Dollar Store Shopping

Typically, when someone says Dollar Store, junk comes to mind.

Yup, that’s right. Junk. After all, what could you possibly find of value at a store where everything only costs $1.25?

Prior to my descent into poverty, visits to the Dollar Store were for purchasing party supplies, Halloween costumes or craft supplies. Later, when I had $20 for the week to feed my family and my pride prevented me from going to food banks, the Dollar Store became my best friend.

Granted, dairy and meat products can’t be found at your local Dollar Store (or can they?), but just about everything else can such as whole grain pastas, sauces, baking supplies, condiments, snacks, beans, canned fish, veggies and fruit and sometimes even cereal. Additionally, the Dollar Store has a myriad other useful items on the cheap such as toiletries, cleaning supplies, household items, pet food and greeting cards.

But how do Dollar Stores make money? Some products are comparable to those found at Safeway while other items are worse than those found inside chocolate eggs. Well, the easy answer is that the brands sold at Dollar Stores have no advertising behind them and celebrities don’t endorse them. Also, products come in smaller sizes and there’s no guarantee when a product is in stock.

After the third fixture in my house stopped working, I was ready to give my landlord a piece of my mind. Before I did that, however, I thought I’d try an experiment. I unscrewed a light bulb from a room that I know I bought at Home Depot and tried it in the light fixtures that weren’t working. And you know what? They worked!

Other worst buys have been cotton swabs, deodorant, hair colour and dish soap. Purchases which have made my life better include deep cleansing pads for cleaning my floor, whole grain pasta, muffin mixes, condiments such as ketchup and mayo and puzzles.

Yes, there is a lot of junk at Dollar Stores, but you can also find valuable items. What are some of the best/worst products you’ve found at your local Dollar Store?

My 52-week money challenge

After years of being chronically broke, I’m finally in a position to save money. My journey out of poverty has finally begun.

Despite my apprehension of not overcoming my negative relationship with money, I’m relieved to report that losing my job, filing for bankruptcy and going on income assistance in the space of two months had a profoundly positive effect on me.

I came across the 52-week money challenge a few months ago on Facebook and knew this was a doable challenge for me. The premise for this challenge is quite simple; put away the same amount as the week you’re at. So, on week one, you’ll put away $1 and on week 15, you’ll put away $15. At the end of the 52-weeks, we’ll have saved $1378, which will pay for a trip to Montreal to visit with my sister and her new baby.

I have since placed the 52-week money challenge image on my desktop as a constant reminder of what I hope to achieve. Each Monday, my daughter and I collect the amount required for that week and eagerly deposit the coins into a wooden treasure chest we painted. I’ve just passed week 9 and have $45 in my account.

For many people, I know that $45 doesn’t seem like a lot of money. However, having spent many months where $45 was all I had available to feed myself and my daughter for a month, I have a new appreciation for every dollar I save.

I know there are many ways of saving money and there are pros and cons for both. What’s worked for you?

If not poverty, then what?

It’s fairly easy to be good with money when you have none.

Now that I have a steady source of income, I have to admit that I’m somewhat hesitant to embrace this new phase of things going well for me. Not because I don’t feel I deserve happiness. The fact is, I’m terrified I’m going to make the same financial mistakes I did at the beginning of my journey into poverty.

Speaking of which, I think it’s safe for me to say that I’m no longer in poverty. Instead, I have moved up to join the ranks of low-income families. Which is good news because it means I have a established a steady income of sorts.

In order to not repeat the mistakes of my past, I need to remind myself that I’m just as responsible for getting myself into this mess as I am getting out of it now. Here’s a recap of how I did it;

• Dec 2011 – At the end of an inconsistent year work, my laptops were stolen from my home.
• May 2012 – After several months of falling farther and farther behind on bills and losing my last two clients, I filed for bankruptcy.
• June 2012 – Applied for and started receiving Income Assistance. My parents helped out a lot.
• Aug 2012 – Started a back-to-work program that offered so much more than how to get back to work.
• Oct 2012 – Got a part-time job with a non-profit.
• Jan 2013 – Started the process of applying for PWD (persons with a disability).
• March 2013 – PWD application finally submitted.
• April 2013 – Non-profit I worked for ran out of funding to pay me, but did sign me on for another project.
• May 2013 – Child support increased. Identified health problems.
• June 2013 – Approved for PWD status. Got bus pass.
• July 2013 – Roommate moving in. Taking courses online. Starting new project for non-profit. Rectifying health issues.

Writing down my accomplishments has reminded me how much I’ve learned in the last 18-months. I have acquired new coping skills and have built a network of people who support and love me. I’ve made new friends and have reconnected with old ones. I have gone from getting paid once a week to getting paid once a month and you know what? Yes, I’m (finally) better at managing my money.

The only direction to go now is up.

What has the last 18-month’s looked like for you?

Climbing out of poverty

When I think of my journey into poverty, a pit in the middle of the desert comes to mind. This pit has a steep hill leading up to the lip of it. The inside of the pit is like a funnel, with the sides made of quicksand. A gaping hole in the middle is lined with deadly spikes. Those of you who are Star Wars fans will recognize this picture of a Scarlacc from Tatooine, the very same one in which  the bounty hunter Boba Fett was tortured.

During my descent into poverty, I did feel like I was making progress and that’s what the steep hill leading up to the rim of the pit represented to me. I remember asking for help then and getting answers like “we can’t help you until you’re making less than x amount of dollars” or “you’re not qualified because you’re self-employed” or “are you a minority, do you have a disability, are you fleeing an abusive relationship or do you need addiction recovery support?”

The simple fact of “I’m struggling to make ends meet” didn’t seem to be an acceptable answer. Even as I started to slide down the funnel and into the pit, I was still given suggestions like “get a second job” or “demand that your ex give you more child support” or simply “I’m sorry, but we can’t help you because you’re not eligible for anything”.

Which was kind of the problem, was it not? Perhaps if I didn’t struggle daily with the ins and outs of depression, I would’ve been able to quickly bounce back from my ever-increasing ‘bad luck’.

At the beginning (about a year-and-a-half ago), I did start cutting back; not eating out as much, cancelling all but basic services for my phone, disconnecting cable and driving my car as little as possible. But when you don’t have a budget in place on how the money coming in is going to be spent, it’s hard to be cognisant of where and what the real problem was.

I think that’s the single biggest error myself and others in similar situations make in that we don’t have a back-up plan. Having been self-employed for over a decade, I’ve basically been living paycheck to paycheck. Which becomes a huge problem when the paychecks stop coming. Now that I’m on disability, I feel like I have a foundation on which to build and grow from. Being on disability is my backup plan now. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing.

What would you do to avoid being tortured like Boba Fett?