Mini Folding Tripod and Grip

Short Description: Small, portable tripod and grip
Price: $1.79
Store: Ebay Purchase Link

Amount: 1 tripod

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I already had a couple of mini tripods in my repertoire, but I still decided to purchase this one after learning about the price from this youtube video by randomfrankp.

It has quickly become a regular in my bag, especially for use with my Ricoh Theta S 360 camera.  It helps keep my hand out of the 360 photos and helps allow for remote shots on uneven surfaces.

Assuming your camera isn't too heavy, it is also a good grip to help steady video recording.

That being said, it has very limited effective positions, making for minimal effective picture angles.  Additionally, tightening the camera is likely to move the camera a little, making fine adjustments difficult to accomplish.

All things considered, this item is WORTH IT.

Pros:

• Small footprint both when folded and also when unfolded
• Can support cameras up to mirrorless camera size
• Decent as a pistol-like grip
• Easy to deploy and fold

Cons:

• Light, and will probably not be able to hold heavier cameras or lens
• Minimal possible adjustments
• Rough adjustments

Room Essentials (Target) Lingerie Laundry Bag

Over the years I've gone through two different laundry bags. They just become worn up and torn at the seams and zippers. These are essential for women's underwear if you know what I mean.



Room Essentials (Target) Lingerie Laundry Bag
Description:
Protects delicates in the washing machine
Prevents snags and tears for fine washables and hoisery
Nylon zipper closure
18" H x 15" W

Price: $1.49


It is fairly big, bigger than the ones I had that failed me. You can fit a lot of underwear or delicates in there.

Pros:

• Big

Cons:

• If you put too many items into it, they may not dry thoroughly
• Somewhat thin
• If you have any zippers it can snag on then it may rip

I tested this with a light load, and a big load. After a month or two there is only a tear at the seam near the zipper because whenever I do laundry, I rarely zip up my pants so the zipper may have been the cause.

In the end, it is still WORTH IT for the price. Despite some holes, it's still functioning well. But be sure to zip up those zippers!

Glass Terrarium Bowls

So I'm moving out of the room I share with my sister back into my own room which has been used on and off for relatives from out of country to stay. Things have settled down so I recently have started to move back in. As a still unemployed student, I need to cozy up this place. It's been smelly and dust ridden for years. It's a hell for allergy sufferers at the moment. So still being an unemployed person who is waiting and dying for a job interview, what can I do?

Well... since I was a kid I've been looking into air plants and I was fascinated with these things but for some reason I never got around to buying one. I don't know why. But now, when I only have a few bucks to spare, these things look like gold. I mean for around 1 - 2 bucks a piece these things are awesome. They're sturdy and some will also flower. This is it. I decided I'm going to make a terrarium. Hell- even 5 or 10 terrariums! Lets spice the window sill up. So where can I buy some glass bowls for these things? First store first: Dollar Tree.

 So I go online and see that they do have bowls suitable for my project. I buy 2 of them. They only have two different styles. Contents not included.




Glass Bowl
Price: $1
Where: Dollar Tree
Style: Round

This one is just a regular cute little round bowl.

Pros:

• Perfect size
• Small
• Simple

Cons:

• Smaller
• Less classy

Fluted Glass Bowl
Price: $1
Where: Dollar Tree
Style: Fluted

This one is a bit taller/bigger than the regular round one. I like this one more because it has the fancy fluted wavy top.

Pros:

• Fancy
• Big

Cons:

• Maybe too fancy

 End results:




Perfect for making small air plant terrariums.

WORTH IT. I have spiced up my window sill.

IKEA Potpourri

I'm moving back into my own room and it's smelling quite funky in here. My cat has urinated on the bed a few times (not uncommon) so this has been her messy cat room plus a guest room until now. I have come to claim this territory and too bad for her. A solution to the funky bed smell was that I put two sheets of laundry freshener onto the mattress before I laid down my fitted mattress cover. Then I decided it would be fun to put some potpourri in here.

This is two products in one review post since they complement each other so well.



