Brand Name Mania

image courtesy morguefile.com

It doesn't do much good to keep the heat turned down, walk to work and scrounge coupons for groceries if we blow what we save on name brands. I hear you... some brands are worth it. I know that and there are a few that I will probably always use because they are quality products.

There are others that I have changed my mind about over time. I no longer buy brand name potato chips (and I do eat them sometimes and I don't always make them!). I don't buy brand name toilet tissue, having done the math. There's a store brand that works well for me and actually costs less per week. I have returned to a cheap brand of shampoo that I used to use long ago and my hair seems the same as when I used the more expensive kind.

Those are just a few things that I changed as I continue to pare down my spending.

Brand names don't necessarily equal quality, nor do they always mean value. Even if they seem to deliver a bit more, that little bit isn't always worth the extra money. Why should I pay for a gracefully shaped shampoo bottle with silver or gold lettering when a plain, square necked bottle holds shampoo just as well? The content is what I'm interested in, not the presentation, yet the price of a brand name shampoo includes the design and production of a fancy container. I just don't want to subsidize someone else's idea of beauty. If the plain jane bottle of generic shampoo bothers me that much, I can buy a pretty container and put the generic shampoo in it.

The fact is that when you buy a brand name product, you're not just buying the product. You're paying for the container design, the marketing and probably the CEO's yacht.

Something to think about.