Compare to....

Okay, we' ve all seen them....the off-name brand of an item/food/medicine/etc. right beside the name brand item on a shelf for sometimes half the price. Me, I am a constant cheap-skate...I always have to try the off-name brand at least once...okay, maybe many times...until they are proven less than par with the name-brand....Here are a couple of memorable attempts to be cheap:

I thought I was being "oh-so-thrifty," until Autumn was helping me fold laundry one day and asked me why all of my under garments, socks, shirts, etc. were gray instead of white.

Again..."oh-so-thrifty" until I finally used a name-brand one and realized what pain I was putting myself through for a mere 23 cents.

Did you know that you can actually damage your hair by over-coloring it with inferior products? I do now!! It dries your hair out every time you use one of these products...and if you don't get the color just right and try it again a couple of weeks later.....really bad!!

I tried the Costco version of these one time and was surprised at how my child always smelled like pee....Unfortunately, back then, I was too shy to return my opened package, so we suffered through the whole, gigantic box.



I used to always trust the off-name brand of these until I had Maddie. Tylenol works better for her than Motrin, so I always have to stock up for when illness strikes. I thought they were the same, but every time I give her an off-name version she throws up gagging to swallow it. And no, this is not a once in a while thing....I have bought way too many bottles of the cheap stuff thinking "this time will be different."


And, finally, what brought me to write this post. I always buy the off-name brand of lasagna. This week, I decided to splurge the 97 cents and buy the Stauffer's brand. Both of my boys wolfed theirs' down had seconds, Maddie cleaned her plate, and Jeff kept asking, "Why is this sooooo much better than usual??"



I would like to say that by now, I've learned my lesson..... But, I know the next time I go to Wal-mart for something new, I'll be trying to save my pennies as usual. (This is not to say that ALL "compare to" items are evil and bad...but, some are just not as great as the real thing.)