SHOTS TO GET: (DON’T FORGET ALL SHOTS MUST BE VERTICAL!!!!!)

• Plane landing window view

• Closing rental car trunk

• Shot from behind pulling suitcase through airport

By far one of my most underrated and underused travel hacks

…Let’s hit up the dollar store

[CHUMBAWAMBA - AMNESIA
SISTER NANCY - BAM BAM

G. LOVE - THE THINGS THAT I USED TO DO]

Now before we go any further let me just give you a little disclaimer. There are stores that have dollar in their name, but they are NOT same. Your main 3 are Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree. And Dollar Tree is the only one I really go to, because… it’s the best. Best selection of stuff, best prices, and they’re every-freaking-where. Also, thanks to “inflation”, the dollar store is now the $1.25 store. Anyway *eye roll*

[CUT TO INSIDE DOLLAR STORE WITH BASKET IN HAND]

SO you just landed, you grab your luggage and your rental car, next stop, Dollar Store.

Big advantages:

• The dollar store has pretty much all your essential toiletries. Soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, deodorant, Q-tips, shampoo, first aid stuff, pain pills, laaaady stuff… [“I see nothing” hand gesture]
  Whatever the dollar store DOESN’T have, THEN you can go get at CVS or whatever, so at least you’re only shelling out the bigger bucks only when you have to.

• Great. The airline lost your luggage, and God only knows when it’s going to show up. Hit up the dollar store, and make sure to save your receipt because the airline is required by law to reimburse you.

• Bag weight- buying your toiletries at the Dollar Store when you land means less to cram in suitcase, less to carry/drag around, less that is gonna spill and make a mess during flight, and helps keep you under 50lb limit

[ANGELIC MUSIC AND HARP SOUNDS WITH MONTY PYTHON STYLE ANIMATION]

Behold the snack section.

[WALK THROUGH AND GET SHOTS OF CANDY, SNACKS, COOKIES, SODAS, TRAIL MIX, ETC]

Let’s say you’re in one of those extended stay hotels that has the kitchen and stove, cabinet of dishes, and a fridge. And yeah, you want to save money so you DO plan on actually taking advantage of all that. Well think about this- how many times have those dishes been used by alllll the people that have stayed in that room? Do you think the maid actually washes all the dishes every time someone checks out, or do you think they just open the cabinet and if things look in order, they just give it the thumbs up and move on to the next thing on their to do list? Cuz remember, they have tons of other rooms to do, and they can’t take forever or they get in trouble. And even if the room HASN’T been used in awhile, that means those dishes have been sitting there in that cabinet for god knows how long. Well, look. Dollar store has dishes too. Cups, bowls, plates, coffee mugs, a buck a piece. And they have kitchen gadgets too. An entire wall of them. Especially for people in an RV, stock up on your stuff here, because all the dishes are gonna get rattled around, chipped and broken at some point anyway. Everything is $1.25 a piece. And for cooking they have tupperware of all shapes and sizes, aluminum foil, canned food, spices, pasta and pasta sauce.. I mean you could really go to town, and everything’s $1.25! Even cereal, bread, and sandwich bags… I mean come on you’ll save a TON of money not having to go to walmart or whatever grocery store is nearby. And especially if you’re camping, you can avoid the campsite general stores that charge movie theater prices for everything.

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Every so often it’s a good idea to go to the dollar store and stock up on canned food, beans, noodles, different things in case the power goes out at home from a winter storm or thunderstorms in the summer. Or do what I do- find a local food bank or homeless shelter and donate stuff. Especially in the fall, Dollar Tree has hats mittens and socks. But all year round you can get kitchen towels, kitchen tools, food, cleaning products, hygiene products… that stuff is ALWAYS needed. Sometimes you can talk to the manager, and ask them to order the cases of the stuff for you AT COST since it’s going to be donated. Not saying every manager will agree to it, but either way, the amount of stuff you can get for your money is huge, and I guarantee you it means even more to the people who need it. The best part too is that you can save your receipt, because the whole thing is donation, so it’s tax deductible.

I’d love for YOU to show me some cool ideas for what you do with dollar store stuff that I may not have even thought of, so leave me a comment and let me know. Thanks for watching, see you soon