November Dollar Store Deals….And 2 “Duds” Not Worth A Buck

As most of you know, I really enjoy shopping at the Dollar Tree for great bargains on household products, hostess gifts, decorating items, and beauty buys. This month I found items you would use on a regular basis and a few things that would come in especially useful this time of year. For the most part, everything I find, I think is a great deal. This month though I did find two items that didn’t work for me and I didn’t feel they were even worth a dollar….but I will say, these two items were “knock-offs” of other products on the market.

Here’s what I found….

I personally burn candles more in the fall and winter months than I do in the spring and summer. Candles can set a warm, cozy feeling in any room but they can be expensive. I like having candles on the dining table when we have company over, especially for dinner. I always use unscented candles…that way your guests can smell the fabulous aromas coming from the food you’ve prepared and there’s no problems with guests who might be sensitive to “scents”. These are perfect for my table and only 50 cents for each taper…very cheap and a great deal.

Nothing exciting…it’s tape. But it’s inexpensive tape and works just as well as the more expensive brands. If you have a lot of presents to wrap, this is totally worth a trip to your nearest dollar store. Twenty-one yards for $1.00…that’s a lot of wrapping for a small amount of money.

These bowls are one of my very favorite items I have bought at the Dollar Tree. You get three bowls for $1.00. I use them for our cooking videos but even if you’re not filming, these are so useful. Not only are they great to use as small bowls, they are great for dips, condiments, and even small bouquets of flowers. They are also great for putting out candy or mints, snack mixes and even as candle holders. Again, three for $1.00 is a great bargain.

When I spied this package of “Adjust-A-Button”, I got excited, thinking my tight pants might magically become looser until I drop a few “research” pounds. I have seen a similar product sold on TV and in other stores, which cost more than a dollar, but figured they might work the same. Not. These advertise that you can make your pants tighter or looser by simply inserting one through the waist band of your pants or skirt  and locking the button in place. The example they show on the package is jeans. I tried them first with some tight jeans that I can zip but not button. First of all, the pin side that goes through the material is way too short and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it to fit. Second of all, the snap that goes through the pin to “lock” it in place isn’t very secure and pops off easily. The same thing happened when  I tried it with a skirt (with thinner material) that was too loose. Once you get the button through the material (if you can even do that), the back won’t stay snapped on. I even tried it with a linen napkin and it just didn’t hold….not worth the dollar I spent. Perhaps the more expensive brand works better but I haven’t tried those so I don’t know.

Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner….we all know the brand and I think it works great. And I like this size which fits in all of our bathroom cabinets so I don’t have to carry the cleaner from bathroom to bathroom. One dollar for 16 FL. OZ.

Again, nothing too terribly exciting but very useful. I usually use linen napkins when we entertain but not always. I thought the orange and brown color of these napkins looked very “fallish” and they are nice and thick. You get 36 napkins for $1.00 and they just dress up the table a bit when using paper.

I recently cleaned out my makeup drawers and lined them with construction paper to protect them from stains. (Because I refuse to spend big bucks on liners!) I thought the design on this vinyl top liner was cute and when I lined my drawers with it, I was extremely happy. It’s non-adhesive and non-slip and it’s washable and stain resistant. I’m going back to get some other patterns and lining my kitchen drawers.

I have several friends who swear by the vacuum storage bags that you can store clothes, blankets, etc. in and then suck out the air, making the bag smaller and easy to store. Well, I messed with this “Stor it” Vacuum storage bag for a long time and it just did not work for me. I got a large size, which was not big enough for a queen size blanket to fit in. Next I tried a thinner blanket and two towels….

This is my before pic…

And this is my after….not much difference at all! And if I were trying to store clothes instead of blankets and towels, it seems like they would be very wrinkled and creased. Now I have seen the more expensive brand work (that my friend showed me), but this brand, even at just a dollar, isn’t worth it.

I love these plates. They are nice and heavy, these are two colors I don’t have, and at only a dollar each, I thought a great price. You probably don’t use bowls and saucers with every meal so just buying different colors and designs of plates are an easy way to change-up your table without needing a ton of extra storage space. And if you do want matched sets, they do have bowls, saucers and cups in the same colors.

And…. what I need more of this time of year! I always buy generic Advil and I’ve never been able to tell the difference. This bottle contains 40 tablets. You can get larger bottles that end up costing less but I like having this size for purses, the car and travel. I keep a bottle of ibuprofen in my most used purses and then fill them up with ibuprofen I bought in larger bottles to save even more money.

All of my dollar purchases came from the Dollar Tree.