1. Organization/ Storage bins - I love, love, love putting things in bins. We meal plan every week and I like to portion out my snacks in advance. The downfall of doing that is a ton of little baggies everywhere. I used to just put my little baggies inside of one big baggy. Baggy-inception if you will. I didn't want to spend $5-10 for a plastic container at Target.
The dollar store was the solution for this particular issue. I bought all of these containers at the $.99 only store. I keep our granola bars, which we buy in bulk, and our individual portions of crackers in these bins. I also have a big bin under the sink filled with Madeline's finger painting supplies. I have also found most of my little glass jars where I store makeup sponges and cotton balls at the dollar store.
2. Balloons and Party Supplies - When we had Madeline's first birthday party I bought the expensive balloons from Party City. I think that some parents correlate where they buy stuff with how great the experience will be. Welp. A balloon is a freaking balloon. In fact I bought a balloon similar to this one for $5.00. The Dollar Tree has foil balloons (fancy!) that they inflate on the spot and they are 1/5th of the cost.
3. Stickers and Coloring Books - For all of my fellow planner addicts, this is one thing I would go there for! I have found some of the cutest stickers at all of the dollar stores I go to. They are also much cheaper than Target/Etsy. For all of my non planner addicts, they have tons of coloring books and stickers for kids. They are just as nice and even have some of the same characters. I've seen Disney coloring books and Hello Kitty coloring books and everything in between.
4. Dishware - So I was a little suspicious of this at first. My friend Brenda is the one who turned me on to dollar store shopping and she is also the one who convinced me to give these beauties a try. I was so sick of my husbands plates from before we were dating. They were black, super heavy and not at all pretty. I wanted to get some new dishes from Target but we would have to buy two sets to get the amount of plates we needed. It would also come with 8 mugs, which we definitely did not need. It just wasn't economic and it would have been wasteful. A decent set of dishes would cost about $50 and we would need two. I found these and was delighted to find they are microwave and dishwasher safe. I like the design just fine and they were $1 per item. We were able to buy the things we need, and avoid the things we didn't (mugs).
5. Baby Food and Snacks - This one comes with a caveat. You have to check expiration dates. The food isn't expired, but it might be in a week or less. I have been super luck and at the $.99 Only store I have found these Plum Vita Organic pouches. We used to buy these at Target for $1.49. We managed to score them for 2 for $.99. They also don't expire for 6 weeks. With the way Mad's chows down, they won't last that long. We also found plenty of name brand candy for Halloween. The bags are about half of the size of the big Target bags that sell for $9. I will pay $2 over $9 any day.
Soooooooo. In conclusion. The dollar stores are pretty damn awesome. If you have the time and patience to look, you are bound to find some hidden treasures. Remember, paying full price is only an option if you make it one.
