Brand Names Are a Trap

Similar to a lot of families we did not have money growing up. My family could not afford the lululemon sweaters that everyone in 7th, 8th grade were wearing and soon all the girls started to wear the sweatpants too, I understand that lululemon is a great brand, but it's so expensive especially now with inflation. There are now more brands for leggings and workout clothes where you don't need to pay a pretty penny. Basically, this will be a list of things that you should be buying stead of paying the extra fee for the brand for example Tim Hortons chocolate is pretty good but guess what? the ingredients are the same as no name brand. Don't believe me?

This is the Tim Hortons hot chocolate:

Price: $5.97

Sugars (sugar, Glucose Solids), Modified Milk Ingredients, Cocoa, Coconut Oil, Salt, Cellulose Gum, Dipotassium Phosphate, Silicon Dioxide, Natural Flavors, Sodium Silico Aluminate, Mono- And Diglycerides, Acetylated Tartaric Acid Ester Of Mono- And Diglycerides. Contains: Milk. May Contain: Soy.

This is the no name brand:

price: $4.49

Sugars (sugar, Glucose Solids), Coconut Oil, Cocoa, modified Milk Ingredients, Salt, Natural Flavor, Modified Cellulose, dipotassium Phosphate, Silicon Dioxide, Sodium Aluminum Silicate, vegetable Mono- And Diglycerides, Acetylated Tartaric Acids Esters Ofmono- And Diglycerides.

Yup, it is almost exactly the same thing, and the price difference is: $1.48 so you've been paying $1.48 for the brand and nothing else.

Yoga mat at Lululemon: $108.00 for the 5mm mat with the extra comfort. or you can go on Amazon...and pay $33.00 which is a price difference of $75.00. I have an Amazon yoga mat and it's lovely to use because it is extra thick and I have no complaints other than the strap that it comes with, which is fixable.

Advil and tylenol, yes you are also paying for the brand here:

Advil costs: $12.97

Advil is Ibuprofen if you get the no name brand it is: $9.58

The Stanley cups that are wildly popular now, you can buy one for around $42.00 if you want the brand recognition:

However, I know that this is just a water bottle trend that might die out until something newer and better comes out, so I opted to buy the cheaper version of it and it does exactly the same thing. These ones range from $25-$35 dollars depending on the color, but you are still saving money here.

Ziploc bags, Ziploc is just a brand name, you always say "oh just put in a Ziploc bag," but in reality, you probably mean sandwich bag, but no one ever says that...at least no one I know. Price is $5.27

This is the cheaper option, and it does the same function. the price: $1.99

Sometimes, it is nice to show off a well-known logo like Gucci on your sunglasses. However, these babies are priced for the ridiculous amount of $252. I don't have that kind of money

Here's the kicker, you can get a very similar pair for the lovely price of $19.00. You would be saving about $233 and if you want people to think you own an expensive pair I am pretty sure you can find the logo and just glue it on your sunglasses.

However, certain things are just all brands such as shoes, shoes are expensive for a reason, it's because we use them on a daily and we certainly need them to last longer than one season, so this is something I would personally splurge on because the cheap options are certainly not worth your blisters. I know what I might be spending my next raise on:

Prada purses are super nice like the one below, but is it really worth your whole paycheck? I am talking about this purse that costs around: $2,457.59 That's how you spell yikes to me!

A great alternative to Prada is Kate Spade, it's still expensive, but reasonable: price: $212 you would be saving about 2245.00 dollars

Now if you really want to cheap it down and forget name brands altogether go for this purse: $36.000 - $42.00. yeah, so you would be saving a lot of this item.

people often forget that band-aid is also a brand, yes, they do make the best bandages for all types of wear and that's probably why they are so popular: price $5.77

Look up fabric bandage and see what we get: $8.45, but again this is another bandage brand. Some items are just better if they are branded, however in this case I would probably purchase the band-aid and not Nexcare.

I hope this list made you realize some things that you should not be spending money on, sure we love to splurge on some things. However, we do not always have to be paying for the brand. Keep in mind next time you go shopping for regular household items, you can always get cheaper. please know that I am an Amazon associate, so any links you click will earn me commission at no extra cost to you. Did you like this list? Subscribe for more like this! Happy shopping.