Dollar stores are great places to find bargains on dozens of household needs but sometimes you're being duped into less of a bargain than you're expecting! Comparison shopping is always a good idea, no matter where you shop so, notepad in hand, WalletPop's dollar store diva, Marlene Alexander, set out to compare the prices of ten items from the dollar store with prices at other discount stores.
She compared most of what to get it at Costco, so what if you don't have a Costco? Or if you have Sam's Club, you still have to shell out the money for the membership. I really never benefited from my Sam's Club membership. I don't need items in bulk, so in the long run I was spending more.
I save a lot with my Sams membership. Plus they have cheese I can't find at Kroger sometimes. But I have 4 people to feed.
Most of what I get lasts long enough for me to use it. Canned tomatoes, flour, sugar, crackers and nuts ... school snacks for the kids.
I get things like antihistamine, and cold medicine there much cheaper. Bandaids, razors. You can get shampoo and things like that but I am picky about my shampoo. Even some more expensive drugstore face creams and things like that, but I don't normally buy that there.
The things that never go bad are paper goods ... foil, paper plates, napkins. And I often get cat litter there. Laundry soap, fabric softener, dishwasher soap, refills for hand soap dispensers.
And they have deals on things I don't buy all the time. We bought a digital camera for my daughters Japan trip and Target wanted 29.99 for a SD card and it was only 19.00 at Sams. DVD's & Wii games are a pretty good, you usually get at least a little off. That's helpful at Christmas time.
I too love to buy the bulk paper goods at Sam's or BJs even though there is only 2 of us in the home. I also enjoy buying 8 zillion pounds of cheese!
It's also handy to get our propane fill ups... Overall, the bulk stores are a wonderful thing IMO. I'm not much of a dollar store shopper though as I don't often see anything that I really want or need in those stores.
__________________ "Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans ... are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit."
I noticed the price comparisons in the article was in Canada, not the US.
I love my Costco membership and there is only the two of us. It's a great place to stock on staples like flour, sugar, can goods, paper and cleaning products. I also get good prices on bulk packed chicken breast and some other meats. The one we go to in Charleston also has good prices on fruits and veggies - like asparagus for $2/lb. which is $1/lb cheaper than the grocery stores.
We're looking at finally replacing our old TV with a new LCD flatscreen and the best deals we have found is at Costco.
__________________ Most of all, cook from the heart, and you’ll never be lonely when the dinner bell rings! - Chef Robert Irvin
I even work close to the Sam's Club in my area and still didn't go there very often.
I bought a whole slew of large pepperoni to make pepperoni rolls when I had a membership, couldn't use them all without having pepperoni rolls everyday for a month! I did the same thing with the Laughing Cow cheese.
I bought a whole slew of large pepperoni to make pepperoni rolls when I had a membership, couldn't use them all without having pepperoni rolls everyday for a month! I did the same thing with the Laughing Cow cheese.
Don't you just love that Laughing Cow cheese? I've got two wheels of it in the fridge right now. But, it won't be there long!
__________________ Most of all, cook from the heart, and you’ll never be lonely when the dinner bell rings! - Chef Robert Irvin
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