So, as your budget continues to get tight, you need to come up with ever more creative ways to save money. Shopping at the dollar store may be one answer. I asked Dollar Tree for permission to visit and photograph some of the items in their store and, after a lenghty delay, was refused permission, so I had to resort to grabbing some pics off their website.

If you have never shopped at a dollar store you may be surprised at what you can still get for a buck.

Although Wal-Mart touts itself as always having the low price, stores such as Dollar Tree can often beat them. I used to work for Dollar Tree and can tell you that some of the same Chinese factories that were cranking out products that Dollar Tree was retailing for a buck, were making stuff that Wal-Mart will sell for $1.25 up to $3.oo. While I have no great use for Dollar Tree's upper level management, they do manage to score some good deals, though I wonder how much longer they will continue to maintain a one dollar price point.

As with any shopping, it pays to compare prices. Other dollar stores sell items for more than a dollar and some items are a good deal, while other items are not.

Some larger dollar stores sell grocery items. These can be a very good deal, depending on the item. A disturbing trend I have noticed (and Walt Blevins has picked up on too, as I am sure have others) is that grocery stores have gone from pricing items at cost plus a normal mark-up to pricing items at whatever the market will bear, with the result that I'm seeing many products at the grocery stores that are now two and three times the cost they were just a few months ago. The economy still (and will continue) sucks and yet grocery prices for basic food staples are going through the roof.

I hope everyone who is having difficulty during these tough economic times can get through them. Hang in there y'all.