$ Tree - New to Me.

Over the weekend my husband & I were up at the boat, and we did some shopping up there.  I went to the great local health food store and picked up vitamins and special supplements (& found lots of samples of soap & lotions!)

We were on the way to the boat when I saw a new Dollar Tree store, which I had to check out.  I know the chain vaguely from the East Coast, but I hadn't seen any here in California, so I wondered what they had.  It was a lovely, clean and well-organized store.  Interesting that altho the selection here and there overlaps with the 99 Cent Store and other dollar stores - it's also true that they have some different merchandise.  Turkish dried apricots, for example. (The chain has spread from the E. Coast and has gone national - so check out on the web where there is a Dollar Tree Store near you.)

Dollar Tree also seems to have their own house brands, which you can see by looking at the labels, which read Chesapeake, Virginia - I looked it up & that's their main distribution warehouse.  They have a lot of bath and beauty products which seem to be house brands - and I picked up a tube of eye gel for $1!!  I also got my favorite Shasta diet cola - a very good deal in the large bottles for $1 - and four jars of pickled red peppers (great for having on the shelf as an emergency vegetable ingredient & they are so expensive elsewhere!)

We also found deals on crew socks - packages of 3 for $1  - and stocked up. (The socks at the 99 Cent Store were $1 each!) There were lots of toys and party goods - which I remember from my trips to the stores in N.J.  Why would anyone pay MORE for paper plates and napkins?  They even had a full rack of greeting cards. And I looked at the sunglasses and bought some sunscreen.

We had a basket full when we went to the checkout and my husband grumbled - but was pleasantly surprised when it all cost $35.  It's always amazing to see the difference $30-40 buys in Rite-Aid, say - and a 99 Cent Store or a Dollar Tree! As money gets tighter, I am going to make sure that we (my husband especially!) buy more staples at the dollar stores FIRST - and THEN go to the regular drug stores and so on.

We did go and buy vitamins at Rite-Aid that are cheaper in the generic than at the health food store - where I buy speciality things, and then, on sale when I can! And there were 2 for 1 deals on some vitamins - so we stocked up. We also compared the ingredients on the Men's Vitamin formula which my husband had been using, and decided that the generic Rite-Aid brand was vitually the same, and less expensive, so we went with that. (Always compare the generic brands with the name ones to see if you can go with those and save some $.)

I also got the new Aveeno high number sunblock in the special packaging with the smaller regular 30 lotion included! (The full regular 30 lotions are $20!) For the body, we ususually use generic sunblock - but for the face, I splurge. It makes a difference, especially when we are hanging out on the boat in all the sun and water glare.

The point of all this is that you want to scope out the best deals in the relative outlets.  It doesn't mean that you have to buy things exclusively at dollar stores! But it does help to stock up on the sort of staples you can find there which give you savings vis a vis regular brands and outlets - whenever possible. And remember to look for sales and samples - even at the health food store!

I have found that the little sample packets of lotion often will have several applications in them - not just ONE.  I get the most out of them by folding over the top open edge of the sample packet and closing with a paperclip or a bobby pin.  That way, you can use it ALL!  And the vitamin/supplement samples are good for travel, too!

So we did a big shopping - but we won't have to do that for quite a while, as we have stocked up! And as I see people get various ailments around me, I don't begrudge the $ we spend on supplements and health care items.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the old saying goes.

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At the new Dollar Tree

Scoping out another dollar store chain. c.doverpublishing

It has been in Minneapolis and Fargo for over two years now, and it is not new to me or Minneapolis people or the FM-Fargo/Moorhead. It reached the West Coast last because it started on the East Coast. Everyone out here knows of it. Glad to know you found it. Maybe you can read about it in my blogs since I have been writing on that store for months now. Have fun shopping like I do there, since it opened.

I remember it from N.J., as I said. & it's interesting because the merchandise is just that much different from our local 99 Cent Store chain that it's worth a visit to both.
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