Thrifty Thursday: Store Brands Versus Name Brands

My dear mother didn't have an extravagant bone in her body. She was thrifty down to her toes, but she didn't buy a lot of off-brand or store brand products. She had another trait that was stronger than her thriftiness, and that was her desire to be able to trust the quality of whatever she bought. Folger's coffee, Del Monte vegetables and Cheer detergent were known quantities, and she didn't hesitate to spend more for them. My husband, on the other hand, will buy the store brand of anything. He has almost zero brand loyalty. Entire ad companies would be out of business if they had to sell to people like my husband.

I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't like store brand coffee or paper towels, and I find that most super cheap detergents and cleaners are mostly water. Some cheaper items are inferior nutritionally, so I check labels. For those name brand items that I must have, I search for coupons. For most other products, store brands are fine. I don't do wholesale coupon clipping because I've learned two things about coupons. First, they are most often produced for items that are high priced in the first place--prepared foods, for example, which I avoid on principle. Second, the store brands of many items are considerably cheaper than the name brands even if you have a coupon for the name brands.

Store brands are typically from 15 percent to 50 percent cheaper than name brands. That's a significant savings. My advice is to spring for the name brand items that you are really fond of. For others, try out the store brands. When you find a store brand item that you like, put it on your regular shopping list. Even Mom would approve of this solution.

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