When frugality doesn't pay off

[StormRichards]

Dish soap is another one we stopped buying cheap. We use more to get the same job done, and it still doesn't do as good as Dawn. So we just went back to Dawn. To that point, the cheaper brands are not always as cost saving as it may seem. For cleaning, the products will often not be as effective or require more to do the same job. You are not saving any money this way, but you are having more annoyance.

Our success rate with store brand cleaning supplies is definitely much lower than with food items, but still high enough to where I think we end up ahead. When it comes to store brands for this category, we have had our best results with drugstore brands. Walgreens in particular.

For items, like dish soap, that we stick with national brands, we typically buy them at Dollar Tree. Comet cleanser is a item I always buy at Dollar Tree. Often get the bonus size for $1. I have yet to find a better deal on that particular product.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Oh boy I need a new hand mixer after my cheap on broke after 15 years. It was a black friday deal for like $5. I'm not sure whether to get better quality or cheap.

Same with toaster oven. I did buy a nice one but 12 years later it's toast i'm thinking better quality because I do use them and i've also found that with cookware sometimes investing in the better stuff would be worth it.

But alas I say that about knives but have never forked over the money to buy quality knives though I always say I want to. I should considering how much I love my calphalon cookware commercial grade and use it daily after 12 years.

[FLA]

I bought the BJs cheapest generic toilet paper available. I thought it was fine until my kids asked why we had "jail toilet paper"

[StormRichards]

I bought the BJs cheapest generic toilet paper available. I thought it was fine until my kids asked why we had "jail toilet paper"

Walgreens has store brand TP that I like. Whenever they put it on sale I buy it.

[GoodSteward]

Places like Dollar general have their store brand TP that is "compared to," and typically have a version for every major brand. I have no complaints as long as it compares to the brand we like. Plenty soft and strong. I only buy name brand if it is on sale and cheaper than store brand.

[HundredK]

Oh boy I need a new hand mixer after my cheap on broke after 15 years. It was a black friday deal for like $5. I'm not sure whether to get better quality or cheap.

Funny you should mention this. I literally am about to donate a KitchenAid 9 Speed electric hand mixer. If you want to message me your address, happy to send it to you. We don't need it because we either use our VitaMix or our Breville Sous Chef machine. Works perfectly though, thing's a workhorse!

[FLA]

nice to see things like the above on here

[rerod]

We've been making tons of changes to our lifestyle in order to cut expenses. One of the things I did was switch from Tide to the Target branded Up&Up laundry detergent. All was well, loved how it cleaned and smelled, everything was good. Until I started getting hives all over my skin wherever clothing laundered in that detergent touched me. Soooo. Had to go buy a whole bunch of Tide and re-launder everything in our house. Expensive lesson learned!

Do any of you have Frugality Failure stories?

The hives might just be because your using to much.

I just bought a pair of speed queen front loaders lately and the store owner told me the speed queen reps are urging costumers not to use liquid detergent since it is majority animal lard, and absolutely no fabric softener since it has even more lard. It leaves residual lard in the washer which collects minerals and then wears out seals and makes the washer stink.

He also said not to use more than a table spoon of powder tide. He actually said he only uses one teaspoon, but that wasn't enough for me because my cloths still stunk after that wash.

Citric acid a few times a year cleans washers better than vinegar.

[HundredK]

I just bought a pair of speed queen front loaders lately and the store owner told me the speed queen reps are urging costumers not to use liquid detergent since it is majority animal lard, and absolutely no fabric softener since it has even more lard. It leaves residual lard in the washer which collects minerals and then wears out seals and makes the washer stink.

Wow, I've never heard that before. I just went to Tide's website, and they say that there are no animal products in the detergent, but there are in the softeners (though they claim it's so processed, it's nothing like the lard we think of). Still, ewww, had no clue! Here's what their site says:

Q: Do laundry products contain animal derivatives or by-products?
A: There are no animal by-products or derivatives in the following products: Ace, Ariel, Bold, Dreft, Era, Gain, Ivory Snow, Cheer and, Tide detergents (including Tide Plus Downy) and Downy Unstopables There are animal by-products or derivatives in the following products: Bounce, Gain Fabric Softeners and Downy Fabric Softeners These products contain beef fat (although pork fat may be used as well). The fat is chemically altered during manufacturing and no longer resembles the original material when it is added to the product. None of our perfumes contain animal by-products. It is our policy not to use any animal by-products in our perfumes, and our experts check any perfumes from suppliers to make sure they do not contain any animal by-products.

[rerod]

Yeah pretty gross, but oh so soft lol..

http://applianceexpertise.com/32/front-load-washer-smell/

[HundredK]

Yeah pretty gross, but oh so soft lol..

Well, you may have just helped me be more frugal, because I just started a load of laundry and couldn't stand the thought of adding fabric softener. I don't want my clothes coated in beef fat, ha! But I guess not having the expense of fabric softener is a good thing if I don't mind less soft clothes.

[StormRichards]

We've never used fabric softener so no lard on our clothes

[disneysteve]

We've never used fabric softener so no lard on our clothes

Same here. No fabric softener. Just a dye-free, scent-free detergent. We can't stand the scented stuff. We wash our clothes so that they won't smell. I don't know why people want scented detergent. I've had a few times at work where I nearly couldn't examine a patient because the smell from their clothing detergent was so overwhelming. Of course, I feel the same way about body washes and perfume but I guess it's often worse with clothing since everything on their body was washed in it.

[StormRichards]

Same here. No fabric softener. Just a dye-free, scent-free detergent. We can't stand the scented stuff. We wash our clothes so that they won't smell. I don't know why people want scented detergent. I've had a few times at work where I nearly couldn't examine a patient because the smell from their clothing detergent was so overwhelming. Of course, I feel the same way about body washes and perfume but I guess it's often worse with clothing since everything on their body was washed in it.

There is a woman at work that makes my eyes burn from her perfume. My desk it right in front of the copy machine. I can come back to my desk and know if she was recently at the copier. It lingers a good 5+ minutes.

[disneysteve]

There is a woman at work that makes my eyes burn from her perfume. My desk it right in front of the copy machine. I can come back to my desk and know if she was recently at the copier. It lingers a good 5+ minutes.

Some people just aren't at all sensitive to that stuff. Drives me nuts. Candles are the same way. The girls at my office like to have a candle burning. I'm fine with some of them but others make my throat burn and give me an awful headache.