Great Left Over Deals at Dollar General & 99 Cent Stores

Hello Packers!

    What better way to start off the new packing year than to check out your neighborhood Shoe Box filler item advice column to see that the Dollar General, for the last 11 days now, has been selling their leftover Christmas merchandise at $0.10. Well, thankfully as I have discovered of the area: not many people in my neck of the woods participate in Operation Christmas Child and so the pencils, pens and large selection of Christmas Candy Canes were left untouched for my taking. Oh happy day for me!

     The Dollar General has a great amount of items going on right now for Valentine's Day as well. I hope you are all looking at all of your options for sweet deals for your boxes. The Dollar General, Dollar Tree, 99 Cent Store and Wal-Mart all have great opportunities for your boxes this year and most if not all will be 1/2 off the day after Valentine's Day: it's simply how it is done and I'm hoping this year will be no different. With that said, I'm hoping you all are able to find some great deals after the upcoming holiday which is only 16 days away. My tips for you all right now is to go out and score the aisles and calculate what is worth the trip and what aren't. There are 8 packs of those sweetheart candies for one dollar and will without a doubt be a great addition to your boxes, they might not be the first on everyone's list to take so hopefully that will be a benefit to you.

     Alright, now off to show you some of the sweet deals that good ol' Shoe Box Lover was able to find at her neighborhood Dollar General.

The first thing on my list of awesome finds is the large amount of toothpastes I was able to salvage from their aisles. Of course, at first I didn't see any of their famous ten cent Christmas merchandise so my spirits were low. I was wandering the aisles, hoping that I could find them somewhere but lo and behold, what I see are large 6 oz toothpaste tubes on sale for today only at 75 CENTS! When most of us buy toothpastes for 78 cents or a dollar at the Dollar Tree, we discover that such a purchase can add up especially if you are doing multiple boxes.

So, me and my trusty calculator get to work and give ourselves a limit of $20 worth of toothpastes. With easy divisional work, we were able to buy 26 toothpaste tubes for only 20 dollars! I know it doesn't seem like a great deal but with the $6 I would have spent if I bought these at the Dollar Tree, I was able to buy my next special find.

Do you remember me telling you how I couldn't find the Christmas merchandise for the life of me? Well, turns out it was at the front of the store the entire time! With a pep in my step and my hands eager to score through all the cards and fake floral arrangements, I found the remnants of the Christmas sale at Dollar General. Everything you see here was 10 cents a piece. Also, I want to mention something about the silly putty there. The woman I follow on Facebook for news about OPeration Christmas Child has actually told us that silly putty is perfectly okay to put inside our boxes despite the allegations that some putty might be considered too much like a liquid. So, if you guys find these at your nearby Dollar General, pick some up because they are totally OK to be put into your boxes.

     Alright, so the title says that I got some awesome deals at the 99 cent store and it is right. Right now they are have clearance blow outs at every 99 cent store you head to. I wish I had gone to the 99 cent store near me before today because they had pencil pouches on sale for 6/99 cents. Oh well, I was still able to take the remainder of helpful items in my boxes and store them for when they will be used. Here is a picture of my findings.

Now, something to keep in mind when you are at the Clearance section of the 99 cent store is that not everything in that section is going to be marked down when they scan them. Make sure to mention that to the cashiers because for the most part they will scan them in for you at the 6/99 cent value. Today I found mostly things for boys 2-4 with small totebags and then slide puzzles that can be put in smaller child boxes. The one thing that is pretty female only, would be the set of Jonas Brothers erasers that I got for 15 cents. Still, 7 tote bags, 6 slider puzzles and a set of erasers for only $2.50, today has been good to me I believe.

     Yes, we are all trying our best here to find as many great deals as possible and to update you all about it so you too can find some places with great deals. Of course, with the great deals pouring in, it can be hard to find space to occupy all of your findings. Well, it is for me. I used to keep all of my items in laundry baskets in my bedroom. Along with my clothing, own school supplies and the heap of Christmas gifts I have yet to place throughout my room: it left me with little living space. So, for my recent birthday, my family set out to find me the perfect storage shelf for my Operation Christmas Child shoe box filler items. For both my happiness and to get my room cleaned.

Packers, I hope you all realize the necessity of keeping things organized for not only your house's sake but also for the sake of your boxes. After getting a storage shelf with storage containers, I could not be happier than to have my own little "store" in the garage for my shoeboxes. All of the containers have a few to a ton of items for shoe boxes all over. And as the year progresses, we have begun to discover that we will need more hygienic items if we are truly going to be able to fulfill the helpfulness of these boxes.

Packers, if you want, I recommend getting something along these lines if you are to be doing multiple boxes throughout the year. They help keep everything clean and ready to go as well as show you how much and how little you actually have in regards to shoe box fillers.









Alright Packers, Happy 2016 and Happy Packing!