Sunday, February 5, 2012

Brand Loyalty Will Kill Your Budget


When it comes to name brands, my list of brand loyalty is super short. Heinz Ketchup is pretty much the only ketchup I will buy. Hunt's could be a nickle a bottle and I would pass up that deal without thinking twice.

Today as I was making my rounds from grocery store to grocery store and drug store to drug store, I got to thinking about how much money people waste. They buy "their" brands without even looking up or down one shelf to see the amazing sale on the other brands. For example, today one of my drugstores had Aquafresh toothpaste on sale for $.99. Hey, that's a great deal! But it gets even better. I had a $.75 off coupon for 1 and I had 3 coupons which made the toothpaste $.24!  I am now the happy owner of 3 tubes of Aquafresh toothpaste.

There was a time in my life, before kids and before living in California, that I would have bought Colgate for whatever price. I would buy it when I needed it, without a coupon and regardless of if it was on sale. I cringe to think of how much money I wasted back then. The truth is the importance in dental care is the actual brushing and not what fancy toothpaste you use. I could have bought 3 tubes of Colgate today for $3.49 a tube. Would my teeth look any better or be any healthier because of the additional cost? I think not.

What's my point?

Grocery prices are up and there is no hope of them leveling out or dropping anytime soon. Most people are trying to find a way to save a buck anyway they can. If you tell yourself that you must have a certain brand, you could possibly be missing an opportunity to save that ever important buck. Even if you don't clip coupons, which you should, you could still save about $5 per trip by living on the edge and buying a new brand, even (gasp) the store brand! That's right, buy the store brand. Most stores have a guarantee on their brands so be daring and try it. The added bonus is that if you are open to 2 or more brands, you can just about bet that each week one of those brands will be on sale.

I am interested to hear about your new adventures. Happy shopping!

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