More often than not, brand names mean you're paying for the product's name, not its contents. If you insist on buying only brand named products, you will be spending too much money.
Here are my general guidelines on buying products:
- Think of the use of the product: Will it be used once or repeatedly? Will it be mixed in with something or eaten as-is? Will you use all of it or waste half?
- What benefit does this product offer: Do you know that your hair will be silky and smooth or does it only promise? Will your garbage be truly smell-free (unlikely...)? When mixed in, will these brand name lentils realy add extra protein above the standard lentils?
- What benefit does the company offer: Do they refuse to test on animals? Do they give back to charity or invest in the community? Have you investigated the criticisms of the company (Wikipedia is a good place for this...) and find it to still be a company you want to give money to?
- Finally, the most important question: Which is cheaper? Brand name products are more likely to have sales, which can bring the unit price below that of a store brand.
I'm a big fan of store brands, and for most products find that they are equivalent to brand name products, with a very few exceptions. One for me is a facial moisturizer from Lush, which is the only one I've found which deals with both my dry skin and my oily breakouts. Another is curry paste, which needs to be done by a reputable company which understands the balance of flavours. Yet another is salad dressing - I'm sorry, but I just love Kraft Golden Italian, and no matter what else I've tried, I can't find a suitable cheaper replacement.
Are you a brand fiend? I challenge you to take one product per week which you would normally insist on being brand named, and try the store brand version. Perhaps chopped tomatoes. Or beans. Or frozen peas. Or if you're really going out on a limb, maybe try store brand cleaning pruducts. I promise you will find some savings, if a bit difficult along the way :)
For food products, I always compare the ingredients list to see if brand name products are truly different from store brand products. More often than not, there is no real difference for things like corn starch, sugar, flour or canned vegetables etc. I'm a big fan of saving 20-50 cents just for buying No Name instead of "x-brand".
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