The Sewing Mom

Store Brand vs Name Brand

7th December 2010

Store Brand vs Name Brand

This post brought to you by PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

I do surveys once in a while to add a few extra dollars to my pocket.  I have found recently that one of the most common questions asked during a survey is “do you buy store brand products?”.  Well, my answer to that is both yes and no.  It really depends on what item I am purchasing because I feel that some products are ok in a store brand and some I prefer in a name brand.

I don’t really remember at what point I began purchasing store brand products, but it was most likely around the time that my daughter was born.  You see, my husband had been laid off from his job and he was the primary earner in our 2 income household.  I had to find ways to save money and yet make sure that we met the needs of our newborn.  I remember vividly trying out store brand diapers and that was a disaster!  On the other hand, I found store brand formula to be not only cheaper than the name brands, but in reading the nutrition labels, they were, and continue to be nutritionally equivalent to name brands.

Store brands can be sold at a lower cost because they don’t pay for advertising and expensive marketing campaigns.  They also don’t give away product samples in gross, so they don’t have to recoup those costs by raising their selling prices.  Plus, products like infant formula, must meet the same nutritional standards set by the FDA whether they or store brand or name brand.

By the way, if you’re not aware, name brand Similac had a major recall of infant formula due to the fact that  a small beetle had found its way into cans of their product.  That grosses me out!

Anyway, while my daughter is now 14, I learned a valuable lesson back when she was a baby.  I can shop, save money, and still have quality products, even if I choose to purchase store brands over name brands.

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6th December 2010

Monday Mania(c)

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed today and that carried over into my work shift this morning. I was answering the phone incoherently and then making mistakes like I didn’t have a clue what I was doing! Good thing it was only a 3 hour shift and I’ll give it another go tomorrow, hopefully will sound like an intelligent human being tomorrow! In the mean time, I thought I best make myself of list of things I need to get done because I am feeling overwhelmed and disorganized, hopefully this list will help me stay on track, at least for the rest of the day!

  1. take daughter to school
  2. shower
  3. work 3 hour shift
  4. update blog content
  5. check current online sales for last minute gifts
  6. write thank you card to friend
  7. wash sheets on daughter’s bed
  8. find flannel sheets for daughter’s bed (may have to refer back to #5)
  9. pay a few bills to be mailed
  10. write Christmas Cards
  11. pick daughter up from school
  12. cook dinner
  13. drop EC

Hope you are all having a fabulous day!

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