There are 2, and only 2 types of people in this world.  Those who love a deal and those who don’t.  I am in the first group.  If you compliment me on anything, I’ll gush and and glow and tell you all about how inexpensive it was.  Other people will just slowly blink their eyes, and purr thank you.  Not me.  I WANT you to know how cheap I got something and what a great deal it was! What?  This necklace?  Oh you’ll never believe it, but I found it in the toilet!

It is this sensibility that draws me to dollar stores.  Dollarama, The Dollar Store, Dollar Tree,  … it doesn’t matter what you call it; if it’s a store that carries things that actually cost a dollar, I LOVE it.  I get goosebumps just thinking about fantastically underpriced slipper socks and Christmas decorations.  As I may have mentioned before, I actually went to the grand opening of a Dollarama.  That was quite a day.  Me and a bunch of people still wearing their p’jama bottoms.

That’s the thing about Dollar Stores.  Most of the people who feel they don’t “need” to shop there, don’t. I guess they think it’s beneath their obvious good taste.  Plus, they think Dollar stores are filled with crap.  WELL OF COURSE THEY’RE FILLED WITH CRAP!  It’s stuff that costs a dollar!  But I maintain if you have a good eye and a really good imagination you can turn your Dollar Store junk into really nice Dollar Store junk.

So this week I am dedicating one post every day to what you can do with stuff from a Dollar store.  Starting with the $2 birdfeeder.

To make yourself a little birdfeeder candleholder, just pop the bottom off the Dollarama birdfeeder, insert a SHORT candle into the birdfeeder, reattach bottom and light! You need to remember to keep the candle short, otherwise the birdfeeder may catch on fire. I only mention this because my birdfeeder caught on fire. If you must know. So, just keep the candle short. I had to cut a bigger candle down, because Dollarama only had tall white candles. If you want to be extra safe you can glue a little glass votive holder onto the birdfeeder base. This will also prevent messy wax spills when there’s a breeze.

Instruction gallery:

Cut your candle short. Shorter than this. This is the candle that moments later set my birdfeeder a teensy bit on fire.

Remove the little knobby things at the end of the metal bar holding the base onto the birdfeeder.

Once the plastic ends are off, hammer the metal rod through so you can pull the bottom of the feeder off.

Pop the bottom off the birdfeeder

Slip the birdfeeder over your short candle.

Stick the bottom back on the feeder, insert the rod again and pop the plastic ends back on.

Remember … short candle, or votive. Now go put your p’jamas on and get to your nearest dollar store!