Penny Pinchers: Store Brands

Hey everybody, and welcome to Penny Pinchers. The topic of the day: store brands. Let's think about it for a second. Why do you NEED Glad brand sandwich bags? What's makes a Glad brand sandwich bag any better than a Family Dollar brand sandwich bag? Nothing. And the Family Dollar brand is much cheaper. Do you NEED a name brand highlighter or will a generic brand do just fine? I think we all know the answer to that. There's nothing wrong with buying store brands. In fact, it's probably better if it means you'll save money. This can even be applied to food. However, you must decide for yourself what's worth buying in a store brand and what's worth splurging on for a name brand. I myself HATE Kroger brand Frosted Flakes but Kroger brand shredded cheese and granola bars are, to me, better than their name brand counterparts. It's all about trial and error. Similar to if you are trying to perfect your hair care regimen, you will have to buy multiple different products to find which one will work for you. The same goes with buying store brands. Some are good, some even better than the name brand, but some are best left on the shelf. Some even taste the same as the name brand. Why? Because if you look at the ingredients of a name brand snack and a store brand snack, they will likely have the same ingredients, the only difference being the label on the front of the packaging. That is a very important aspect of buying store brands because you could potentially be spending more money for the exact same product and who wants to do that? This post is just filled with rhetorical questions. The point is, don't let packaging fool you. Look at the ingredients on food packaging. Compare quality of products such as trash bags and dish soap. Actually give store brands a chance and don't just assume that they will be mediocre just because they don't have a name brand on them. However, don't depend solely on store brands because you may be disappointed with the results. Test store brands versus name brands and decide what works best for you, regardless of the price. If need be, have someone take the labels off of the products and do a blind test in order to avoid bias towards a certain product and to have an honest opinion of each product. If (and when) you see that the store brand works just as well, if not better, than the name brand product, you're more likely to give store brands a chance in the future and save money for more expensive items on your shopping list. An open mind is the key to a full wallet ;-)


I hope everyone enjoyed this edition of Penny Pinchers and I encourage you to keep a close eye on the blog because I'll be adding another post shortly with my July favorites. This list will be random each month depending on what new products I tried and it may help you find a favorite of your own. Keep saving and continue to elongate the few days of summer we have left. Until next time :-)