Christmas Shopping at the 99¢ Store

My oh my ... what you can buy!

Every now and then my assisted living home has trips to various local businesses. They make bank runs, trips to a nearby Indian Casino, Walgreens, Target and even Wal-mart a few cities away. I had a chance yesterday to go shop for items at the 99¢ Store with my list. 

Since I am on a very limited budget, 99¢ for very simple things is a great deal. I had never been to one during the Christmas season before but after checking it out yesterday I was stunned at what you can get. Lots of Christmas wrap, ribbons, Christmas cards, decorations, ornaments ... the list goes on and on. Goodness. Considering that much of this has a lifespan of at best a month and much of that one day why spend more? You can completely furnish your home for less than $100.

My concession this year, and I do love Christmas, is to help decorate our facility. I bought the little red tree you see above to grace my room. I also bought some Christmas cards ... that actually say "Merry Christmas", a pack of 18 for 99¢

What really drew me though was getting the 81 mg aspirin I need to take each day. For 50 pills, you got it, 99¢. For not many more at the local RiteAid or CVS its $5 and often more. So, since I didn't have to drive, this was a deal! There are many drug store items, many with name brands available ... toothpaste, mouth wash, bandaids, alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and so very much more. The only drawback is that what you see today may not be there tomorrow! For makeup mavens, they have a lot of that as well. Since I have no idea of how good or bad it is, I noticed many such items in carts.

Also I spotted a hole puncher that I wanted for projects I do here at the home so got one of those as well. You always need to make a hole in something so the price was irresistible!  There also was paper, notebooks, folders, paper clips, scissors, pens, mechanical pencils and much more. The dividers you put in your notebook weren't here today. Tomorrow? Who knows? There was also a variety of cheap frames that when grouped probably would look pretty good. Insert interesting images and no one will notice a 99¢ frame.

To be a good shopper I recommend that you make a list, before you go. Be flexible.  Check off each item as you find it. However, depending on how much quality you want, you could just about add nearly every accessory you could ever want for your home. Glasses, coffee cups, plates, glass and a wide variety of plastic bowls, an amazing assortment of kitchen utensils, pots, pans, foil, aluminum pans for turkeys and ham. Besides these items you can also purchase a wide variety of food items ... canned, packaged, items in both refrigerators and freezers. A wide variety of fresh items, both fruit and vegetables are available. You could really live cheaply for sure. However, you have to live cheap with whatever is available at the time.

While I'm sure saying this is not what the big box stores want to hear, I feel that there is a place for such a store, especially for items with a life of at most a day. Judging from the absolutely packed parking lot, I would say I'm late to the show! The secret is definitely out!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to read earlier blogs on a variety of subjects based on  design ... ways that we have designed our lives and the objects we use!