alice_kim•16d agoTop Commenter

Hit $500 in monthly savings just by switching to store brands for pantry staples

I finally tallied up my grocery receipts from the last 3 months and realized I saved $500 total, which is way more than I expected, just by grabbing the store brand instead of name brands for things like rice, canned tomatoes, and cereal - has anyone else actually crunched the numbers and been shocked at the difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly.nora16d ago

Man I feel you on this, it's wild how fast it adds up. I did the same thing a few months ago when I started swapping out name brand pasta sauce for the store brand and saved like $18 a month just on that one item. It's not always life changing for everyone but when you're on a tight budget every bit counts, even if the difference is only a dollar or two per thing.

danielmason16d ago

Hold up is it really that serious though. $500 a month is a crazy amount to save just from switching brands and I gotta wonder how much you were spending before. Most people I know who brag about savings like that were probably buying the most overpriced stuff at whole foods or something. Store brand rice and canned tomatoes are fine but the difference is usually like a buck or two not hundreds unless you're feeding like 20 people. Plus some store brands taste worse or have way more salt and sugar in them so it's not always a win. Not saying you're wrong but maybe check if you actually ate less or changed other habits too.

julia_wright1913d ago

yeah but okay daniel you're not wrong but also $500 a month is like "i was buying truffle oil and imported butter" territory lol. i feel called out because i definitely did the whole foods thing once and then acted shocked my budget was blown. and honestly half the time i swap brands and it's fine but then i buy store brand shredded cheese and it's like eating plastic so it's a gamble you know. the salt/sugar thing is real too, some of those no name brands are basically just trying to kill you with sodium. but hey if you're just switching from like, name brand pasta to the store one you're not getting rich, you're just not going broke as fast lol.