Heres what I bought:

Potpourri
Price: $0.99
Where: IKEA
Type: DOFTA Rose scented, pink.

They have 3 different kinds, but rose is always good since I'm kind of obsessed with roses and flowers. Not too into the blueish purple/white.

Pros:

• A good amount
• Cheap
• Fragrant

Cons:

• Color rubs off, but no problem if you don't touch it
• Not too strong of a fragrance

Container
Price: $1
Where: Dollar Tree
Type: Glass, Star shaped

Pros:

• Cool shape
• Cheap
• Thick glass

Cons:

• Doesn't hold that much

I'm a star girl. I chose the star shaped container over the heart shaped one. So, I guess I'm obsessed with stars also.


In the end, I had half of the bag of potpourri left. I think for $1.99 + tax... this is WORTH IT. It's cheap and makes my room smell a little bit better with some style.

IKEA Smörgåskaviar Fish Roe Spread

IKEA Smörgåskaviar Fish Roe Spread
Price: $2.34
Amount: 6.7OZ

Looking for something to spread over your bread or crackers? Well look no further, this stuff has your omega-3's and everything fishy. I've been to IKEA to shop for furniture, but never food. Until I decided to finally check it out last week. They have a good variety of sea food spreads and the price on this one jumped out at me. $2.34???? SCORE! Mmm.... fish roe. From eating sushi and Russian cuisine I have become accustomed to raw fishy tastes.

This spread was quite salty and fishy, which is how fish roe should be. Because of this, you only need a small amount on a cracker.

I distributed the amount squeezed onto this first cracker over to the other crackers in the stack. It was quite tasty and the only taste left in my mouth is the taste of the crackers. Might be a hint of fishy taste left over.

Final verdict for this kind of food item... worth it! Way to go for... feeling classy when you only have a few bucks.

Market Pantry Gummi Bears

Market Pantry Gummi Bears (Target)

Price: $1
Rating: 8/10

Pros: Cheap
        Fat free
        18g protein / bag
        Real fruit juice

Cons: 780 calories / bag
          108g sugar / bag


These gummi bears are pretty good from the get go, but once they are left out for more than a day, they get stale quickly. It says on the bag that this is a new recipe, and I guess it's true, they DO taste a bit better than before. Overall, I am satisfied with this product and I recommend it to anyone.

WORTH IT.

Assured® Knee Support

Short Description: Blue, one size fits all knee support.
Price: $1 + Tax
Store: Dollar Tree

Amount: 1 Blue Knee Support

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Provided instructions (paraphrased):

Suitable for most sporting activities. Suitable for everyday. Can be used by both men and women. If you experience discomfort or have doubts about suitability of product consult your doctor.

Also, do not tumble dry, bleach, iron, or dry clean this thing. Only hand wash and air dry it. Additionally keep it away from direct sunlight (vampire?).

Opening up the box, I found the support folded inside of a plastic bag. The unit smelled of rubber.
It was pretty easy to pull onto my knee, it felt firm but not tight. Near my knee my thigh is about 18ish in. in girth. It seems like it could stretch to accommodate a thicker leg, but I would imagine it would start feeling much tighter.

Another thing to note is that this thing is fairly slim. As such it can't actually provide THAT much support, so if you need a lot of it, this isn't the one for you.

I'm going to take some notes of my use of it over a few days. I have a slight pain on the side of my left knee that's been bugging me since a balling incident weeks ago. Let's see if this thing helps.

AFTER A FEW DAYS
Support was pretty good. Kept the knee warm. Decent compression. The blue didn't match my outfit, but whatever. Actually, got a couple comments about how good quality it looked--before I told them that it was a dollar tree item.

Also played basketball with it on and the support was surprisingly decent. In a more casual game the support required only minor adjustment, but in a more serious one (lots of running) it had to be frequently adjusted.

If you need a bit of knee compression and warmth in a pinch, this item is WORTH IT.

