Friends from work got me into the dollar store (a true one;
everything was $1.00, no more, no less). Our purpose was to buy decorations for the office holiday party, but i gave the whole place a pretty good once-over.
1. Laundry, bath, or food items - anything that gets used up over time - were a very poor value in $1 packages, compared with buying larger containers of same stuff. I feel for people whose budgets/dwellings force them to buy such things at the dollar store.
2. Cheap holiday decorations (stockings, Santa/reindeer hats, colored tissue paper, red and green plastic candy dishes, and a paper menorah for our Jewish vice-director) were a pretty good buy. It's not like you are going to keep these things around for posterity.
3. Small household/office/school items (stirrers, spatulas, pot holders, notepads, pencil sharpeners) were OK if you just need something to tide you over till you get a decent one. Like, when you are between homes or something. The exception is a paper scissors I bought for my husband, so he would stop raiding my sewing basket for something to cut coupons. We really like it.
4. Everything else = not worthy of house room, as my mother liked to say.
I've heard there are "Dollar stores" that have better stuff, but it costs more than a dollar, which seems like cheating
-A.