Do you feel a Walmart or grocery store glass cleaner works as well as say "Windex"? I could also ask regarding paper towels, floor cleaning products, oven clener and the like. I find that I save a lot of money on store brands and once I get to try them, I have found some that work as well or better than national brands? What are your thoughts?
We also buy store brand items, and I don't see any difference at all. I guess we're just paying more with branded items because of the name.
I tend to get store brand products when it comes to toiletries and cleaning products, since I won't be tasting them anyway, nor do I need to protect the integrity of my windows. For more expensive furniture, I'd probably consider more prominent brands, but I don't really have any prized furniture items.
I heard big brand stores get basically the same exact product and packaging from the name brand, and just put a different sticker on it and make it cheaper so it sells more. I don't know if there is truth to that, but the truth is I usually find the store brands are pretty much the same thing as the name brands, specially for kitchen and cleaning supplies.
I think store brands are great. I would never buy name brand cleaners unless I had a coupon that made them cheaper than store brand. I also am a big believer in using household items like bleach, vinegar, baking soda and/or salt. I find that they usually work as well or better than commercial products.
Even a more cost-effective change I've made than buying store brand cleaning stuff has been to make my own, non-toxic cleaners using stuff like hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, some dish detergent, white vinegar, etc. I buy empty spray bottles from home depot for about 90 cents each, and I make concoctions that work best. A great place to look for some cleaning supplies recipes has been onegoodthingbyjillee.com, but many other places have easy-to-make recipes, too. Just keeping around a bottle filled with half vinegar/half water takes care of most little messes.
Store brand products are usually made by the same brand-name manufacturers as the national ones, only repackaged into value packaging, so, yes, they usually are as good. I mean, most of them are actually manufactured in same plants and by same people as the brand ones, you are just not having to pay for the brand name on the package.
