chang|e one’s mind

true story: my comforter is blue and my sheets are brown.  today i woke up and found that my sheets were on top of my comforter, laid perfectly so that it covered it.  i was confused but just went back to sleep without fixing it.

true story #2: today is my second day in a row drinking coffee in the morning.  i don’t really think it does anything for me, but i feel more like more of a grown-up drinking coffee in the morning.

i wanted to take a quick poll.  when you’re at the grocery store, or pharmacy, or all-in-one store (like target or wal-mart) and you’re looking for a product, what kind of product would you prefer to buy?

a) the name brand stuff (aka “the good stuff”)

b) any name brand stuff that’s on sale (“the sale stuff”)

c) the store brand stuff (“the frugal stuff”)

for me, my priority goes b, a, c with some exceptions.  i guess maybe my tastes are a little particular when it comes to buying store brand stuff.  for instance, with eggs, bread, milk, otc and prescription drugs i prefer the store brand although i do enjoy a good sara lee loaf of bread every once in a while.  for everything else i prefer name brand.  i know a lot of people out there are like, “what a waste of money!”  dude.  it’s not.  i’m paying for the quality.  and if you can’t tell the difference, that’s good for you cause i wish i couldn’t tell the difference so i could save money, but for me, i can tell the difference and that extra money i’m paying is totally worth it.  the exceptions are publix and target brands.  i believe they make very fine quality store brand products that i wouldn’t mind buying over the name brand stuff.

i find it so interesting that each of these retail store chains are producing their own brand of pretty much every item that they sell.  like tylenol only has to worry about making their pain relievers and flu capsules, but cvs has to produce a generic version of everything tylenol makes, plus every other type of drug on the market, plus foods, hygiene products, light bulbs, candy, beach towels, office chairs, etc.

i think for hygiene stuff, the name brands smell better.  it’s not that i don’t like equate or kroger dandruff shampoo, it’s just that i think dove or pantene smell (and possibly treat my hair) so much better than those.  that’s my preference at least.  glad cling wrap clings infinitely better than the store brand cling wrap (you should try it, it sucks…).  quaker oats oatmeal is so much better than kroger oatmeal.  it’s the difference between choosing apple jacks over cinnamon apple crisp rings.  or the difference of choosing dr. pepper over dr. thunder.  i mean, who decided that drink had to be a doctor?  i guess it would sound rather weird to say you want to drink some thunder or some pepper.  btw, all those in the pic have “dr” in their name besides “mr” pibb and i think there’s just one on the top that says “braum’s special”.  my favorites are “dr. best”, “dr. perfect”, “dr. fine”, “dr. thirst”, and “dr. riffic”.  one thing i definitely don’t skimp on is toilet paper.  my gosh, i would spend so much more on name brand toilet paper than store brand.  i need that softness.

so the next time you go to the store, buy 2 of the same product: one name brand and one store brand, and compare them.  which do you prefer?

disclaimer: and of course i’m saying these things as someone who has been blessed way more than i deserve who can even make such choices.  i do understand there are a lot of people out there who do buy the store brand stuff because money is tight and i am in no way looking down on them or judging them.  i just wanted to make a quality comparison between name brand and store brand products.