Making the switch to store brands

photo by abductos
When asked what items they won’t compromise for the sake of frugality, many of my readers state their brand loyalty to certain products. They are willing to pay more, yet many have not even tried the lower-cost store-brand counterparts available to them. Granted, some have tried store brands and consider their favorite name brands to be superior, but at what cost? When pressed for more information, the primary shopper admits that the pressure of other family members tends to enforce the decision to buy name-brand products. So how much more are folks willing to pay? $1? $2? $5?
Is there still a stigma attached to store brands? Let’s face it: Many vary only slightly to similar name-brand products, and many are manufactured by the same companies. Read the ingredients of both choices. Some are identical, and others are only slightly different. They simply cost less because of marketing. Read: It costs more to convince you it’s better. Stores are aware that they need to have quality products to compete. Many offer money-back guarantees, too.
If you’re trying to save money, this is an area to take into consideration. Store brands aren’t the same as they were years ago. Have you looked lately? The black-and-white labels of yesterday are long gone. Often, they are premium quality and some are even better than the major manufacturer’s brand. Ask yourself why you aren’t buying more store brands.
SNEAKING IT IN: Many of my readers confess that they’ve been using store-brand products for years and have been refilling name-brand product containers such as shampoo bottles, liquid soap, laundry detergent, juice, salad dressings, sugar and cereal, to name a few, with less expensive alternatives. If there isn’t a noticeable difference, continue to try more low-cost options.
MAKE A LIST: Make a list of items that you typically purchase as name brands. Consider items such as water, milk, cereals, frozen food, ice cream, canned food and cleaning products. Test them at home. Don’t overwhelm your family by introducing the private labels all in one week. Try them one or two at a time. You can make it fun by creating a game similar to the Pepsi challenge. You could very well be happy with what you discover. Once you have a list of items you’re willing to switch, add up your potential savings per year.
SHOP SALES: Maybe you’re not entirely convinced about purchasing store brands. You can try shopping for the best value or by sales. I will sometimes purchase a name brand if its price is comparable or less than the store brands I enjoy. This includes using manufacturer’s coupons if I have them available.
STICK WITH WHAT YOU LIKE: By all means, stick with the products you actually like. It’s senseless to try to save money if you truly don’t like a product. You’re only wasting money if you are unhappy. Even I have some name-brand products that I prefer and refuse to buy any another brands. I won’t mention product names, but toilet paper comes to mind. Just keep in mind that not everything is “you get what you pay for.” Often, it’s more about “why pay more?”


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When my kids were young they got brainwashed by t.v and name brands. I bought them if I had coupons. If not I would buy store brand and put it in the name brand packages. They never noticed the diffrence so I did it all the time after that. To this day I dont think they knew what I was doing. Lol!
We do about 1/3 to 1/2 of our shopping at Aldi and use their brand of products. They have been a lot cheaper and work out great. There has been no complaints from my peanut gallery!!
I shop Aldi sometimes, too. It’s about half an hour away, so I only shop there if I have other errands, so I am not making a special trip. Luckily, there’s a couple of bread outlets and two thrift stores in the same city, so I plan my Aldi trips around when I do a bread and thrift store run.
[...] Making the switch to store brands says Frugal Village can save you money. [...]
[...] Sara Noel of Frugal Village focused her column today on how to introduce store brand (generic) products into your household. You’ll find the colunm on page 3E of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News and at Sara’s web site. [...]
Though there are certain items I will buy store brand, frozen vegetables are not something I am willing to sacrifice (I’m talking about out of season vegetables, not fresh in season). Frozen & even canned, though I seldom buy canned, vegetables that are store brand either have quite bit of stalk, or stange leaves, and other oddities in them. I have tried time & time again and we are just unwilling to give up the quality. I am perfectly fine buying dairy & meat products, but not frozen/canned vegetables.
A lot of times, the store-brand milk is from the exact same factory and exact same supply as the name brand–it is 100% the same milk! Our local store even posts a sign stating such. Name brand milk is marked up about 10% to pay for the marketing cost of promoting the brand. I started using store-brand of most things (yogurt, butter, bread, cereal, canned goods, pasta, etc.) but there are a few things I can’t compromise on-the biggest one being Peanut Butter. I’ll look for coupons, or buy in bulk at Sam’s Club on that one. It’s worth it.
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