You know. The store where everything is a dollar… or less. You can buy
a lot of stuff you need there,
but it is not always the best deal in quality or even quantity. Yes it’s
fun for your kids to use their pocket money on candy or an interesting toy that
is pretty much dead within five minutes of use. There is a lot of junk there
not really worth a dollar. But here are the things I think are totally worth
that buck.
1. Gift wrap, gift bags, tissue paper, crepe paper, foil/mylar
helium balloons, and party favors. You will pay at least double (but easily
triple and beyond) for this stuff anywhere else. One time we wanted to get a balloon for our
son’s birthday but we were out late and the only place open was Kroger. We
picked one nice helium-filled mylar
balloon and imagine our shock when it
rang up for $14.99. WHAAAAAA?
2. A 20 oz. bottle of
Coke (or Coke products) to go from the cooler.
You will pay at least $1.59 for this anywhere else.
3. AIM Toothbrushes.
These are my favorite toothbrush for
quality and cleaning—better than the
more expensive $3 and $4 ones you can get anywhere else.
4. “Generic” Magic
Erasers. A two-pack. Once, my Dollar
Tree was out of these, so I bought the “Mr.Clean” brand for more than three
times the price, and they did not even clean as well!
5. Planners and
appointment books. Even the cheapest
appointment books on Amazon or at Office Supply stores start at $10 (but
easily $20-$30 and more), and the formats
you can find in the Dollar Tree
are often nicer.
6. Poster board and Foam
Board. More than half the price of anywhere else and just
as nice.
7. Aluminum cookware,
tins, and “tupperware”, for cooking for a crowd or for cooking to take to someone else.
8. Dishes. Even the plainest
ones at Walmart are $1.50 each. Dollar Tree has lots of nice
choices for building a collection of
dishes.
9. Yardley of London bar soaps. My grandmother always “splurged” to use
this as her everyday soap. Now it is
your cheapest option for a quality-made milled soap in wonderful,
more “natural” fragrances.
10. Coloring books,
drawing paper, construction paper, elementary writing tablets, composition
notebooks, and practice workbooks for preschoolers and kindergartners. I have
found some of the most wonderful science-themed coloring books of animals,
plants, insects, and more, as well as
coloring books of all my kids favorite characters, including Dora, Diego,
Precious Moments, Disney, and superheroes, as well as wonderful “beginner”
coloring books with large, cute
pictures, and other themed books such as
doodle prompts, princesses, fairies, vehicles,
and more.
11. Glue, glue sticks, glitter-glue, post-it
notes, stickers, rulers, erasers,
calculators, binder clips, paper clips, push pins or thumbtacks, BIC
white-out, reinforcement stickers for notebook
paper (you know, the little white
donut-stickers), regular white envelopes
(both sizes), manila envelopes (including padded envelopes), file folders, foam
craft stickers, popsicle sticks,
google eyes, pipe cleaners,
pom-poms. Now, to make it easier, here is what I do not recommend
in the school supply area: Pencils, ink pens, markers, binders, colored pencils,
ruled notebook paper. You can get Crayola markers for $1.00 a pack or even less
during school supply sales, and even sometimes get 24-packs of Crayola crayons for
25 cents (Walmart especially).
11. Hair ties,
scrunchies, headbands, clips, hair brushes, combs, and more. You can’t beat the
price anywhere else and there are more than enough options to keep your
little girl well-stocked and coordinated all the time.
12. Mascara, blush, eyeliner and eyeshadow. Check if you’re in there. This section
changes more than all the others. You
will score when they have full-sized mascara, and it’s a great way to play
around with new colors before investing
in your favorite designer brand.
13. A colander (strainer).
The cheapest plastic colander I remember seeing outside of the Dollar Tree was
$9.00. My $1.00 colander lasted me 15 years (and I have seven children—that’s
LOTS of mac-n-cheese and spaghetti, folks), so even if I have to buy a new
one every 15 years, I still come out way ahead in my
lifetime.
14. Tape. Especially
packing tape, masking tape, and tape refills for your “Scotch” tape dispenser (no comparison on that last one—the price difference is VAST).
15. Mini-laundry baskets and newspaper bins. Very sturdy and very
handy.
16. An umbrella. If you catch yourself
out running errands in a downpour,
don’t let Walmart or the grocery store get you because they will move an
umbrella display to be the first thing you
see when you walk in, and you will pay $6-10. Instead, run into a DollarTree, and
then keep the umbrella in your car for emergencies.
17. Candy. Anything over 4
oz is the best deal. Also, they have a wonderful selection of sugar-free candy to
satisfy a sweet tooth.
18. Kettle-cooked chips.
19. Fudge-covered graham crackers and fig
bars.
20. Reading glasses, and neck
chains for glasses.
21. Travel mugs/cups (insulated, with straws). Yes, they’re
not quite as nicely made, but they are a
fraction of the cost and plenty nice enough.
22. Drink bottles. Not just
any. You have to look harder for the nicer ones! Don’t fall for ones that are too fat for your
car’s or backpack’s drink holders, and don’t buy them so skinny they
are tippy!
23. Books. But you have to look. They have nice board
books and children’s stories sometimes. They have devotionals and Bibles, reference/educational
books, and cookbooks. We even super-scored on some crochet pattern books before.
24. Waxed paper.
25. Baby rattles, teether
toys—some really cute ones for stocking the diaper bag or tying onto the
bow of a baby gift.
26. ???? What have
I missed? Leave your best deal from Dollar Tree in the comments!
