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Dollar stores

I have to say it, I love dollar stores. I love being able to go in with $10 and come out with 10 items. I love going in and finding neat stuff. I love being able to stock up on snacks and not break the budget.

But I don't love everything in the dollar store. There are times you are actually paying more for an item then you would in a regular store, esp when you consider cost per ounce or such. Plus you sometimes don't get the quality of regular store stuff. Case in point, I will NEVER buy coffee at the dollar store again. It was an off brand and I ended up composting the unused grounds the coffee from it was so foul and I usually buy the cheap stuff from the grocery store.

I also won't buy oven cleaner there again. It said low fumes. If that was low fumes, I'd hate to buy the non-low fumes stuff. Dead of winter and I had the windows and doors open and fans running. Danged near gassed us out of the house.

But I love buying a lot of my dishes, glassware and kitchenware there. If I break a $1 wine glass, I am not going to be unhappy (if I break one of my antique wine glasses I will be curled up on the floor in tears). I also love buying a lot of my cleaning supplies there, the sponge/scrubby combo sponges at 6 for a buck are great.

Shampoos, soaps, toothbrushes and toothpastes are a good buy. I also buy the green 50% alcohol there I like to use for the basis of my kitchen cleaners.

Seasonal items such as garden tchatchies are great and I love the dollar store around Christmas time as I get a lot of great decorations, gift bags and wrapping for cheap and I can make some of the best bath spa baskets for gifts.

The one problem I don't like about dollar stores if I find something I really love, say a food item, I can always get it again. We found a brand of mustard we like, Plochman's, and it is a good thing we stocked up on it a while back. They don't carry it any more.

Oh well, I'll keep shopping at the dollar store and finding my little treasures and enjoy them.

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