If you’re looking to boost your retirement savings, you have three choices: earn more money, reduce expenses or invest your money at a higher rate of return.
Earning more is not always an option if you are already putting in long hours and barely making ends meet, especially if you have other responsibilities like caring for young children or aging parents. Investments with higher returns tend to be risky, which is okay if you still have a lot of time until retirement.
For many people, finding additional ways to save on necessities like food and household goods is the best way to free up money to save for retirement. GOBankingRates recently outlined how you can save more than $300 per month by shopping at Dollar Tree. Let’s look at what real people are buying at the dollar store — where most items are now $1.25 — and how to invest that money wisely.
How To Save at Dollar Tree
Dollar Tree is known for its low prices on craft items, seasonal decor and party goods such as paper plates. But some shoppers also save money on food, cleaning products and laundry soap.
Melissa A. Kay, a freelance writer in Deer Park, NY, said she likes Dollar Tree for gourmet items she wouldn’t splurge on in a grocery store, such as oat milk and hazelnut spread. “I probably wouldn’t have bought oat milk at the grocery store, because it’s so expensive there,” she said.
For the most part, she tries to be careful only to buy items that are part of her normal grocery shopping trip, such as crackers, pretzels, applesauce and cans of tuna. Kay said she compares prices carefully. “Sometimes the items at Dollar Tree cost more than they do at the grocery store. For example, a can of chickpeas was cheaper at the grocery store.”
Make Your Money Work for You
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Several dollar store shoppers mentioned pretzels as a tremendous value at Dollar Tree. “Dollar Tree sells super pretzel nuggets for $1.25 when the local supermarkets are selling them for like $4+ depending on the store. So we buy them at Dollar Tree all the time. Same with Snyder’s butter snaps,” said TommieLynn Mulderig, a mom-of-one on of Long Island, NY.
As Dollar Tree introduces more name-brand items, it offers more opportunities for shoppers to save. Overall, Kay said she saves roughly $25 a trip compared to the grocery store. It’s not a lot, but if you were to invest an extra $25 every month at just 7%, you’d have more than $12,000 extra in 20 years, according to the calculator at Saving.org.
Holly Kristine-Carman, who works in direct sales and runs the Facebook group Reclaim Your Power to inspire women, says she saves close to $180 per month buying groceries at Dollar Tree. “I buy mostly frozen foods for the boys,” said Kristine-Carman, who has four children and two grandchildren.
On a recent trip, she spent $60 on frozen pizza, egg rolls, burritos and cleaning supplies. “At Walmart, I would have spent at least $150 on all of that,” she said.
She shops at Dollar Tree roughly twice a month to keep her freezer stocked. “Burritos and pizza and sandwiches are so quick and easy to put in the microwave when they want to snack. That way, I don’t have to stop and cook something if I’m working or if I have the grandkids.”
Make Your Money Work for You
So How Much Can You Really Save for Retirement?
With savings ranging from $25 per month up to $300 a month or more, it’s easy to see that your savings may vary if you’re shopping at Dollar Tree. But if you can take that savings — no matter how small — and invest it, you can see some solid returns.
For instance, if you aggressively invest $300 a month in the stock market at a 12% rate of return, you could have more than $1 million saved in 30 years.
Depending on your situation — and if you are facing retirement in the next 10 to 15 years — it might be better to invest your savings in a 401(k), especially if your employer matches funds. However you invest it, applying your shopping savings to high-yield investments can help you get closer to your retirement goals.
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