Everyday Cheapskate

Every time I buy my favorite hair spray and stain pre-treatment laundry product, I feel a little bit smug. That's because both are the cheap versions of their pricey brand-name cousins. In both cases, it's not about the price. I actually prefer the cheap option. I'd choose it even if price were not a consideration.

—Hair spray. I used to splurge on Shaper, by Sebastian. It's not cheap, but it's a great product because it's light and it brushes out. In one of life's lucky goofs, one day I inadvertently picked up a product that looked just like Shaper, but it turned out to be Salon Grafix hair spray instead. I realized immediately that something wasn't right when it scanned at about one-fourth the price of Shaper. I decided to give it a try, and boy, was I surprised. It was even better than Shaper. No flaking, no residue. It holds perfectly and brushes away. My best deal is at Target on sale: two cans for $6. The large size is about $7 at Walgreens.

—Laundry pre-treatment. In the olden days, which means 20 years ago, I tried every spot treatment available, including Shout and other name brands. Conquering spots had become a personal challenge. One day, I saw something called Soilove in the laundry aisle. A big bottle was 79 cents. Figuring I had little to lose, I tried it and found that Soilove is the magic bullet for laundry stains. The price has increased a bit over the years, but it's still 99 cents at the dollar store by my house. While not easy to find outside of California, Soilove is available online at http://www.SoapsGoneBuy.com.

Readers of my blog, at http://www.MoneyRulesDebtStinks.com, came up with a long list of other items they find to be both better and cheaper:

—Toilet tissue.

Karen posted that Kroger's packages of four 1,000-sheet rolls of toilet paper for $2 are far superior and a lot cheaper than rolls of Scott tissue that are the same size.

—Yogurt. Nancy prefers America's Choice (Waldbaum's store brand) yogurt over Dannon. It's less expensive than any of the brand-name options, and it tastes better.

—Trash bags. Lots of readers mentioned plastic trash bags. Cathy prefers the Kroger store brand to name brands, while Dee always opts for Target's tall kitchen trash bags because they are better than Glad or Hefty at about half the price.

—Peanut butter. Carol can't say enough good things about Kroger's natural peanut butter, and she has all kinds of responses affirming her opinion. It's even better than its biggest competitor, Laura Scudder's natural peanut butter.

—Detergent. Danita expressed kudos for Great Value laundry detergent (Wal-Mart's brand), which she says Consumer Reports ranked a "Best Buy."

—Diapers. Allison is a fan of Target's diapers and says that they work better than Huggies or Pampers for half the price.

The blog responses are vast, far more than I can compile here. Let's continue this discussion at http://www.MoneyRulesDebtStinks.com. Look for the post called "Is Store Brand Ever Better?"

Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 18 books, including her latest, "Can I Pay My Credit Card Bill With a Credit Card?" You can e-mail her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. To find out more about Mary Hunt and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.