Hey, remember when you could go to the dollar store and actually buy stuff for a dollar?
Yeah, me too.
But - that was then and this is now.
I guess we knew this was coming but now it’s real and on our doorstep. It’s not in China, it’s here - in aisle 3.
That crap from China? The price went up. Considerably.
Today the child and I went to the dollar store to buy something orange and something yellow for a game called coincidentally “the Cheeto challenge’.
This game was in her head and I’m still unsure of the actual rules but she bought some orange ribbon and I had to have yellow ribbon. Back in the day this would have cost 2 bucks. Now? You have to dig deeper and find three dollars. Plus tax.
When we got home she got to eat some Cheetos, and I still have no idea what that was all about, but it killed an hour so there’s that. Also, she got some Cheetos out of me which was the trick all along.
Like the tariffs, she made me think that I was getting a deal when I wasn’t.
We had to pick up a few other items but now even though you are at the dollar store: you have to pay attention to the prices. Gone are the days where you might see some crap on the shelf and toss it in the cart because it’s only a dollar. Now you have to read the prices because that thing you have in your hand could be anywhere from a little over a buck to 8 bucks or more.
Now the dollar store is really just a messy Wal-Mart now, but smaller and with less selection. But if you need the stuff for back to school, or some band-aids or a bit of painters tape or crazy glue be careful because you could will be paying more than you had in the past.
As of today, there really is no dollar store where you can pop in and pick up some cheap toothbrush or the like and that’s sad.
I’m not sure where this extra money is coming from, so I guess we’ll have to cut back on the Cheetos.
And that is the real challenge.
Until next time,
TH and Co.