With the economy as it is today, saving money anyhow and anywhere is almost a necessity. I try to make saving money in everyday life a bit easier.

An extremely easy way to save money is by purchasing non-name brand goods. This can be, food or drink, over the counter drugs, or beauty products just to name a few. Most people tend to like brand name goods, or just simply purchase them because they have been for so long. For the most part, there are absolutely no advantages to buying some of these goods. Purchasing store brand goods can save you money every time you go to the store.

Okay, so some time quality counts, we all know that. Maybe the store brand peanut butter just does not taste as good as the major brands like Skippy or Jif ,(by the way, the chance that your kid will notice after you put a PB&J into his or her lunchbox is pretty slim) but for a large majority of goods, there is no difference in ingredients or quality. Thanks to certain quality assurances from some of our government agencies like the FDA the products you may feel to be inferior, are simply identical twins to their name brand equivalents.

The quality of the ingredients DOES NOT always equal the end result. Let's use face wash for example. You can go and spend upwards of $70.00 for facial washes at a department store at the mall, or you can use one you bought at your local pharmacy for about $10. Are the ingredients in the department store product superior? Absolutely. BUT, if you simply look at the end result, let's say clearing your acne, there is a good chance that the product from the pharmacy can handle it. This example goes with a HUGE list of over the counter drugs. The acetaminophen in your local store brand is sure to get you the same result as Tylenol. There is a chance that the other ingredients, such as the inactive ingredients in over the counter drugs may cause a problem for some, but I have found this to be very rare. The ingredients in the store brand of allergy medications, NSAIDs, (Non steroid anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen), and cold remedies can be compared by simply looking at the bottle. The savings here can be from a few dollars per 100 counts or ounce of the drug to $10.

When it comes to the aforementioned food products, this same line of reasoning can be used. Cereal is a great example here. Let's face it folks, corn flakes are corn flakes, rice puffs are rice puffs, etc... Cereal is getting more and more expensive, as is everything else at the grocery store. Gas prices and so many other factors are to blame, but the facts remain. I am afraid to say it, the reason the products may taste different to you, is all in your head. A good old fashioned blind taste test can prove this. Please remember I am talking about a majority of products, not all of them. I find a few store brand items to be either inferior or simply gross.

Beauty products can be a bit trickier. Some lesser shampoos will dry out your hair; there is just no way around that. But I have found women to be equally as attractive with blush, lipstick, and eye makeup purchased from Target than with makeup prices that just blow my mind from department stores.

These are just a few examples. Simply give them a try. Buy a smaller quantity of the store brand products, if you do not like them, or find them as effective, go back to the big name brands. I feel you will save in the end when you find the non-name brands that you like and you feel work.