5 Best Things to Buy at the Dollar Store

The husband and I have lived off a single income for the past couple of years. The high cost of living in Colorado (and in general!) has really forced us to be savvy with our spending and saving. One of the ways we save money is by purchasing certain things at the dollar store. 

I will be the first to tell you that not everything at the dollar store is a good deal. We bought foil there recently and you could hardly pull it out of the box without it tearing- no bueno. However, there are a handful of items that we regularly purchase there that are better deals than the grocery store. Check out the list below and see if there are any you would add! 

1. Greeting Cards 

I'll be honest with you- we are dollar card kind of people. I love the cute cards that I find at Walmart and Target but I just can't justify paying $4 for a piece of cardstock! The dollar card sections at these major retailers is usually pretty sad, so I prefer to shop at the dollar store. 

In my once a month run to the dollar store I try to pick up cards for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and any other festivities that might be coming up in the next month. A lot of the cards are even 50 cents and I think they have a pretty good selection. I can get 5-10 cards for the price of one- now that's a deal! 

2. Gift bags/tissue paper 

I love giving cute gifts but can't justify paying an extra $5-10 in gift bags/tissue paper at the grocery store. The dollar store usually has a wide variety of gift bags and paper that works great and is super cute. 

Along those same lines, I have bought wrapping paper at the dollar store and decided that it can be a better deal elsewhere. The quality of the wrapping paper isn't bad, but there wasn't much of it on a roll, so if you can find bigger rolls on sale somewhere that will usually be the better deal. 

3. Helium balloons

This is where I feel like I've really hit the jackpot on deals. If you go to the grocery store, you'll pay at least $4 for an inflated helium balloon. Many dollar stores have a wide variety of helium balloons and they're all only $1! I get Alex balloons a lot (I consider it the man version of flowers), and most of them have come from the dollar store. I've gotten balloons for birthdays, Valentine's Day, anniversaries, and coming home parties; it's so fun and I feel like I'm getting an awesome deal! 

4. Plastic ziplock bags 

We use plastic ziploc baggies sparingly because they're expensive. We try to instead put things in reusable containers and plastic wrap or foil. I have found a brand of baggies at the dollar store that is 50 for a dollar. This is wayyyy cheaper than anywhere else I've looked, and the box of 50 goes a long way in our house! 

5. Canned goods 

Many times canned goods are over a dollar at major retailers. Things like Rotel, canned fruit, and canned chili are well over a dollar. However, at the dollar store they're (guess) only a buck. Even though they may only be a little over a dollar (i.e. $1.32) at the grocery store, add that up for several cans of goods and it adds up to several dollars worth! Canned goods can vary from store to store, so browse their selection and pick up what you can before you head to the grocery store! 

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Depending on the trip I'll pick up other things at our dollar store including paper goods, cleaning supplies, and candy. The five above are the things that I regularly purchase. If you don't have a dollar store close to you, driving 20 miles out of the way probably won't be worth the savings, but if there's one close to you stop by and check it out sometime! I think you'll be surprised at the deals you find! 

Do you shop at the dollar store? What other deals have you found? 

On A Budget: Saving on Groceries

One of the biggest budget killers in any household is the category of groceries. We all have to eat, and who doesn't like to eat good food?? With some practice, Alex and I have learned to get a handle of this category. Below are the ways we keep our grocery bill down. Grocery prices can vary drastically depending on region, but using the basic principles I've described below, you'll be able to save a lot of money regardless of where you're located. 

1. Have a plan 

This is probably the most crucial step in saving money on groceries. Planning a weekly menu will help you be organized-you know what ingredients you need and already have, and you can use some of the same ingredients in multiple recipes. All of these things will save you major bucks. I started planning weekly menus and now I'm up to planning for the whole month (more on that in January!) Start small- plan one or two meals a week and then gradually increase from there. 

