Category: Money

I originally forgot this point on my post about Building Better Money Habits but I thought I’d write a separate post on it to explain things in more detail. You probably won’t be ordering any of this online because you have to order in bulk and I don’t see many people doing that unless they’re wedding planning but this post does contain affiliate links and I may be compensated. BUT all opinions are my own. FYI, a nice option Dollar Tree does have so they don’t run out when you need a lot of one thing when you get there, is free pickup at your local store. 

Hello again!

In adulthood, you realize you need a lot of shit. Shit costs money. Sometimes you don’t want to spend money, but you still need that shit. What do you do? You go to a dollar store!

It’s great for getting those minor things like gift packaging. Above, I have a picture of my “Will you be my bridesmaid” gifts. The items I used to make these that are from dollar stores are: the container, the letter stickers, and the decorative shred inside. I also bought little sachets that I filled with personalized M&M’s. If I went to Michael’s, I would’ve paid at least double for all of that.

The dollar store I frequent here in Vermont is Dollar Tree. It’s concept is that everything is $1 of course. I’m not keen on buying a lot of things there but some things that make sense buying are:

1. Hangers

A pack of 10 hangers on Amazon is $4. It’s $1 for 8 hangers at Dollar Tree. So to compare for you math whizzes out there, at Amazon you might get 80 hangers for $32 but at Dollar Tree you’d get 80 hangers for $10. I bought a ton of these yesterday so I can finally put away my laundry.

2. Spray Bottles

This spray bottle would be ideal for diluting bleach and using to clean. It would also be great for spritzing water in your dog’s face.

3. Plastic Bins for Organizing

I’ve been using these bins to organize our bathroom and kitchen. They’re really low quality but they get the job done. The smaller ones come in sets of 2-3 for $1.

4. Toilet Brushes

Nobody needs to brush their toilet and then keep it just chilling next to the toilet. I like to buy them from the dollar store and then toss them out after one use. Nastiness…If you’re going to get anything from the dollar store, just get this. I’m all for saving the earth and creating less garbage but I just can’t with this.

5. Greeting Cards

Most people don’t care about getting fancy cards. They just want the money inside. Just get a cheap card. Dollar Tree‘s cards are 50 cents to 1 dollar. Other stores often have cards that are 99 cents or up.

6. Gift Bags

I feel most stores completely overcharge for gift bags. The bags here are $1 and sometimes they come in sets of 2-5 bags for $1 if they’re smaller.

7. Decorative Shred and Tissue Paper

It’s shredded paper and tissue paper for goodness’ sake so it shouldn’t cost a lot and it’s going to end up in the recycling anyway. Michael’s charges $3.99/bag of shredded paper. I use paper confetti or tissue paper often when I’m putting together a gift bag. I mixed white and pink decorative shred in this picture for my “Mean Girls” themed bridesmaid’s gifts.

8. Vase Fillers

The glass gems and seashells are nice for filling vases. I think the seashells would be great if you were having a beach-themed wedding.These are half the price than what I see on other websites.

9. Foil Balloons

I put this together for my husband’s 30th birthday. The balloon overall is sort of small but it lasted a veryyyyy long time. How do I know? Well, I like to see how long balloons take to die. It died after a month or so. This actually really pissed me off because I had bought other balloons from iParty as well for his 30th….

Above are the balloons I bought from iParty . And I attached them to our porch the night before my husband’s birthday since he was working overnight and would be back in the morning. Well…I woke up in the middle of the night and heard the whistling wind and realized putting out the balloons the night before may have been a bad idea. And FYI the big balloon cost me about $12 and the smaller ones at least $1 and iParty charges you extra if you want the balloons to last past the 12 hr mark which is, I think, absolutely ridiculous.

So when I got out of bed the next morning, I immediately checked on the balloons.

^^^^^^ This is what I saw. MANNNNN, WAS I PISSED! The giant balloon was GONEEEEE!!! Never have I ever been so disappointed in life. And I could only think about how the neighbors were like “No shit Sherlock, of course that’s going to happen.” I was especially concerned because my brain surgeon of a husband’s boss lives across the street. He must’ve thought my husband married a dumb girl. Obviously, I was also upset my husband wasn’t coming home after a 28-hour shift to a nice surprise while driving up.

Anyway, I tried undoing the strings that I so uselessly securely affixed to our porch, but they were there to stay so I had to cut them off.

So the lesson here is: USE THE DOLLAR STORE BALLOONS OUTSIDE AND THE EXPENSIVE BALLOONS INSIDE or just put them out later. By the way, about a week later is when that windstorm happened that knocked down tons of trees and power lines in the Northeast…so ya…

I’m clearly still upset about this balloon fiasco.

Do you shop at the dollar store? What do you buy? Leave a comment below!