Do you buy store brands? Do you use coupons for brand names? If you buy store brands, are there some store brands that you don’t like as well as the brand name? Is the money you save buying store brands worth using inferior products?
As I get older, I’m wanting to hang on to more of my money for eventual retirement. I’m striving to be a financially responsible person. Eeewwwww – that sounds way too stuffy! But I gotta do it.
One way – evaluating the fiscal ramifications of buying brand name products versus store brand products. (I’m gettin’ into it – “fiscal ramifications” – financial jargon. Oh, yeah!)
Store brands –
- Store brands are less expensive.
- Store brands are good. ConsumerReports.org says, “In the most recent supermarket survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, 70 percent of respondents said they were highly satisfied with the quality of store brands they’d bought.”
- Maybe people who pass me in the grocery store will see that I have to buy store brands, feel sorry for me, and put a little something in the tip jar that I carry in the seat section of the grocery cart
Brand name products –
- I can use coupons for brand name products – according to the media, using coupons is the thing to do if you are a financially responsible person. Just look at all the coupons that are available in newspapers, on the internet, everywhere; blogs about couponing; all the news reports about couponers. Whew! Makes me tired just thinking about it.
- Some brand name products are just so much better: i.e. chocolate syrup, ketchup, toasted oat cereal, Cola. There is absolutely nothing that can compare with Hershey’s syrup, Heinz ketchup, General Mills Cheerios, and official real Coke!
- The tip jar keeps falling over and spilling money all over the grocery store floor (well, not really “all over” since the only money in there is the money I put there myself).
The thing is – making lists of pros and cons about a choice I need to make has always been helpful. And – if that doesn’t work, then I can always use rationalization.
Rationalization is a valid evaluation technique. – No – really!
The thing is – no rationalization this time – lists have been helpful again! Duh! I’ll buy store brands except for the products that need to be brand names. Woo!Hoo!
But what if I can’t find coupons for the brand name products, or the coupons have expired, or they blow away, or. . . ?
“Excuse me – would you like to help a little old lady buy food so she won’t starve? I have this tip jar. . .”
“No, officer – I wasn’t soliciting! Honest! I was just taking a survey. . . No – really!”
Do you buy store brands? Do you use coupons? If you buy store brands, are there some store brands that you don’t like as well as the brand name? Share your thoughts.
Disclaimer: No compensation has been promised or provided by Walmart, Dollar General, Hershey, Heinz, General Mills, or Coca-Cola for references to products in this post.
Grandawn - Aging Semi-Gracefully 
They catch the unwary, here. Every now and again, the store brand is more expensive than the brand name ones. Maybe the brand ones are older stock, but I sometimes wonder.
You’re right! I have seen that happen, too.
Cindy!!!!We do,sometimes, get coupons.
However,Grandawn…like you…I always forget about them until I am in the car.
Rather like my grocery list which I normally take out after I have finished shopping!
I go for name brands wherever possible…I find the quality great.
I often find that name brands are cheaper than branded goods even WITH a coupon!
p.s. Can I use your idea for the tip jar?????
Absolutely! Maybe it will work better for you. Just don’t get arrested for soliciting.
Me, too, granny! I make lists, and make lists, and make lists. Then I forget to look at them. (Sigh. . .)
I am a complete disaster in the kitchen – so I buy ready made foods or live off the take-out menu. The couple of stuff that I do buy is fresh vegetables from our local Fruit and Veg and Soya products from our local health store (I’m a vegetarian). The store brand stuff I see on the shelves don’t have pictures on it and due to me being an idiot – if I don’t see the pic – I won’t buy the product. And now that I’ve shown my total ignorance and made my name mud – I guess its time to depart…
I’m not a complete disaster in the kitchen, but a I do a lot of major cooking since it’s just me. So, I hear what you’re saying. I definitely want pictures, too! 🙂
There are a few items where I prefer certain brands. As for the rest, cheapest is best. I remember a time when certain magazines had cut-out coupons, but I seldom used them. I would religiously cut them out and then lose them or forget to take them with me.
Me, too! I went through a period where I was scouring newspapers and magazines for coupons and cutting them out. Then I would get frustrated with the time it took to go through them and match them to my grocery list. Then I would find out they had expired – or I would forget to use them at the store. It just didn’t work for me. – Cheap is good!
We don’t have a coupon system in SA that I know of. My husband does our shopping and I give him a weekly list. I’m not really particular about brands, except for cheese and coffee. I’m lucky to live in a suburb that still has a ‘high street’ where I can buy fresh produce daily.
No coupons? I just keep learning such interesting things. Yes – coffee. I didn’t mention that one. I’ve been known to take coffee with me when I go out of town so I have my brand that I like. We have farmer’s markets in season where local growers bring their produce. I guess that would be sort of equivalent to your ‘high street.’