Saving Money Shopping The 99 Cent Only Stores - Tales From A Dollar Store Junkie – Part I

As it has been for many customers of the 99 Cent Only Stores, for me it was love at first site. Not knowing what to expect at first, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that nothing, and I mean nothing, was priced at more than a dollar. Even more happy at the cash register where I paid not $50 for 25 items, not even $50 for 50 items, but $50 for 52 items (I had purchased yogurt at 3 for a buck)! That said, I quickly became addicted to the store.

I’ve already incorporated the concept of “value per dollar spent” into other parts of my life, but everything in the store was so cheap, I simply ignored that doctrine, and ended up paying to remember why I lived by those words in the first place. So here are some ideas I’d like to share with you:

Don't Stock Up Until You've Tried It:

I purchased a whole bunch of tea, both green tea and black tea (each packaged at 125 bags for $1), generic zip lock bags and no name cookies my first visit. The tea was tasteless, the bags tore on either side of the locking mechanism, and the cookies had an awful aftertaste. I ended up returning them all (the store return policy is within 9 days of purchase), and doing so cost me time and money (actually one and the same). This happened several times with the same results. So try just one of that super bargain before cleaning out the store!

Watch Out for the Perishables:

Not all 99 Cent Only Stores are the same in my area. Unfortunately, the one closest to my house does not carry fresh produce, although all of the stores carry refrigerated and frozen foods such as milk, eggs, yogurt, meat, frozen dinners, etc. In some cases you will find organic fruits and vegetables in the fully stocked stores. The apples, peppers and potatoes will keep well. I have found Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and Pink Lady apples in 11/2 and 2 pound packages. The apples are small, so they come in 6 to 9 count prepackaged. They carry 3 pound bags of red, yellow, white and baking potatoes. I've found green, orange and red peppers in packages of two and three. Sometimes a store will carry all of the above, which makes shopping a pleasure because I like to have choices.

Lemons and limes (including key lime) also hold well; however, tomatoes, strawberries, bananas, and some other fruits and berries seem to go bad almost instantly. I loaded up on them on several buying trips, thinking that they might not be there the next time I went shopping, as was often the case. What a mistake! For these particular items, only buy what you expect to use that day or the next day. It seems that unlike the regular grocery stores, many of the perishables appear to have gone ripe yesterday, although Vons, Smiths and Albertsons have been known to stock up on soon-to-be-ripe-in-a-grocery-store-near-you produce and it is a simple case of me being reminded of what ripe really looks like! And to be honest, on occasion be prepared to sift through some rotting food to get to the good stuff.

Some Bargains are No Bargains At All:

I once walked up to a rack of mens ties. No silk or mens designer ties here, but that’s not a problem since today’s microfiber polyester necktiesare just as silky. Well, every single tie had an issue and none which could not be ignored. These were not hidden fabric pulls and snags and stains. No, they were located at the front of each and every tie. They were damaged mens accessories to begin with. If it doesn’t look good on the rack, it won’t look good on you, so buyer beware!

February 2009

Saving Money Shopping The 99 Cent Only Stores - Tales From A Dollar Store Junkie – Part I by Strangelittlebird is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.