Name brand versus non name brand

This is an on going thing in today's society whether it is clothing, food or baby products. Pretty much anything that you can buy can be branded with so many different names, honestly there are products that people swear by and they are the name brand ones, but I have to say don't be close minded because a certain product is a no name product. You might be extremely surprised and find that it works better for you and is significantly cheaper. In this post I wanted to share a bit of what I have discovered in this on going battle of the brands and which brands I have tried and have failed or have been successful.

Diapers:
Okay so many people that I know swear by Huggies and Pampers and I have tried them but I have to say that I don't like them. Olivia has had leaks in those brands and they don't hold up for the night. It made me a little annoyed when she was first born because they are so expensive!! I tried a few different kinds, I tried Costco's Kirkland diapers and they were not too bad but Olivia had a few BAD poopy diaper blow outs, one in which it went all down her Daddies arms and legs! So I figured I would look around again, one day at Safeway I noticed a brand that was a fraction of the cost of all the other diapers with the name Mom to Mom. Now this brand is specific for Safeway and is only sold there, I was a little sceptical at first so I just bought a small package, but I LOVE them now and they are the only kind I buy. A added bonus is they go on sale once a month and when they do a box of 96 goes on sale for $10.99 originally $21.99. So if you buy two boxes you pay for the same price as one and it is half the price of Huggies and Pampers.

Soup:
Okay this one yes you can get the no name brand stuff for so cheap but this is one I can't do, I have tried but the no name brand stuff is AWFUL, like barf awful. I swear by Campbells soup products, they can be a bit pricey, but again if you wait for a sale you can get a slamming deal and stock up. Once a month at Safeway a flat of 12 goes on sale for $5.99, when that happens I  stock up because again it is half price.

Butter:
Butter is amazing and we don't use margarine in our house because it doesn't melt at room temperature and it just tastes gross. But butter is much more expensive than its flavourless nasty competitor. But if you price it out right you can find butter for a pretty decent price, Superstore for example has butter with their actual No Name brand and it is only $2.50 for a pound, Costco has name brand butter for around $3.50. I naturally went for the cheaper of them and I actually love the flavour of the butter and my wallet loves it too! 

Babies Formula:
This one again is one of those name brand battles because so many Mom's I know swear by Similac. Olivia was a breastfed baby from day one but I have recently had to start weaning her because, well, she bit me and pulled so yeah you can imagine that I would start cutting her off. I don't need to lose a nipple! I had tried one kind of Similac months ago because we would give her formula when we had to go out or when she was being babysat, but it just bummed her up and the poor girl had such a rough go with it. Recently I tried WalMarts Parents First Choice Calcium fortified 6-18 months formula, it has been so good for her and hasn't caused any problems and for a majour bonus it only is $15.00 for a 900 Gram container. Similac can cost up to $45.00 for the same size!! 

All in all you find what works for you and if you are what they call a name brand snob you might have tried other things and it not work. But if it's because you think it is lesser quality I just encourage you to try and you might like the other brands better and they won't hit your wallet as hard. 
Also whenever it comes to shopping look around for prices and the best deals. One thing I notice is certain things go on sale the same time every month and if you track it then you can better budget your groceries and other house hold expenses. But more on that another day!

Happy budgeting and planning :)