When bargains are not bargains

Chayalle

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 9:19 am

Agree that tissue, napkin, and paper products are not worth going generic/cheap. You get more for your money buying quality.

Ditto for cheap plastic cups. We just opened a package of cheap ones and half of them have holes in them!

Generic brands of cereal tend to taste like paper....

southernbubby

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 9:25 am

asmileaday wrote:

Cheap junk prizes that I sometimes let my kids choose from the 99 cents toy section or they sometimes win in school, are so not worth it. They break after 5 seconds of use and then the kids are devastated.
Im ok with cheap shoes for myself. They usually cost about $20. I can't imagine spending more!
For my kids though- nope. I once bought $20 shoes from Fabco for them, it didn't last the week.

I have had reasonable luck with the Walmart Earth Spirit shoes and a few other brands of cheap shoes but found Payless to last only a short amount of time, basically giving me what I paid for.

My 3 year old granddaughter fell in love with some $11 (approx) Walmart pink glittery sneakers and my son feels like if she wears out 4 pairs this year, it is still cheaper than buying a $60+ pair at the frum shoe store.

The cheap junky prizes are cheap thrills and some are better than others. The cheap play dough for example lasts just as long as the brand name stuff. Cheap bubbles, coloring books, stickers and other art supplies are no worse than more expensive stuff.

People have been warned, however, that dollar store brand medications are weaker versions of the real thing and may not work at all.

Chayalle

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 9:37 am

southernbubby wrote:

People have been warned, however, that dollar store brand medications are weaker versions of the real thing and may not work at all.

What about store brands like CVS?

I actually think $ store prizes are great. So what if they don't last. If I buy DD an expensive toy, she will play with it for a few days, and then want something different anyway. May as well spend less money. When my mother A"H was ill, I used to visit her weekly, and every time I went DD got a prize from the $ store (for behaving with whomever was babysitting.) It worked out really well for us that year, with her keeping track how many prizes I owe her (she also got a $ prize every time her tooth fell out) and getting to choose practically anything from the whole store. Lots cheaper than the toy store, and very exciting for her.

southernbubby

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 10:05 am

Chayalle wrote:

I looked into store brands and was told that they are standard formulas and would work just as well as name brands.

yo'ma

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 10:20 am

ra_mom wrote:

My late grandmother used to say "bilig is taiyer" (cheap is expensive).

I don't use the word cheap for less money, I use inexpensive. For me cheap means quality.

When my oldest was little, there was an extremely cheap sale in a one time place. When I say cheap, I mean it in both ways Wink

. It barely lasted the season. It was okay in one way, I didn't have any more of that gender so I didn't need to pass it down Smile

.

With the cheap toilet paper, sometimes no matter how many squares you use, it never seems like enough. We're very picky about our toilet paper in our home.

SixOfWands

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 10:49 am

shanie5 wrote:

When my dad got his first job, he needed to buy a hammer. He had a choice of one for 50 cents, or one for $3. He chose the 50 cent one. A week later, he needed a new hammer-the 50 cent one was worn out. The $3 hammer he bought next lasted years. So which was the bargain?

Its the paradox of poverty. A poor person can't afford the $3 hammer, so he winds up paying more in the long run. I've no idea what the policy is now, but back in the day, Craftsman tools had a lifetime warranty. If you were going to use them a lot, it paid to buy them.

But there are plenty of bargains to be had. You just need to know when to go cheap, and when to spend. Eg, winter coat for teen who has stopped growing, will be worn many years, invest in quality. Gloves for kid who is notorious for losing them, buy cheap. Perfect black pencil skirt, invest. Trendy sweater that will be out of style next year, buy cheap.

BTW, ob the TP references made by others, the thick, cushy stuff is often bad for pipes and septic systems. You're better off with the less expensive one-ply.

bigsis144

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 12:12 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

Economists all agree, being poor is expensive. It's a trap that is nearly impossible to break out of.

From the wise and witty Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books:

Quote:

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness."

southernbubby

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 12:20 pm

bigsis144 wrote:

True on many levels. Old homes with poor insulation cost more to heat. If a poor person can't afford to protect his health, then his health expenses rise, and his old clunker costs more to keep on the road than a newer car would and so on...

Poverty is expensive.

keym

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 12:53 pm

I think its a personal thing. I love target diapers, but only Pampers wipes. Tide detergent, but generic floor cleaner. I don't care which brand paper plates or plastic cups, but only Kleenex tissues and Charmin TP.

TranquilityAndPeace

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 2:27 pm

My father is in charge of ingredient approval at the OU.

When a company does a private label run, for example, Liebers does a run a the Herr's potato chip factory, it's usually the exact same product. (I made up that example - I have no idea whether Liebers has their own chip factory or not.)

Shop Rite ketchup, things like that, are private label runs done at national brands' factories, and the products are usually the same. Billions of gullible people who believe in marketing shell out extra money for brand name foods.

Cheiny

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 5:56 pm

OOTforlife wrote:

I bought some cheap Keurig cups on Amazon once and the "coffee" tasted mostly like water. They were also about half the price of most other ones.

Sometimes the cheaper pods are expire...you have to be careful when getting the cheapies online.

Cheiny

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 5:58 pm

mandr wrote:

The dollar bin at Target is a killer. Same with Five Below, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar etc. So many of the stuff sold for a dollar are not even WORTH a dollar! They are worth like 30 cents.

I have found Dollar Tree to be amazing! I’ve gotten gorgeous eye shadow palettes, household items, and tons of other stuff which cost so much more elsewhere!

Cheiny

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 6:00 pm

keym wrote:

I find shoprite brand wipes to be excellent.

Cheiny

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 6:01 pm

TranquilityAndPeace wrote:

Shop rite brand on everything is great.

ra_mom

Wed, Sep 05 2018, 7:51 pm

yo'ma wrote:

. It barely lasted the season. It was okay in one way, I didn't have any more of that gender so I didn't need to pass it down Smile

.

With the cheap toilet paper, sometimes no matter how many squares you use, it never seems like enough. We're very picky about our toilet paper in our home.

That's true! When I buy a quality item on sale I usually say I got a good deal or found it for a good price, rather than saying it was so cheap. That's mostly reserved for instances like that was so cheap - it broke right away!

Ruchel

Thu, Sep 06 2018, 3:51 am

I say cheap for cheap Smile

quality or not quality

I just broke glasses that lasted like 2 years. 30 euros. You have to know how the thing will be used, how replacable, do you want to use it in extreme conditions, pass it on...