This Is Why You Don't Go Shopping With Two Bored Children While Sick And Hungry

Today my oldest daughter was off of school for a teacher inservice day.  Yesterday was fair day, so they had a 4 day weekend, during which I came down with some head cold.

We were out of milk, bread, and nearly out of toilet paper, so I planned to go to Aldi.  I decided to run by the 99CentsOnly store and grab just a few things we needed around the house....

click to enlarge

...$49.xx later....

I think I definitely fell off the frugal bandwagon today!  I have been trying to limit my trips to the 99CentsOnly store because I always end up spending way too much money.  Today, I kept finding things that we actually did *need* around the house, and then some deals that were just too good to pass up...take the 5lb bags of Gold Medal flour for instance....$0.99 each!

I decided after looking over my full cart, to just grab some milk and toilet paper there and call it a day without going to Aldi, so I know I saved some money by making that decision, but I still am a little bit shocked at my total here.

I grabbed some lunchables for my daughter, so I won't have to fix sandwiches this week with germy hands, I got them some items to replenish the art supply stash, I got a few cans of clams (our turtle loves those), and I picked up some more of the dishwasher tabs that they sell for $0.99 (my husband was VERY skeptical the first time I bought these, but they work great!).

There were also items like envelopes and bubble bath that we've been needing and I kept forgetting to add to the shopping list, so they never got bought.  I'm trying to find solace in the fact that this trip did stock us up on a lot of necessities at very good prices.  I even got breathe right strips for $0.99!  But it's still a lot of money to spend at a dollar store!  I thought there must be some mistake, so I counted the items as I loaded my bags into the car and there were 50+  (a few things were less than $0.99).

I know I splurged on a few items, like the temptations puddings, and those are some awesome socks over in that left corner! LOL.  I also had to grab a box of tissues and open them up while shopping (stupid runny nose).  And then there was that Monster espresso sitting up there empty.  I know I probably should steer clear of consuming items with skulls in their logo, but they are so delicious! ;)

What do you think?  Did I get good deals, or did I overspend?  I keep going back and forth about it, but what's done is done.  I guess it could be worse!

What store do you tend to overspend at?