2. Shop less 

Having a plan means that you won't be going to the grocery store multiple times a week. The less time you spend in a grocery store means you'll spend less money because there's less of a chance of impulse purchases. We go to the grocery store once a week maximum and that's only if I forgot to pick up a critical ingredient that I can't substitute. 

By having a grocery list when I do go to the store and not going additional times beyond that, our grocery bill stays low. 

3. Shop sales

While making a menu plan for the week, I sit down with my grocery store's ads and try to plan at least a couple of my dishes around what's on sale. The sales I especially pay attention to are the sales on veggies and meat since these are the most expensive (and important!) parts of our grocery list. If something calls for an ingredient that's expensive and not on sale, I'll often substitute the ingredient (i.e. green peppers for red pepper) or, if possible, leave it out all together!

3. Be okay with repetition 

We have a really good dinner menu and I try a new recipe at least twice a month. However, breakfast and lunch stays pretty standard for us. Breakfast consists of cereal, toast, or fruit (maybe an egg if we have time), and lunch is almost always sandwiches or dinner leftovers. Alex and I are okay with the repetition and that keeps our costs low. We're not spending boku bucks on frozen entrees for lunch or different kinds of cereal, pancakes, fruit, frozen waffles etc. 

4. Get creative 

One end of the spectrum is being okay with repetition but the other end of the spectrum calls for some creativity when designing your meal plan. I know a lot of families that have a couple of meatless meals a week to help cut down on the meat cost. The hubby likes meat a lot so we only do meatless meals a couple nights a month. However, we save on meat by using cheaper meats that you wouldn't ordinarily think to use. For example, we use pepperoni in a couple dishes a month- it's cheap but still fulfills the protein need that Alex has. :) Turkey bacon or deli cuts of lunch meat find their way into mac n cheese or chef salad. I'll substitute ground turkey for ground beef in a lot of dishes because it's healthier and cheaper. 

Creatively substituting proteins or going meatless can significantly bring your grocery bill down. 

4. Buy less junk 

You will {almost} never find our house with soda, frozen snacks, candy, or other prepackaged items (think cookies, chex mix etc.) We do buy a couple bags of chips a month but only pull those out for the Broncos game. We try to have healthier snacks around like yogurt, nuts, and cheese sticks. Pre-packaged stuff is expensive and we'd rather just not have the temptation around. 

By skipping a lot of the prepackaged snacks we're healthier and we keep our grocery bill down. If you think you or your family will have trouble cutting out some of their guilty pleasures, start slowly. Don't buy soda for a couple weeks, then the next couple weeks don't buy soda or cookies- so on and so forth. Gradually breaking yourself in is the way to do it- soon you won't miss those items and when you do get them it is a true splurge! 

How do you save on groceries? 

On a Budget: Not Letting Money Control You

We've been in this series about budgeting and discussing different ways to save money. Saving money is a passion of mine- it's something I love doing, something I love learning about, and something I love helping others with. Just as I have had to learn how to save money, I have also had to learn how to not let money control me. Sometimes, I get so passionate about money that I forget that it's just money. 

If you find yourself constantly thinking about money, stressing over it, and maybe obsessing about saving it (or spending it), you may be letting money control you. Read on to find out the 3 main ways I've developed to not let money control me. 

Keep money in perspective. 

In today's world, money is power and money controls things. You need money to survive in the world but it doesn't have to control you. Perhaps the best way I keep money in perspective is by remembering that my money is not my money. 

The Lord has given me the money in all my bank accounts and funds to steward and watch over. I believe the Lord wants us to save, live within our means and not be a slave to the lender (see Proverbs 22:7). I think we are also called to tithe, to give generously, and to use the money he has entrusted with us to enjoy our family and enjoy the life He has given us. 

When I see my money as simply money I was given to manage, it's a ton easier to give, spend, and save freely without losing perspective. 

Allow yourself a measure of grace 

Sometimes, Alex and I get so intensely focused on saving money that we won't spend hardly any money on doing fun things (a large part of why we instituted our monthly date night challenge). 

