The Dollar Store

So if I must be perfectly honest, I never did like the dollar store. We never went to the dollar store. I don’t know why. I guess we had no reason to. Wal-mart didn’t come to Walterboro until I was very small, so my parents were still used to the five and dime store on Main Street. However, I got everything from Wal-mart during my childhood. Totally classy, right? I remember being a kid in school, I always judged the kids who had stuff with dollar store logos on them. They’re clearly of a less social class than myself, right? Wrong!! I have no idea where those mind settings came from. It most certainly was never anything instilled upon me by my parents. We just never went to dollar stores. The recession has his us hard, and like many families, mine took an amazingly drastic hit in 2009 and has yet to bounce back. These days, I’m a pretty broke college student. Lately, we spend so much time in the dollar store, that I’ve come to love it. Right now, Dollar General is a big favorite in my book. Being an integrated marketing communication major, I’ve picked up a few things throughout my college career. When store brands say, “compare to…” it is often the same exact stuff that’s in the name brand. I’d look closely at the labels on the back to double check that it’s the same strength and that the quantity of items like pills are comparable to the name brand. Sometimes the name brand does win, value wise. However, more often than not, a store brand is my new BFF! This is the case for several Dollar General brands in my life right now. A big favorite for me is the grapefruit facial cleanser. It is DG store brand, comparable to Neutrogena’s grapefruit facial cleanser. I’ve used both brands. There is no difference in how my face feels and using the DG brand long term has actually helped my skin. Why would I pay nearly $6 for 4.2oz of Neutrogena’s brand when I can pay $2.50 for the same size bottle at Dollar General? My face doesn’t mind a bit!! Other DG brand favorites are dandruff shampoo, ibuprofen, anti-cavity mouth wash and possibly a huge TRESemmé comparable conditioner bottle and Neosporin comparable first aid cream… I will get back to you on the last two after I’ve used them more. DG hasn’t let me down yet!! Do you have cheap favorites?