Why I Feel Like A Baller When I Shop At The Dollar Store

The Dollar Store Is Good Enough For The President

There’s been an article circulating around the interwebs in the past couple of years about how former President Jimmy Carter and his wife live in a home worth $167,000 and shop at The Dollar Store. I mean, if it’s good enough for someone who used to call 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home, it’s certainly good enough for me and you.

My New-ish Neighborhood Has A Dollar Store!

We moved to a new neighborhood in August 2019 and knew there was a shopping center close by, but rarely frequented it because everything is close by where we live now. If we needed to run out for some cold medicine or bug spray or insert item here we would go to the pharmacy across the street or one of three grocery stores within a stone’s throw of the neighborhood.

Low and behold, a recent series of fortunate events led me to discover the dollar store right in our very neighborhood! As I said, it’s always been there, it just wasn’t on my radar until a few weeks ago when I had to make a pitstop to quickly source some rafts for float night at our local pool and thought they might have them. Well, they did. And at a reasonable price too. While I was there, I also noticed they were selling the exact same sunblock I had purchased across the street at the pharmacy the week before for $2 less than what I had shelled out. That was it. I was hooked.

Since that fateful trip, I’ve been back several times. My husband and I even took a walk there one night for some ice cream. We have a DQ within spitting distance but we decided to give our greenbacks to the DG instead. It was a total touchdown too. We snagged two containers of Edy’s for $3 each! Compare that expense to the number of servings and that’s quite a savings over what we would’ve gotten at DQ for our money.

Tree in spring with bright blue sky with clouds

Snapped this pic on a walk last spring.

“I Don’t Shop There. It’s Too Cheap.”

I kid you not. Those words actually came out of someone’s mouth during a discussion I had recently. This person was telling me all about how they save money and shop for bargains at the big box stores. When I mentioned that I like picking things up at the local dollar store, they scoffed and said, “Oh. I don’t go there. Their stuff is too cheap”. Really? Immediately I thought, “Is being too cheap even possible?” I surmised they were referring to the quality of the goods and not the actual price. It didn’t really matter. The fact that the idea of shopping at a dollar store was somehow beneath their level of living sounded absurd to me.

Here’s the real kicker, the above said individual has asked my husband and me to borrow money in the past. We have happily given it and have always been paid back, but maybe if they embraced dollar store shopping the way we do, they wouldn’t be running out of money before the end of the month. Just a little frugal food for thought.

Related Articles Picked For You:

Get Over Yourself And Save A Few Bucks

Those are the words I had to stop from flowing out of my mouth during that conversation I mentioned above. But, alas, I held my tongue and just basked in the mental glory of knowing that I’m a baller when I save money at the dollar store.

Interestingly enough, I have had more than one person turn their nose up at my dollar store adventures. Not only do some people look down their nose at dollar store shopping, but they also think it’s stupid to buy things on consignment or at thrift stores because they’re used.

German Shepherd dog lying on deck in front of backyard pond

Mad Money pup buys used and saves the difference. #SmartAsTheDayIsLong

In the past year, I have bought myself secondhand boots off of eBay for a fraction of what they would’ve cost me new. I even got compliments! More recently, my daughter found two cute pairs of shorts for the summer selling for $7 each. They were high-end name brands too. She used some of the money she had earned from house sitting to buy them. When an adult in our circle said she loved her shorts and asked where she got them, my daughter proudly said a consignment shop. The person promptly responded with a crinkle of her nose. Eww.

Seriously, people need to get over themselves and simply save a buck wherever and whenever they can. Those shorts could’ve easily cost my daughter $50 each had she purchased them new. She had the money to buy them new, but she chose not to. I could not have been more proud when she handed me the money she didn’t spend and said, “Invest this for me”. I have drilled financial responsibility and savviness into her since she was barely old enough to talk and it’s finally paying off.

Just remember that shopping at your local dollar or thrift store is nothing to be ashamed of and if it can save you money, why not? After all, you really shouldn’t care where you buy your toilet paper or pool noodle. I certainly don’t.

Have you ever gotten grief over shopping at the dollar store?

My dad was a millionaire next door and a depression baby and he loved going to the Dollar Store. He had Parkinson’s that eventually took him but even to the very end I’d push him around the store and he’d buy “bargains” he did not need, but it gave him something he could control and take action on. I really think it added some years to his life. Personally I don’t shop much and the things I buy aren’t things Dollar Stores carry in my experience but that doesn’t mean I’m too good to shop there. I am financially independent and then some but I never spend more than I need to for anything, it just seems wasteful. I think my wife has purchased every single one of our wine glasses at the Dollar Store. I mean they look exactly the same as the ones at Crate and Barrel and cost way less. Good post, any time you feel like something is beneath you that’s a red flag that you mind is taking a dangerous shift.