I (we) have had to learn that it's okay to go over on our entertainment budget by $20, or it's okay if we spend a little more than we were anticipating at dinner out with friends. Alex and I have both stressed over money so much that it gave us physical symptoms- stomach pains, headaches, back aches- you name it. 

When we release our money stress to God and allow ourselves a measure of grace (AKA "wiggle room") in our budget, our physical symptoms go away and we feel the weight lift off of our shoulders. 

Now, if you are a chronic spender and/or trying to pull yourself out of debt having a mentality of "spending an extra $100 is no biggie" can be dangerous and very unhelpful. However, if you are genuinely trying to curb your spending habits and slip a little, don't forget to give yourself grace in that situation. It's never too late to get back on track. 

Remember what is important 

Tying into the above idea of keeping money in perspective, it's also vital that you keep in mind what (or who) is important. Remember that it is often the who and when (as opposed to the what) that is important in life. 

Money does not make memories- people make memories. Is an expensive vacation more important than the people who are on vacation with you?   

Time is so much more valuable than money. Some of my favorite things that Alex has done for me have been gifts of his time and not his money.

There is incredible value to being on a budget and being wise steward of the money God has given you. But people, experiences, and simply life are so much more valuable than money, and money should never take priority over loving people, experiencing memories, or enjoying the precious moments of your life.

Not letting myself be controlled by money is a still a fairly consistent struggle for me- one that I am getting better at and praying through. 

Have you ever found yourself controlled by money? What are ways that you don't let money control you? 

On a Budget: Save on household items

Something we all have to buy are things that I've labeled in my budget "household items/necessities". These things include (but are not limited to) toilet paper, toiletries (shampoo, razors etc.), and medicines (i.e. ibuprofen, tylenol). This category also includes any sort of cleaning supply that I don't consider food groceries (laundry detergent, dish soap, miscellaneous cleaning supplies, paper towels, foil etc.) 

This category is one in our budget that is extremely difficult to set the proper amount for. Many months we'll spend little to nothing on this category, and the next month we'll run out of everything at once and blow the amount I have budgeted. I am still working out the kinks to this category, but along the way have learned 3 major ways to save in this area of our budget without using coupons.

Disclaimer: I know all you couponers out there are getting this kind of stuff for dirt cheap. I've always been somewhat of a coupon skeptic so these are the ways I've learned to save on these items without couponing. (For the record, I am dabbling in some couponing and will later post my success or failure with the endeavor. In the meantime, use these tricks to save today on items you need now.) 

Buy in bulk

I often suggest buying in bulk cautiously because a lot of times I think bulk purchasing is often disguised as a good deal when it's really not. However, we have found that our local Costco often has good deals of bulk purchases of certain personal care items including toilet paper and deodorant. 

For the sake of an example, lets examine toilet paper. We pay around $17 for a 30 count toilet paper at Costco. To make the comparison, we will compare sheet per sheet of the toilet paper roll because that is a better indicator of how big the individual rolls are. The Costco brand toilet paper claims to have 425 sheets per roll of toilet paper making the cost per sheet around $0.001 per sheet. A similar "mid-grade" toilet paper will cost you $11.97 at Wal-Mart for 24 rolls. Each of the Wal-Mart rolls claims to have 208 sheets making the cost per sheet around $0.002 per sheet. 

Okay, so we are talking about fractions of pennies here but if you notice- the Wal-Mart toilet paper brand is twice as much as the Costco brand of toilet paper when comparing sheet per sheet. This goes to show that in this instance, buying this particular item in bulk is a great deal. 

If you live in the middle of the Alaskan tundra 500 miles away from the nearest Costco, or simply don't have a membership, do not purchase a membership for the sake of a few items.

Instead, try to stock up when your favorite toilet paper is on sale, Google search for some basic coupons that will save you a couple dollars, and be willing to try new products that could be a little bit cheaper than the brands you are currently purchasing.

