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 :-)

Penny Pinchers: Restaurant Deals

Hey everybody. Welcome to Penny Pinchers, a segment about getting the best bang for your buck. Today, we'll be discussing restaurant deals. Even though cooking at home is the healthiest option, every once in a while you'll want to go out to a restaurant to treat yourself. Wait....steak is $20 instead of $5???? $16.99 for pasta????? $8 for grilled cheese?!?!?! I know, I know. Restaurants can become expensive. I'm reminded of this every time I go out to eat with my dad. However, there are plenty of ways to save money when you go to a restaurant and one way is to take advantage of different deals that each restaurant has. For example, most restaurants have a happy hour where you can get drinks and appetizers at a discounted price. Many restaurants also have lunch specials where you can save up to 50% on your meal just by going at a certain time. If you're lucky, you may even find some great steals like the free dessert you get at O'Charley's if you order from a certain part of the menu. A great way to ensure you never miss deals from your favorite restaurants is to sign up for their email lists. Chili's is one restaurant that sends coupons every few days that almost always include getting a free dessert or appetizer. They also host many family days where you can get free menu items and even gifts sometimes. There are endless amounts of deals from restaurants out there, and you just have to look to find them. A great way to do this is to stop going to the same restaurants all of the time. At one point, any time we went out with my dad, it was to a place we'd never been before. We were able to find great independent restaurants very close to our home and also find some great deals for those nights when we didn't want to cook. If you take the time to look and open your mind to new things, you'll be able to close your wallet to all of those high prices ;-) That wraps up Penny Pinchers for today and I look forward to seeing all of you here tomorrow when I start my Back To School Series. We'll be kicking off the series with some DIY projects to help jazz up what could be regular old boring school supplies. If anyone has any suggestions or concerns that they want addressed in this series feel free to email me at aminahv13@gmail.com or leave a comment under the post. I hope everyone has a great rest of the evening and I'll see you tomorrow :-)

Penny Pinchers: Seasonal Sales

Hey everybody! Today marks the first installation of Penny Pinchers. In this series, we will discuss numerous ways to save money. One such way is by shopping stores' seasonal sales. As you can see above, I made a large purchase recently at Bath & Body Works(only my favorite store in the WORLD). The items above retail at a combined total of $127.83. The 4 sleep products from the Aromatherapy Collection(on the left side of the screen) retail at $13 each, but because of the sale, they were buy 2 get 2 free. The mini perfumes are a fragrance that is no longer being sold after the sale.....all items in that fragrance were half off. The lotion retails at $12.50 and for whatever reason was on sale for $3. And the soaps are normally $6.50 apiece but were on sale for $3 each. AND I had a $20 off of a $50 purchase coupon through my email. So after all of the discounts and coupons, I only paid $37.15 tax included. This is one of many stores that has a semi-annual sale, and I highly encourage everyone to take advantage of these sales, especially if you need to stock up on some things. You should also take advantage of seasonal stores. Bath & Body Works, for example, sells scents by the season, so if you want to stock up on winter scents, but missed the semi-annual sale, you can go on their website and buy these scents for an outrageous discount. Also, if you have a favorite scent or product that is no longer being sold after a certain point, stock up on it. It will most likely be dirt cheap since the company will be trying to get rid of it, and you will be able to, at least for a while, continue to enjoy the product. Another seasonal sale that many people often overlook is tax-free weekend. In Tennessee, we have a tax-free shopping holiday the first weekend in August every year, as a way to help parents save money when stocking up for the upcoming school year. What most people don't know is that this holiday is not limited to students. Anyone can buy any product that is tax free and receive the same discount as students and parents. These items include nearly all clothing items, many electronics, and school supplies, which also includes many art supplies such as paint and other items that can become pricey if needed often. There are many seasonal sales throughout the year, but these are just a few of them that offer the largest discounts and can be the most beneficial. I encourage everyone takes advantage of at least one seasonal sale a year and I hope you all have enjoyed this post. Also, here you will find a list detailing each state's tax free holiday. I hope to see everyone here for Mani Monday which WILL go on as planned this time(I downloaded the Blogger app to avoid more picture mishaps). Have a great rest of the summer and look for the Back To School series in a few days ;-)