While I was in the shower I decided to shave. (Not a simple feat with a 22 pound slippery Hulk underfoot!) This got me thinking about the simple luxuries we enjoy in life. When we were starving students I always bought the cheapest Bic razors possible. It's not that we really couldn't afford nicer razors, it's just that I felt our money could be spent in better ways. So about a month ago I was at the store and realized "Hey, I can afford nicer razors now!" and I promptly bought a Gillette Venus razor.
Ooh la la! Yes, I'm livin' the high life now.
Most of the time I will buy the generic/cheaper version of whatever product I need. In most cases it's just fine; why spend more for the same thing? Jiff versus Wal-Mart peanut butter? Can't tell the difference.
The big Malt-o-Meal bags of cereal taste just as good to me as the small $4 boxes of the brand name stuff. Expensive $10 t-shirts for my kids get just as stained and torn as $3 t-shirts.But then there are things that I'm willing to pay a bit more for. I will never buy generic low fat low calorie yogurt again (it tastes funny to me) - it's Yoplait all the way, baby!
High thread count sheets - totally worth the extra cost. But then again, Spencer sleeps on the cheapest ones possible, and he's fine with that. The cheapest hair spray and mousse work for me, but I do splurge a bit on my haircuts. (I give Lance and Spencer their haircuts because they just don't care!) I know people who are willing to pay for "fancy" toilet paper, but I just get the cheapest stuff at Sam's Club. And once I started using REAL vanilla extract in my baking, I knew I could never go back to imitation, despite the cost difference.So, what are your simple luxuries? What are you willing to pay a bit more for? I think it will be interesting to see the results!
5 comments:
I pay extra for ice cream and also for Lucky Charms and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. MMMM, I think I'm hungry!
I mentioned this on Christy's blog once, but I totally splurge on Pampers baby wipes. They are just so soft, and almost cloth-like. I tried to be a bit more frugal and bought generic wipes and they were so stiff! Not good enough for my sweet babies bottom. Of course generic work fine when they are a big almost 3 year old and should be using the potty anyway by now!
And...while I have purchased "other" brands before, I am pretty much a Stampin' Up! snob in regards to stamp and scrapbook supplies, and a Bath&Body Works snob when it comes to candles and hand soap. I am sure I will think of others.
Okay, this is funny because I will totally not pay extra for Kraft Mac and Cheese. Maybe it's because I hardly eat it. But Spencer likes the $.33 brand, so that's what he gets!
Also, I never buy brand name stuff like diapers and wipes. Of course, we've just been lucky that the Sam's Club diapers work well for the boys. We've tried other even more generic diapers that did NOT work. So I guess we're inbetween on that. But as for wipes, I say the cheaper the better! If we start them out with cheap wipes then they won't ever know any better. :)
Ahhh, we totally spring for Jiff. But out here in good old Cali, everything is expensive. .33 Mac and Cheese. That's unheard of for me!!! I buy a lot of generic baby products, like the Target brands, but I only use Huggies Diapers. I guess that's because we've tried a lot of others and it's been too big a mess with my boys! I spring for Tide...Don loves it. That's funny. I'm going to have to really notice now what name-brand products I buy. By-the-way...love the random thoughts on your blog. They really make my day!!!
Hmm, I know there's at least a few, but the only one I can think of at the moment is chocolate-covered raisins. I've been addicted to them lately, but they must be Raisinets. I tried Kroger brand and Brach's. No go.
If I come across any others, I'll have to post. But do you ever have it go the other way? Where you get used to the no-name brand and then when you try the Brand Name kind you don't like it as much because you're not used to it? (Or maybe it really isn't as good...)
Post a Comment