I’ve shopped at Dollar Tree for 20 years. Here are 12 products I swear by getting at the budget chain.

Author Terri Peters smiling in a Dollar Tree store — Dollar Tree has raised some of its prices over the years, but there are still several products I think are worth getting there.
Terri Peters

I’ve been shopping at Dollar Tree for about 20 years and buy some essentials for my family there.
I exclusively purchase period products, gift wrap, and greeting cards at the chain.
Other staple Dollar Tree buys include cleaning supplies, batteries, spices, and seasonings.

I remember the good old days when everything at Dollar Tree really did cost $1.

In recent years, the chain has raised prices to as much as $1.50 per item, and added a selection of premium merchandise that costs even more — just as much as chains like Five Below or Dollar General.

It’s rare for me to look through the Dollar Tree aisles that include those higher-priced items, like $5 candles or $7 laundry baskets.

Instead, I stick to the basics and have found several products I regularly pick up for myself and my family.

As a longtime Dollar Tree shopper who’s weathered each round of price increases, here are 12 things I still swear by buying at the budget chain.

I love the store’s selection of hand soaps.

Hand soaps in aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

I’ve seen hand soap from brands like Softsoap and Dial priced about the same here as it is at stores like Target and Walmart, where I do the bulk of my family’s grocery shopping.

Dollar Tree even sells some luxurious-feeling soaps for low prices.

For example, the chain’s Spa Luxury foaming hand soap comes in lots of seasonal scents and reminds me of similar offerings from Bath & Body Works that cost way more.

My daughter and I also love the Arm & Hammer rose-scented hand soap that we often find at Dollar Tree.

Sample-sized condiments are often worth picking up.

Condiments in green basket at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

When I spot displays of unique sample-sized condiments at Dollar Tree, I’m sure to grab a few.

Trying 2 or 4 ounces of something for just over $1 is a great way to taste new products as a family without potentially wasting money on a full-size product we won’t like.

Once I know we love something, I can seek out a bigger size of it.

Most recently, we tried Melinda’s Pizza Hot Sauce. After confirming we loved it, I felt more comfortable spending $6 or $7 for a larger bottle of it on Amazon.

I’m such a big fan of Dollar Tree’s sample-sized sauces that I even put them in my husband’s stocking at Christmastime.

I always look at spices and seasonings when shopping at Dollar Tree.

Spices aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

Once I really started paying attention to the spices in my cabinet, I realized most of them expire long before we use them up.

So, I started buying spices at Dollar Tree because it feels much less painful to toss an expired $1.25 container of paprika than a $6 one.

Plus, sometimes new and unique spice blends pop up at the chain.

In my opinion, the quality of the spices sold at Dollar Tree and the ones I used to get at the grocery store seem pretty similar. I’ve yet to purchase a spice here and feel like it wasn’t up to my standards once I used it at home.

We only buy period products at Dollar Tree since I’m always impressed by the selection and quality.

Feminine products in aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

Keeping my teenage daughter and myself stocked with pads, tampons, heating patches, feminine wipes, and all the other products we depend on during our menstrual cycle can be expensive.

Dollar Tree stocks name brands, like Kotex and Poise, but my favorite products come from its B Pure brand, which makes everything from organic cotton pads to feminine deodorant.

Purchasing these products at $1.25 each makes it much more affordable to have everything we need on hand for our periods.

These days, I only buy cleaning products and laundry basics from Dollar Tree.

Laundey detergent, dryer sheets, in aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

I live in a house with one husband, two teenagers, two dogs, five cats, and occasional foster kittens, so I spend a great deal of time cleaning, vacuuming, mopping, and doing laundry.

Household products like laundry detergent or window cleaner can get pricey at stores like Walmart and Target, so I started trying Dollar Tree’s versions years ago to see how they’d shape up.

Fortunately, I’ve been pretty impressed. I swear by many products, from the chain’s Oxiclean dupe that gets stubborn stains out of our family’s clothes to its toilet cleaner.

I love buying these products at $1.25 a pop, not only because they work, but also because they cost way less than name brands.

It’s also where I exclusively buy my greeting cards and gift wrap.

My children are 15 and 17, so I’ve spent many years in the kids’ birthday party circuit.

These celebrations could get expensive fast, when a greeting card and a gift bag would cost almost as much as the present itself at some stores. Here, that’s not the case.

Most of the chain’s greeting cards are only 50 cents, and I’d rather send a present in a $1.25 bag over a pricier one any day, especially since most gift wrap just gets immediately tossed.

These days, I buy all my greeting cards, gift bags, wrapping paper, tissue, gift boxes, and other gifting supplies exclusively at Dollar Tree.

All of the glue in our kitchen drawer is from Dollar Tree.

We use superglue and other extra-strength adhesives for a ton of things around my house, from completing craft projects to fixing the handle on a broken coffee mug.

I buy bottles of the stuff here because it’s inexpensive, and I find it works just as well as the name brands.

Another must-buy adhesive for me is Dollar Tree’s brush-on nail glue, which I often find in the beauty aisle. It’s actually perfect for crafting, so whenever I see it, I’m sure to grab a few bottles at a time.

We stock up on batteries from Dollar Tree.

Hand holding two packs of batteries in aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

Since we’re always replacing batteries in something in our house, be it a kid’s video-game controller or the wireless keyboard on my desk, it’s nice to have a stash of them that didn’t cost us a ton.

Dollar Tree’s multipacks of batteries are affordable — usually starting at $1.50 a pop — and come in tons of varieties, from AAA to C.

I’ve personally found them to work just as well as ones from pricier brands.

It’s nice to keep face masks and pimple patches on hand.

Face masks on display in aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

My daughter and I love keeping face masks in our refrigerator to use whenever our faces feel swollen, dry, or sunburned.

We love the individually packaged ones at Dollar Tree because they come in a ton of varieties, are affordable, and have made our skin feel great. A lot of them hold their own against the more expensive masks we’ve tried from the drugstore.

Speaking of skincare, my daughter and I also both swear by Dollar Tree’s private-label Orchid pimple patches.

Similar patches at the drugstore can cost about $10 a box, but a sheet of these $1.25 patches from Dollar Tree seems to work just as well.

I’ve organized so many parts of my home using inexpensive storage bins from Dollar Tree.

Storage bins in aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

Affordable and often available in matching colors, Dollar Tree’s storage bins have been a game changer for my home organization, from my closet to my pantry.

For example, when I redid my bedroom closet, I purchased tan-colored containers from Dollar Tree in varying sizes and textures and used them to sort my clothes and accessories.

The finished product looked like something I’d put together at The Container Store, but at a fraction of the cost.

The plastic cutlery has come in handy.

Plastic cutlery in bags in aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

Between packing lunches and reheating leftovers, we go through lots of utensils in my home.

Rather than fight with my teens about them leaving spoons in their room or forgetting to bring a fork home from rehearsal, I now have them grab plastic utensils from Dollar Tree for any meal they eat outside the kitchen.

Because these multipacks of forks, spoons, and knives cost so little, I don’t worry if a utensil doesn’t make it home from that post-practice dinner.

I love Dollar Tree’s selection of boxed candies.

Boxed candies on shelves in aisle at Dollar Tree — Terri Peters

From Hot Tamales to Whoppers, there are all kinds of sweet treats available at Dollar Tree for just $1.25 a pop.

We watch a lot of movies in my house, so I like stocking my pantry with the theater-style boxed candies. That way, everyone can pick their own treat on movie night.

Since the candies are individually packaged, they’re also great for taking on the go.

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