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I didn’t know anything about Poundland.

Here’s what I learnt from the internet:

There are 588 Poundland stores in the UK and sales have just broken the £1 billion barrier for the first time.

Presumably, this means they just sold one billion items in a year for the first time.

Among them were 5.5 million boxes of Maltesers and 250,000 garden gnomes.

They also sold 2.5 million umbrellas, 3 million lightbulbs, 18 million cans of Coke, 3 million metres of tinsel and 5.5 million Toblerones.

(Image: Wales Online)

But sometimes it’s good to learn things in person, and not just from the internet, so I took £20 and tried to do my weekly shop there in a report for Wales Online.

And I came back with CHANGE.

I couldn’t believe some items were £1

Before I started my shop I wasn’t expecting much.

But I was expecting a lot of what my mother used to call “tack”, like in the pound shops I like to visit on holidays: a mixture of cheap fridge magnets and bouncy balls.

But I was pleasantly surprised.

So much so, I had to keep asking passing members of staff if each item I picked up was really £1.

I think they started to avoid me in the end.

(Image: Wales Online)

Poundland’s shelves were full of big brands.

On the surface the store had everything a person would need to complete their weekly shop including, to my surprise, a cold fridge section with milk, butter and ham.

Although I must admit I was a little bit disappointed by the lack of cheap fridge magnets and bouncy balls.

They sell everything!

In between the Nivea and the Pantene you may be shocked to come across Poundland’s new range of £1 adult products (sex toys, to you and me).

Sadly, this is something else I had to learn online and there weren’t any in the branch I shopped in in Cardiff.

As I wandered around the store like a toddler at Disneyland for the first time (okay, I was 19, but never mind) I was in awe at the range of products.

(Image: Wales Online)

They had iPhone chargers, computer accessories, reading glasses, and DVDs, albeit dated (they had Davina McCall’s fitness DVD).

They had fitness accessories, camping gear and beauty products.

The possibilities were endless. I could work out, drink out of my expandable camping bottle and exfoliate all for the price of a Happy Meal.

I guess the only thing that would be missing from this happy party was the adult toy.

Size matters

It’s not all bargain nirvana.

The small price tags mean that some of the items are sold in smaller packages.

(Image: Wales Online)

A recent study by the Sunday Times claimed that Poundland charges up to 50% more than other supermarkets due to the small product sizes.

As a woman with a huge appetite this did disappoint me slightly.

A 250g box of Corn Flakes at Poundland cost £1 even though I could buy a 750g family box (just for me) for £1.98 at Asda.

This meant that some of the larger items, like a box of Huggies nappies or a big jar of Nescafe coffee cost a lot more (the two go hand in hand, of course).

It is pretty hard to spend £20 in Poundland

In the end I was struggling.

It reminded me of the sweats you get when you start getting really full halfway through a big meal.

And I was sweating. I already had two (heavy) baskets full of shopping and I hadn’t even spent £15.

I tried to wander the aisles and find items that would meet the criteria of a “weekly shop” (in other words, things that would run out when it starts snowing).

Don’t get me wrong, I could have gone crazy and spent my entire month’s wages if I had any room in between the fridge magnets and bouncy balls at home.

But the point of this experiment was to do a weekly shop for under £20 not binge in tack-buying (as much as I wanted to).

And I had everything I thought an average person would need during the week, including shower gel, black bags, bleach, milk, butter, toothpaste, biscuits and deodorant (which was essential by this point).

So after my hour-long Poundland safari I headed to the tills.

Bags aren’t £1 (but they're not 5p either)

After queuing behind my fellow bargain hunters I was summoned to cashier number four.

I wondered how far the “Everything for £1” rule would stretch and whether I would have to pay the same for plastic bags.

(Image: Wales Online)

But I was pleasantly surprised. The bags only cost 10p, which was lucky really because I needed three of them (£3 I could now spend on working out, drinking out of my expandable camping bottle and exfoliating).

I had 20 items and spent £18 (£18.30 with bags)

Oh, and I also got a “Enter Sea Life for £1 voucher” with my shop.

I wonder if they sell goggles in Poundland?

The Shopping List

(Image: Wales Online)

Kitchen Roll

Toilet Roll

(Cheap) coffee

2 Litre Semi Skimmed Milk

Dog Food

Bleach

Black Bags

Toothpaste (2 for the price of 1)

Tetley Tea Bags

Wafer Thin Ham

Utterly Butterly Butter

Kelloggs Cornflakes

Fairy Liquid (2 for the price of 1)

Twin pack of Maryland Cookies

Shower Gel

Deodorant

Shampoo

Conditioner

3 Plastic Bags

Total: £18.30