full-service car wash. Part of that area is not golf-cart accessible. We rarely need to go anywhere else to shop, unless it's a rare trip to a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, an hour or so away.


Maybe others will chime in with other areas close to shopping. There are several.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

I spend more on food down here, food of same or similar quality/brand is more expensive here than at similar-quality stores back home. For me that would be Publix vs. Big Y, and Fresh Market vs. CT Natural Foods and Produce. Big Y is the "expensive" grocery store back home, and where I used to do most of my shopping. Now, I have to get most of my stuff from Walmart, which I avoided in the north.

We order take-out often here, but that's not much different from how we lived back home. Fast food dinners, sometimes pizza, sometimes subs, sometimes Outback, sometimes prepared "re-heat and serve) stuff from the produce store (they had a catering business too, you could get chicken piccata over rigatoni, home-made in their own kitchen and sold by the ounce - really delicious stuff).

I cooked as well, but ground meat here is insanely expensive. Thankfully I learned that Fresh Market has ground chuck for $2.99/lb on Tuesdays, so I stock up every so often and we have meatloaf or mac & meatballs one night, with enough leftovers to last for lunches for the whole week.

I like being somewhat conservative in my grocery spending but I am not what anyone would consider "frugal."

Re: paper goods: we don't use paper or plastic plates, and I wash and re-use chinese takeout soup containers and take-out containers from Carabba's as well. So I never spend anything on that stuff.

TP and paper towels I still have some from when we moved in November 2019. I had rewards bucks from Staples and used them to stock up a couple times a year, even though we never ran low. So I had around 200 rolls of toilet paper at the start of the pandemic, and around 50 rolls of paper towels. We still have some left, but we're down to our last dozen TP rolls so I started buying again. Up until recently, the last time I paid out of pocket for either was maybe 2014.

We tend to forget. looking from the bubble to the outside real-world. First of all we have
been here for eight years. Far as inflation, rising prices, food prices have risen dramatically. That is both in the villages and the outside world.

I/we do not really budget so much per week. We do spend more on grocery shopping
but when we were working we both at lunch out that alone was roughly $100 a week.
At most, eight years later we are spending $20 or so more a week at the grocery stores.

Toilet paper? Truth. fact, the rolls have gotten narrower and the cores have gotten bigger.

[dennisgavin]

get what we need when we need it, No rhyme or reason. Sometimes stop on the way back from golf,
We shop at different stores for different things. I refer to Winn Dixie as WD50. Unlike WD40 every time I "use" it I can't seem to get out
without spending 50 bucks! ;o(

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by CFrance

Good answer. It appears the mods deleted mortal1's response.


When you get here, try to find a map of TV. There are several places you could live that would be within walking distance of grocery stores, if that's what you are wanting. Just north of CR 44 there is a Publix with housing behind it, also walking distance to the town square in Brownwood with restaurants, a produce store, groomer, hairdresser, spice shop, gym, a couple of clothing/knickknack stores. It's also just a few minutes from that area up to 466A where there is a huge non-Villages string of grocery stores (Aldi's, Publix, Winn-Dixie), gas stations, Walgreens, Lowe's, restaurants, nail salons, banks, soon-to-be full-service car wash. Part of that area is not golf-cart accessible. We rarely need to go anywhere else to shop, unless it's a rare trip to a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, an hour or so away.


Maybe others will chime in with other areas close to shopping. There are several.

People tend not to realize. A fair guess, your car costs you about .65 a mile to drive.
That is all costs, insurance, depreciation, repair etc. Most of us only think of the fuel.
To drive an hour to shop at .......... if we figure 60 mph it is 60x.65 so thirty nine dollars.
Fuzzy math, of course it is but that 39 if it is both ways then.........

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by Gulfcoast

We are interested in possibly moving to TV. I am starting to think about the logistics of what size house we'll need, the amount of storage we'll need, etc. In order to make the most of our visit there, I need to think about what type of house we would like to buy because we obviously can not look at every possible possibility while we're there.

GC, rent a house for a month or two, like a designer, get a feel for the type of house you might want to buy or design, and then that money will be the best knowledge investment you can make to avoid making an impulse decision and a mistake, if you are risk adverse, or highly structured in lifestyle.

If you PM me, I can direct you to a very nice designer to test out. . . It will have almost everything you might like, or not, but best to just test drive to see, that way you will know, versus guess or make assumptions

sportsguy

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by dennisgavin

get what we need when we need it, No rhyme or reason. Sometimes stop on the way back from golf,
We shop at different stores for different things. I refer to Winn Dixie as WD50. Unlike WD40 every time I "use" it I can't seem to get out
without spending 50 bucks! ;o(

There is a science to grocery stores. They get you in by running sales. You go there to buy ????? cottage cheese which is on sale and buy a cart full. I think of it like Vegas.
It is impossible to find the restroom without passing hundreds of slot machines. The smells. Roasting chickens, baking breads and cakes. Even where stuff is on the shelf
all designed to sell you.

