On a Mission at Dollar General

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?