10 Things Mexican Households Buy at the Dollar Store (And 5 They Never Touch)

Every few weeks, the same dollar store, the same little green basket, the same ten things. And the same five shelves I walk right past. Because that store is two stores under one roof. One is the best bargain in your town. The other, hiding between the same shelves, is the most expensive store you will ever shop in. 📖 My mother's whole way of running a house is written down in one book, The Old Mexican Way: https://oldmexicanway.com And before anybody feels bad: none of this is your fault. I taught you to read the little number on the shelf tag. This store took the little number off the shelf, because when everything costs the same there is nothing left to compare. So today I give you what to read instead. The 10 we buy, counting down: 10. Las tarjetas: greeting cards and gift bags. A card is read once, for eleven seconds 9. Los globos y la mesa: the party aisle. The eye reads abundance, it does not read price 8. Las charolas: the foil pans. In our families food travels, and you never get the pan back 7. La botella de rociar: the spray bottle and the cleaning tools, and the one thing the sprayer screws onto 6. El vidrio: real glasses, real plates, and the jars that make a pantry look rich 5. Las canastas: baskets and bins. Nothing inside them to make cheaper 4. El pan: the only food in my basket there, and the one thing I check first 3. La lista de la escuela: the poster board for the Sunday night in February 2. Los lentes: reading glasses, $1.25 against $15 to $25. Buy five 1. Las veladoras: not on any American list. The other nine keep a house running. This one tells you whose house it is The 5 we never touch: 1. Las pilas: "heavy duty" is not a compliment, it is the old zinc battery. The word you want is alkaline 2. Anything with a plug: chargers, cords, power strips. This one is not about money, it is about your house 3. The knife and the can opener: anything with an edge or a gear 4. Los rollos: foil, plastic wrap, paper towels, trash bags. Read the square feet 5. La despensa: the little bags of rice and beans, and the famous box in the special smaller size One of each of the ten is $12.50. The same ten across the street came to more than $60. My mother's rule for that store, in one breath: when everything is the same price, buy the things that have no "how much." One card, one glass, one basket, one candle. Walk past anything with a how much hiding inside it, the ounces, the square feet, the hours in the battery, the copper in the cord. That is the only place left for the store to take it from. At the dollar store, $1.25 is not a price. It is a size. The honest word: being short of money is expensive. If $1.25 is what is in the purse that day, you buy the small bag and you hold your head up. This lesson is for the weeks when there is a choice. Safety, said plainly: candles in glass, on a hard surface with nothing above them, never in a child's room, never left burning when the last person goes to sleep. Never a heater on a power strip, never one strip plugged into another, never a cord under a rug. Reading glasses do not replace the eye doctor. Prices are what I see in my town. Yours may be a little different, and some of these stores now carry items above $1.25. The rule does not change.