I can't believe all these years I have turned my nose up at anything that wasn't name brand. I wouldn't buy food, medicine, cleaning products or paper goods that were generic. But over this last year things at the Donegan house have been tight. So I have done a really good job at cooking more at home, finding fun things for us to do that are cheap or even free, and I have been shopping smarter for the items we need.
I was truly shocked with how much money you save by buying generic. BUT, it isn't worth the savings if the products aren't any good. So each week I try several items that I used to buy name brand and now have switched to generics.
I started out with buying generic mucinex, ibuprofen, allergy meds, and fever reducers for the girls. That has probably been my biggest savings. And they all worked just fine!
Then I moved to cleaning supplies. Again such a savings. They all so far have worked fine and haven't been able to tell any difference.
Paper goods such as paper towels and toilet paper are crazy expensive these days! You can hardly get a normal roll of toilet paper anymore. They are all double and triple thickness and cost that too! But the walmart brand of toilet paper has been great! I can get 24 rolls for 4 bucks!!!!
Now on to food, I will say this was my hardest to switch. I have found a couple of things I really didn't like. But have found a few things that we liked better then the name brand! But as a whole most of the food tastes the same and has saved us quite a bit.
I have never felt like I was a judgemental person. I tried to teach my children to never judge a book by the cover but yet I was assuming that generic products weren't as good because they weren't as pretty as the name brand. So I guess I have learned by this little experiment that not only can I save money on generics, they for the most part are the same as name brands, and that in life judging what something looks like on the outside may make you miss the value and greatness of what is inside.:)