Pros:

• Keeps the knee warm
• Decent compression
• Slim, doesn't restrict movement that much

Cons:

• One-size-fits-all means it might not fit everybody, and, even if it does, may not fit you particularly well.
• It's blue, which could be a con for some, I guess.
• Slim, unable to provide much support
• Not good for heavy running

Luminessence Apple Cinnamon Scented Pillar Candle

Kind of jumped the gun there. Ripped off the packaging before I took a picture.

I'm a girl. And I love candles. Every time I get a candle for my birthday or Christmas the first thing I think/say out loud is: OMG HOW DID YOU KNOW?? The second thing would be makeup or bath products. But I prefer candles over makeup. With candles you can burn them for all occasions. I especially like to burn them in the winter time on a stormy night. I one day hope to have a million candles in my home and light them all. Hoping my house doesn't catch on fire.

Luminessence Apple Cinnamon Scented Pillar Candle
Size: 2.5 in x 2.8 in.
Price: $1 + tax.
Store: Dollar Tree

This is a normal candle. Not sure what the materials are. Candle holder not included.







Scent wise... it's just as strong as any "scented" candle not compared to Glade scented candles that are designed for air freshening purposes. Burn wise, I believe it was bright enough. took a while for me to blow it out. Even a bigger plus.

Candles usually don't cost $1. At Cost Plus: World Market, a set of two 2.9 x 3 candles is $11.98. I have a smaller one from Cost Plus: World Market that went for $3.99. For a similar sized candle priced at $1 this is a huge deal. So when you want to buy candles, do buy them at dollar tree. When you burn a candle you're burning money. That dollar is sure to last with this candle bought from The Dollar Tree.

Final verdict... WORTH IT.

"Since I'm a girl, I love candles!" - Meg from Family Guy

Dr. Sheffield's Triple Antibiotic Ointment

Short Description: First Aid Antibiotic Ointment for minor cuts, scrapes, and burns.
Price: $1 + Tax
Store: Dollar Tree

Amount: .33 oz (9g)

Active ingredients: Bacitracin (400 units), Neomycin (3.5 mg), Polymyxin B (5000 units)
Inactive ingredient: Pertrolatum

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This ointment produced by Sheffield Pharmaceuticals is designed to be a cheaper alternative to the most popular Triple Antibiotic Ointment, (Original) Neosporin. If you compare ingredients (note the active ones)...
Neosporin
Active Ingredients: Bacitracin (400 Units), Neomycin (3.5 Mg), Polymyxin B (5,000 Units)
Inactive Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Cottonseed Oil, Olive Oil, Sodium Pyruvate, Vitamin E, and White Petrolatum
...these products are practically identical.

So far, it seems just as good in practice too. I applied it to a small scrape and bandaged it. No infection yet! *crosses fingers*

Here is some general information about Triple Antibiotic Ointments:

• A sizable number of people are allergic to Neomycin, and can get dermatitis (rash) from using these ointments.
• The strategy is to attack the unknown bacteria by throwing three antibiotics that are good at fighting different many different kinds of bacteria... over the long term (and on a big scale) this can lead to resistant strains.

Back to the specific product, the tube doesn't contain a lot of ointment. They probably use the same tubing to hold bigger products, because this thing is less than half full. Though the amount is listed on the outside, it was kind of disappointing to pull a mostly empty tube out of the box. One tube might not last you a very long time.

Compared to other Triple Antibiotic Ointments (which often come in 1 oz. tubes) though, I think this one still comes out on top. At approximately $3 an ounce it offers a very competitive price. If you don't mind buying a bunch, you could end up with a pretty good value.

That being said, I wonder if there aren't even more cost effective alternatives. In my research online, it was often suggested that a Bacitracin ointment alone is satisfactory for most cases (and conveniently devoid of the allergy problem). Crystal Violet is also something I've used in the past. Seems to work well, but it also has a chance of tattooing wounds and may be carcinogenic. Look forward to an update down the road.

Until then, however, I will call this item WORTH IT.

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Pros:

• Relatively cheap (compared to similar products)
• Has all the active ingredients

Cons:

• Might cause allergic reactions
• Small quantity per tube/box

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neosporin

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/04/neosporin-otc-drugs-avoid.html