Hit your local dollar store 

This is really the main way we save money in the area of household necessities. In my pharmacology class in nursing school we learned that there is very little difference in brand versus generic medicines. Most of the time, brand names are more expensive because they are paying to use the actual brand name. If you compare a brand name with a generic brand of the same medicine, 9 times out of 10, the drug or active ingredient is the exact same. 

I have found a couple exceptions to this rule, but they are few and far between. The fact that the drug or active ingredient is the same in most medicines, brand name or not, is why I frequent our dollar store for 95% of the medicines we use at home. I buy ibuprofen, acetaminophen (tylenol), and Excedrin all at the dollar store. We save a ton of money and the drugs work just as effectively than if we had bought brand names. 

I also frequent our dollar store for some household kitchen items that can be really pricey everywhere else. Things like plastic sandwich baggies and plastic wrap are all a steal at $1 each versus the usual $3-4 that you'll pay at a regular grocery store. 

Simplify cleaning routines 

I have learned to clean effectively without spending a ton of money on expensive cleaning products. Blue Dawn dish soap, baking soda, vinegar, and this cleaning product from our local dollar store are staples in my cleaning routine. Aside from those four items, I don't use much else to clean. I have found that the above products do a great job, are less toxic than most commercial products, and best of all are nice to my budget. 

If you find yourself spending boku bucks on expensive cleaning products that you love, maybe Google a DIY version of the same product. I will admit, some DIY products are just not the same as the real thing (I know from personal experience), but a lot of them do a great job. You won't know until you try it! 

This category can be a huge money sucker for most people, and one that I have personally struggled to save money in. By buying generic when you can, purchasing (wisely) in bulk, and simplifying what and how many products you use to begin with, you can cut the spending in this particular category. 

**I was not reimbursed for mentioning any particular store, brand, or product in this article. These are the items that have simply worked for me and kept my budget on track**

What other ideas do you have to save in the category of household necessities? Does anyone else struggle to cut this budget? 

On a Budget: Spend less on entertainment

The first and most important step to making the most of every dollar that you earn is creating a budget that will work for you and your family. One of the main categories in our budget (and most budgets) is the category of "Entertainment". For us, this money includes eating out, date nights, and any other entertainment type expenditures including our Netflix subscription.

This category is one of the budget areas that is hardest to control because we love date nights and we love going out to eat (like most other couples). We've learned some good strategies to help us have a lot of fun with a little money and stay on track with our budget! I would love to hear any additional ideas that your family implements in the comments section below! 

We don't have cable 

*gasp* I know. I never grew up with cable so this was an easy thing to cut out for me- my husband, not so much. We've compromised by getting Netflix and an antennae. The cost is a fraction of what we would pay for cable, and honestly, not having as much TV has forced us to be more creative with our time together. We get a couple shows we like and the Broncos games, and, really, what more do we need? 

We are hardcore Grouponers

For those of you who have never heard of Groupon (or other similar sites like Living Social), they are websites where you can purchase coupons for restaurants, services, and products. Usually it's something along the lines of you pay $12 but get $20 of food at the restaurant that the Groupon is good for. We do this all.the.time. It's awesome because one, we save money, and two, we're forced to try new restaurants that we wouldn't normally try. I've used Groupon for places to eat with girlfriends, different salon type services (think manicures!), and I would say 80% of the time my husband and I are out, it's because we have a Groupon. They save us major bucks- we love them! 

We go out for dessert instead of dinner 

You can have a ton of fun doing at-home dates, but sometimes you've just gotta get out and go somewhere! When we get the itch to go out, a lot of times it will be for dessert not dinner. One of our favorite things to do during the summer is go to McDonalds (we're high class, people), split a frappucino and take it with us on a drive or walk. This is, of course,after we've eaten dinner at home. Dessert is soooo much more affordable, but is still a great way to get out of the house. If you have a lot of kids, this can be a really affordable way to go out for a treat without the $60 restaurant bill. 

