What Do You Buy at Dollar Tree?

[lemming]

In the how much has dollar tree cost you. I put a wooden spoon in dishwasher-it fell apart and plugged up the holes in the sprayer.
I used to buy laundry soap there til I got my front loader.
Cans of soup there cost .18 more then Aldi for an off brand. Never buy TP there-cheap is not worth it.

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailor sunglasses

Me too. And they are the only ones that never break and never get lost even if the quality can be a little sketchy sometimes.

[powerplay]

greeting cards
puzzle books
wooden clothespins (for crafts and gardening to hold the row cover)
wooden craft sticks 100/$1 - good as a cheap small plant marker
silicone spatulas
small batteries for watches, pedometers, etc.
Luau net that is happily supporting my peas as they grow and twine up it
plastic zip ties
gift bags
cutting board
dental floss (Reach brand)
helium balloons
pens

There are many things there that are poor quality and I've bought my share of them, but there are certainly things that are much cheaper than at other stores and decent quality for their purpose.

[sengsational]

Recently got 10 plastic containers with lids for a buck (actually got 40 of 'em) They're just big enough to hold 1 oz of nuts. I buy nuts at Sam's and split 'em up into these little 10 cent containers. Then I know when to stop eating, hehe.

PS: I never buy food or anything taken internally at the Dollar Tree...too many stories of contaminated stuff from China.

[antmary]

Reading glasses for all those stations around the house...I don't buy anything to eat either.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by antmary .....................I don't buy anything to eat either.

I rarely buy food there either, but some of their food is name brands, but in smaller containers. Seems to be an evolving niche market.

[modhatter]

My favorite purchase and bargain are their gift bags (Christmas, Birthdays etc) I also have occasionally found some nice coffee mugs and bowels in there. Also, they carry a fairly good size bottle of Ocean Spray Red Ruby grapefruit juice there, but sell out everyday by mid afternoon.

Sometimes notepads if they are big enough. Eye glass neck straps when I can find them. Best pair I have purchased, I got for a $1.00, but have not been able to find anymore.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by modhatter ... I also have occasionally found some nice coffee mugs and bowels in there.

I never shop for bowels - even at Dollar Tree.

Go ahead, call me gutless...

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo I never shop for bowels - even at Dollar Tree. Go ahead, call me gutless...

The idea of bowels for sale at Dollar Tree might be curiously consistent. But then, I never claimed to like the place.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo I never shop for bowels - even at Dollar Tree. Go ahead, call me gutless...

I saw that, and started counting - REWahoo will reply in 10, 9, 8, 7....

-ERD50

[james7]

toothpaste
palmolive bath soap--3 bars for a dollar--my main source of soap for years
aluminum foil
some food items--mushrooms in a jar, some canned fish

There is another store owned by Dollar Tree called Dollar Deals or Dollar Tree Deals which has very low prices on the same type of merchandise, but there is no one dollar limit on the prices. Lots of good values to be found. They are not that common as there may only be one or two in a big city.

[daylatedollarshort]

Glow sticks
Hangers
Gift bags
Bags of small river rocks for terrariums

[Walt34]

Wow, I never knew they had all that stuff. I'll have to take a second look. Dollar General is more prevalent around here but I've never bought more than reading glasses there. The inventories sound similar though.

Since I'll soon be rejoining the ranks of the unemployed, and other sites have a lot of info on photographic creativity with "junk" I'll take a closer look next time I'm near one.

[jerome len]

Although I like Dollar Tree, I love the .99c store in my neighborhood......they carry lots of fresh food/vegetables/lettuce not available at my Dollar Tree. Anybody else go there?

[rbmrtn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 Wow, I never knew they had all that stuff. I'll have to take a second look. Dollar General is more prevalent around here but I've never bought more than reading glasses there. .

DG has good buys, best is to buy online. Free shipping over $25, and they usuallly have a $5 off coupon for $25 orders.

[Donzo]

Trail mix - you can buy the bags of various ingredients and mix them yourself - good stuff.
Hotdog buns and liters of soda for kid parties
duct tape and cheap tools to have in auto/atv

I havent been in a DT store for several months.....now I'm going to next time out

We had a wisebuy closeby - everything less than 10 bucks - there were some great deals there - went out of business.

How long can these 1 dollar stores stay open? The bags will get smaller and smaller... m&ms will have 9 per bag

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Alkaline batteries. A 4-pack of AA or AAA for...$1! I used to buy the 48 pack at costco, but even at that count they were ~ $0.48 each, almost double the $0.25 at DT. Make sure you get the Alkaline type (currently Sunbeam labeling), NOT 'super-heavy-duty', which are old, old tech and not a good value at all compared to alkaline. -ERD50

Do you have any history w/ these? I used to buy some brand at the local hardware store. They seemed to be ok but after some shelf life some of them were dead while others were ok...........no quality control built in.
Forgot the name.....but batteries were gold/black color .

[james7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerome len Although I like Dollar Tree, I love the .99c store in my neighborhood......they carry lots of fresh food/vegetables/lettuce not available at my Dollar Tree. Anybody else go there?

I checked their website and I believe that their stores are only in the West, particularly CA. There are quite a few dollar stores in this area, including Family Dollar and Dollar General, but Dollar Tree is the only one where the price of everything is only one dollar.

I never shopped at dollar stores until recently; the great recession made me a loyal customer and this forum has sure helped change my mindset.

[ERD50]

RE: AA & AAA alkaline batteries...

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohe Do you have any history w/ these? I used to buy some brand at the local hardware store. They seemed to be ok but after some shelf life some of them were dead while others were ok...........no quality control built in. Forgot the name.....but batteries were gold/black color .

I've only been buying them for 6 months, so no real personal data. Reviews were positive. The packages are dated ('Best Before' 2018 & 2019 on the ones I just bought).

Just make sure you are getting ALKALINES, not 'super heavy duty' or 'heavy duty'. Alkalines a far superior to those old types.

These things are a commodity. I know people who say they have been in the factories and have seen the same unmarked batteries from the production line get shuttled over for various brand markings. I recall a Consumer Reports test that pretty much validated this. IIRC, more variation batch-to-batch than from brand-to-brand. It's possible that QC could be lax on lower cost ones, but I'm not aware that it is a significant issue.

OTOH, I avoid buying cheap coin cells on Amazon or other on-line places. The cheap ones appear to be repackaged, with old dates and/or may have been in a hot warehouse (ages lithium batteries).

OK, now you got me curious, so I 'm going to run my battery tester on each my stock (wha'dya do all day?). This tester puts it under load, and measures current (indicating voltage under load), back in a minute......

OK, so I had three 4-packs, and one pack with 3 left in it. All measured 4.2-4.3 on my meter, no significant variation, and typical of what I've seen on other new batteries. A reading of 4.0 is considered 'good' on this scale, but I've put used ones into service when they've read 3.5, and I can still get plenty of life out of them. I really doubt these are of any lesser quality that anything else you can buy on the regular market.

-ERD50

[drb391]

when in AZ for the winter, I get all frozen or cold foods at Albertson's in Blythe, but almost all dry goods at the Dollar Store or Family Dollar in town. <ironic due to the ~30 min drive w/frozen foods>