The Dollar Store Revelation

I don't know what took me so long to realize i was being deceived, its no ones fault but my own. Im getting more serious about saving money and that means branching out to different stores that i have stopped shopping at. At the dollar tree, everything in the store is a dollar and i thought i hit the lotto. Well searching the ads every week tell me different, im actually paying more at the dollar tree for some products that are on sale in store and with coupons. Shopping at the dollar tree is not saving me as much money as i thought. A few products i will save money on but not alot. I have learned to be patient with the sales unless its something that we really need. Doing my research instead of just sticking with the cheaper stores has really saved me money. Aldis is another deception, they are not as cheap as i thought. So if you really want to save money do your research on all the stores in your area to make sure you are getting the best prices. To give you an example shopping at aldis and the dollars stores i spend about $50 a week for my family of 3. Now i have done our grocery list for this week from the store ads and our total will come out to about $23 dollars. This does not include meat because we buy bundles every few months. So i have cut the bill more than half checking all the store sales. Are you really getting a good deal at the cheaper stores?