We sign up for promotional emails

Most of you are saying- huh? Why would I intentionally sign up for junk email? Well let me tell you why- because you can get a lot of free stuff! Alex and I set up an email that we use solely for the purpose of signing up for promotional emails. We sign up on lists of our favorite restaurants, stores, and entertainment places. For example, we haven't paid for a Red Box movie rental in months because we get codes for free movie rentals in our email all the time. The free meal coupons we get in our birthday months are totally killer, and the coupons we are sent can make a not-so-affordable date completely reasonable. 

We take those surveys! 

I don't know if you've ever noticed, but often there are surveys that are on the bottom of different stores' receipts. A lot of times if you take these surveys, you'll get a coupon code for something free or discounted the next time you come into the store. We take these surveys all the time. We don't usually spend time on a survey if it's just for an entry into some sort of sweepstakes, but if it offers us something for free, we'll totally do it! We've gotten free breakfast at Chik-Fil-A, free cookies at Subway, and a free entree at Panda Express doing this (just to name a few!) Time is definitely money here, though, and if it's a 30 minute long survey, then it may not be worth it. 

We shop around

This is really one of the overarching themes of how we make it (comfortably) on a single income. My husband is the coupon master, and has found us great deals on internet, TV streaming products, and restaurant deals. If you're willing to have a little bit of patience and a lot of self restraint, doing a little research before you buy or go out can save a lot of money. I've saved us money by shopping around for tickets to basketball games (one time we got free dinner for being one of the first 500 in the door!), and we often try to coincide our dates with different promotional events. 

We are 100% the couple who pulls out the coupon almost every where we go, but as a result we have a lot of fun on a small budget. 

What are other ways you save money on entertainment? 

On a Budget: Creating a budget

In this post, we'll examine the basics for creating a budget for your household. First and foremost, if you are married, you and your spouse should be on the same page about creating a budget. If your spouse isn't, there are some great articles that have already been written on this topic (like here and here). 

Fortunately, Alex and I started with a similar desire to create a budget for our household when we got married. Below are the very first steps we took in creating our budget. 

First off, you need to have a budget meeting. This is where you and your spouse pull out credit card statements, bank statements, and paycheck stubs to help you make a plan for your budget. In your meeting, you'll want to do the following things. 

1. Examine your income and expenses

This is the time to pull out the paycheck stubs, write down your income, and then tally all your expenses. Are you running in the red every month, saving a bit each month, or running pretty even? This is also a good time to look at your receipts and credit card statements to get a good idea of how much you are spending on basic things including groceries, gas, rent/mortgage, utilities, and entertainment each month. 

If you're having a hard time determining where exactly your money is being spent, some couples may choose to save their receipts and monitor their spending habits for 2-4 weeks. Getting a basic knowledge of how much you are currently spending is vital in creating your budget. 

2. Create budget categories 

Once you have a grasp of where your money is going, it's time to sit down and determine what categories will be needed in your budget. This will look different for different families depending on your stage of life, but some of our categories include: allowance money, groceries, gas, entertainment, tithe, medical, car maintenance, gifts, rent, utilities, and miscellaneous. Later in this series, I will be going more into depth of each of our categories and how we determine how much to budget in each category, and how we manage the category. 

3. Create a zero-based budget based on your pre-determined categories

Creating a zero-based budget simply means that every dollar has a name, and you know where every single dollar is going whether it be towards bills or towards savings. Once you have your budget categories determined, you want to sit down with your income and assign a dollar value to each of those categories. You must assign every single dollar of your income to something- it may be a bill, it may be an investment, it may be a savings account, or it may be a payment. Regardless of where you assign your money, at the end of your budget you want the income you have and the expenditures/investments/savings you have done to equal zero.

