I went to Dollar General on Saturday on a mission to check some prices on things we buy regularly. There are six Dollar Generals in my area, one of which is brand new and only a couple of miles away from home. I don't want to run from store to store trying to save money, but if I am already going to be at a particular store, I think it would be smart to pick up items that we need that are a good price. The only problem with that is that I can't remember what is a good price most of the time. And not all items are a good price just because they are for sale at a Dollar store.
These Libby's brand canned green beans were on sale for 2 for $1.00, so I picked up 6 cans of those.
I like Petite Diced Tomatoes and was happy to see them in the Dollar General Brand, Clover Valley. I made a pot of Chili Saturday afternoon and they were great! They are 67 cents a can.
The Clover Valley brand of parboiled rice was $3.75 for a 5 pound bag. I thought this was an extremely good deal, because this is the same as the Uncle Ben's brand, which is always really expensive. Confession time: I thought this was brown rice until just now when I looked closer! I do prefer brown rice for its health benefits and the fact that it is a slower burning carb. But, we will use this rice.
I like to cook brown rice in chicken broth and then freeze it in individual serving size freezer bags. I take one for my lunch at work and add either home cooked frozen chicken or a small can of chicken. Makes a good lunch.
At this particular store, they have an entire section that has only dollar items. There are some great finds there. Of course everything there is not a good deal. I bought these bottles of Salon Selectives Shampoo and conditioner and the Purpose Farmstead Apple foaming hand soap for a dollar each. These are bonus size bottles and are safe for colored hair.
Every time you visit Dollar General you get a $5.00 of $25.00 coupon that can be used the following Saturday. I try to wait to shop there until the following Saturday so I can make use of that coupon. If you know what you need that is a good price there, this is a great way to save some money. Its even better if you have manufacturer's coupons to stack with the $5.00 coupon.
Using K Cups is not the most frugal way to drink coffee. In fact its pretty expensive. However, Hubby and I love our Keurig and so I am always on the lookout both in stores and on Amazon for the best price on them. I bought the machine for him for Christmas a couple of years ago without realizing that the K Cups are expensive. So far the Dollar General (Clover Valley) K Cups are the best price I have found. They are $4.75 for 12. If I use my $5.00 coupon on a Saturday and buy 5 boxes, they end up being $3.75. Of course I would have to buy some small filler items, like a couple of cans of tomatoes to reach the $25.00 amount.
There are wall stickers also in the dollar section. I love this one.
This is what you see when you come in our back door. The stickers are removable and don't damage the wall. So I figured for a dollar, it would be cute and if I decide to take it down, there would be no problems.
Sunday morning when I left church, I ran into the Food Lion and briefly compared a few prices from my scribbled notes and the verdict is that Dollar General's prices are a little lower. For instance, a dozen eggs at Dollar General are $1.55. At Food Lion they are $1.89. That's not an earth shattering savings, but if I 'm already in the store, why not pick up the items that are cheaper?
My next mission is to do a detailed list of prices for items at Food Lion and get the lists from both stores organized so I can tell when a sale is really a sale. It irritates me when the sale paper for Food Lion says "Hot Deal", and its NOT!
My top three stores to shop at are Food Lion, Dollar General and CVS. I rarely go to Walmart, but occasionally I do. I never buy anything at CVS that isn't on sale, combined with a coupon! I also buy a lot of things through Subscribe and Save on Amazon.
What stores do you shop at the most?
