The Cheap Issue: Dollar-store shopping spree

We tend to check out dollar stores around the holidays (there's no better place to find dirt-cheap Christmas cards and gift wrap) but not so much the rest of the year.

So with an eye toward saving a buck all year round, we scoured the local discount-store scene with a $30 budget to see how much stuff we could find that we could realistically use in our day-to-day lives. And we found plenty — brand-name cleaning supplies and cosmetics, pricy-looking home decor items and lots of everyday necessities like flashlights, screwdrivers and scissors.

A tip: Be sure to pay attention to the prices listed on the store shelves. Many so-called dollar stores actually price lots of merchandise at $5, $10, $20 and above. —Brittany Kress, Shelley Mann & Melissa Starker

All prices $1 unless otherwise noted

Win this stuff!

What's better than a box full of cheap goodies? Three boxes of free goodies! We're giving away the dollar-store finds on each of these three pages. To enter to win, click to the Window Shopping blog.