For example in our case... We start with our monthly income and we go through and assign amounts to our budgeted categories including- rent, utilities, internet, entertainment, gas, groceries, insurance, and tithe. If there is money leftover after we've assigned amounts to all our budgeted categories, we'll discuss how to assign this leftover money. Most months it will go straight to savings, other months we'll put a little extra into our pre-set categories (often into the "gifts" category).

Basically, at the end of the month our income minus our expenses/savings = zero dollars. This step can be confusing but is the most important step in creating a budget. Feel free to email me or comment with questions.

How to make a zero-based budget is an article that can help further clarify this process.  

4. Agree to have a monthly budget meeting

Budgets are dynamic- you can't make a single budget and expect that the same budget that applied for December and Christmas shopping will apply for June when you don't have a single birthday. Alex and I have a monthly budget meeting to discuss expenses for the upcoming month. While most of our categories stay consistent, the amount budgeted for each may vary month to month depending on what we have going on. Our income also fluctuates month to month depending on the type of shifts I get at work, so some months we may have a little more to work with, some months we might have a little less. We are regularly tweaking our budget, and remembering that as finances change, so will our budget. 

Now that you have a basic zero-based budget, we're going to talk about the basic categories in our budget just to give you some ideas, and then we'll continue on to the top three areas you can save some money. In the meantime, get out there and get budgeting. 

What questions do you have? What other tips can you offer to someone just starting to create a budget? 

On a Budget: A new series

There are a handful of things that I am especially passionate about in this life, and one of those things is money. Now, I know what you're thinking- a lot of people are "passionate" about money because it's one of those things that makes the world go 'round. 

My passion for money comes from my love for numbers and my desire to save money in order that I may give freely because yes, money can make a difference in the lives of others (both good or bad). 

I love numbers, I love math, I love saving money, I love learning about money... in nursing school I wish I had had more time in my class schedule to be able to take some money type classes (I wanted to take accounting, you guys). 

Before Alex and I got married we took a class called Financial Peace University, that really set us on a path for financial success in our marriage. This class was created by Dave Ramsey- an outspoken "money man" who filed for bankruptcy years ago and now has a net worth of 55 million dollars. 

His thinking and his plan is simple but revolutionary: live within your means, pay off debt quickly, and live like no one else now so that you can live like no one else later. Way easier said than done, but Alex and I are totally on board with the plan. 

Alex and I have both been good with money, but this class elevated our knowledge base, and gave us some tools to be successful with money. Neither Alex or I claim to be financial planners (ha, I wish), and we have a lot to learn, but I also think we have a lot to share. 

We have successfully lived off of a single income for the past year, enjoyed our lives, and fully funded a nice vacation for ourselves as a one-year wedding anniversary present. 

We created a budget in the first few weeks of our marriage that set us on the right path with money. This budget has changed over the past year and continues to change, but we have developed a solid structure that allows us to spend, save, and tithe off of one income. I am so passionate about budgeting and money that I'm going to start sharing things that we have learned more often on the blog. I am going to start by having a series specifically for budgeting.

This series will include: 

-How to create a budget

-A closer examination of the categories that should be in your budget

-Logistics of how to maintain a budget

-Tips & Tricks for Budgeting (that we've learned along the way). 

Interspersed with this series, will be specific posts on practical ways to save on different things like entertainment, examining ways of thinking about money that are dangerous, and the importance of certain "monetary" practices like tithing. 

I hope you'll join me for this journey, contribute your thoughts, and help us all learn from one another as we seek to take charge of our money instead of letting it control us.

Click below to read the posts in this series (so far): 

Creating a budget

Spend less on entertainment

Save on household items

Disclaimer: As I said above I am not a financial planner and don't claim to be one. I am continually learning through reading, listening to podcasts, and life experience. This series is simply our experience with a budget, and useful things that we have learned along the way. I also talk about Dave Ramsey and his class and opinions a lot- I am not being paid for this (don't I wish), but simply want to tell others about the program and mindset that has helped us build a strong financial foundation.