Winn Dixie-they seem to be the only store that still uses the original two tier smaller shopping carts. That was the original design. While the bigger carts do need wider isles other store have all decided that with a larger cart you will buy more.

[Alana33]

I order online for dry/canned goods, cleaning supplies, paper products and cases of dog food from Wal-Mart, free delivery to my door on purchases over $30.
I order once a month.
I use Win Dixie at Bichara Blvd. to shop for fresh produce, dairy, meats, and items unavailable at Wal-Mart at time of monthly order.
I shop there every 2.5 - 3 weeks.
Like their rewards card and specials.
Their pharmacy (and grocery) personnel are very nice.
It's a convenient and nearby location.
Aldi's every once in awhile.
I find Publix pricy so don't shop there.
I dropped my Sam's Club Membership.
When I still had it, shopped there or did PU once a month.
Haven't eaten inside a restaurant since last March but do order take out a couple times a month.
I drive my car when I shop as easier to lug groceries.
I am not keen on grocery shopping.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Sugar952

I shop once a week by car and if I need something during the week I go by golf cart , as for storage I love to cook and bake everything from scratch so I have a lot of different pots pans and baking pans , we had a wall in our garage custom done with tall cabinets for all my cookware ( and I have a large kitchen ) we also had our 3 bedroom and hall closet done and we put the wire shelves in my laundry room where we keep all paper and cleaning supplies, as to what size home you need depends on your needs , do you get a lot of company that will stay with you ,do you entertain in your home often , the size will matter if you do , we get family and friends that stay with us and have a three bedroom 3 bathroom designer home and this size works for us , hope this helps answer your question ( as for dining out we do but I enjoy cooking we also do take out sometimes )

Re: home size
Storage is limited in all of these homes. Translation, I sorely miss my basement under our previous northern home. Here you will not get one and if you did it would quickly be a swimming pool.

A great salesman's line when we were trying to decide what size TV to buy. "No one ever says, I wish I bought a smaller one." A bit of a spin. He did not mention that the bigger one costs more and I expect uses more electricity.

My point is our home is also 3 bedrooms two baths a two car garage and a golf cart garage. Not everyone can spend the money, the upkeep, the bond etc etc etc.
Fortunately there are choices.

[Villagesgal]

Grocery shop once every 2 weeks. Drive car to Aldis.
Use cart once a week to shop CVS or Walgreen and pick up anything on sale cheaper at Winn Dixie or Publix. Shop at Costco once every 3 months, drive car there. Storage no problem using pantry. Paper products stored on shelf in Garage.

[Blackbird45]

I know people or going to hate what I about to say.
When I was single and lived in Manhattan I would eat out 80% of the time.
Now I'm married and my wife is in a wheelchair so we very rarely go out.
What I discovered is I totally trust the food I'm eating and I'm never disappointed.
I don't have to drive, don't have to get dressed and it's a hell of a lot less expensive.
Today with the internet even if you have never held a pan in your hand you can be a chef over night.
There are millions of recipes just a touch away.
the only thing you need is a love for food.

[Villages Kahuna]

We shop online for groceries every week or ten days—outside pickup at either Walmart or Publix. But we haven’t visited a restaurant in over a year.

We grocery-shop most frequently at Walmart because their outside pickup prices are the same as in-store. We limit our Publix shopping to items only available there because their curbside pickup or delivery prices are quite punitive—as much as 25% higher than in-store.

Even though we’ve gotten two Pfizer shots, we’ve decided to steer clear of inside dining until 75-80% of the U.S. population has been immunized, plus gaining the assurance that new COVID variants haven’t popped up.

[DaveGodin]

We go about once a week. I freeze meat and usually have several meals worth in the freezer. Meat is expensive in Florida as is seafood, at least as compared to our former home in Pennsylvania. We have also noticed that fruit is of lesser quality here, but it could just be us. Lately I have not seen any shortage of paper products. We generally go to Walmart for paper products and publix for groceries. We use both the golf cart and the car as it is easier to get to the "big" publix by car. We have one of those golf cart shopping bags which is large enough to hold all of our groceries. We are fortunate that we have 5 grocery stores which are easily golf cart accessible near us ( two Publix, a Winn Dixie, Walmart and Aldi).

[FUSSY LADY]

Originally Posted by Gulfcoast

Compari tomatoes are totally worth it. I make garden salads every day and I've tried all sorts of tomatoes. The Compari tomatoes are delicious and I rarely find a bad one in the container. The only tomatoes that are better are the ones we grow ourselves.

You are right about the Compari Tomatoes, they are sure the best, have been buying them for years. Sam's has the best price unless Publix or Winn Dixie have the buy one get one, then they are close.