Episode three seventy two, When to buy off brand and when to buy name brand.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast.
My name is Jen, my name is Jill.
And before I started Frugal Friends, before I paid off my student loans, before I even thought about mindful spending and intuitive spending, I thought I was responsible with money because I bought generic brands. And I'm sure a lot of you guys out there are also in the same boat. And while we know that generic brands at this point are mostly the same as name there are some confusions. We pulled you guys in the friend letter, so we'll have some stuff to say about what you guys think
about name brand versus soft ran. But we're also going to do something we've never done on the show before, and we're instead of looking at an article, we're going to look at a TikTok Instagram video, short form video series on product.
Yes, as elder millennials, we've got this real pressure to stay relevant.
So yeah, we are going to talk about buying for quality versus buying for saving money, and how you can get the best of both worlds without sacrificing either.
But first, this episode is brought to you by scoops, not the tortilla chip. Moreops a measurement of a scoop, like a scoop of mashed potatoes or two scoops of ice cream. It's more than a mouthful, but less than a full serving, so you can feel good about it. That said, we're also talking about scoops in the information sense, like getting the low down or spilling the tea. Just get in the background on some hot goss. If you could use some scoops in your life, you should be
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And scoops trust us, all right, So when to buy off brand versus name brand? We are first going to dive into the normal what you want to know at the grocery store, but a lot of you had a lot of things to say on what you have to buy name brand, and so our poll and the friend letter, you guys above and beyond small appliances definitely need to
buy name brand. But then after that it was specialty foods and meals and so and that we were kind of wondering that because everyone's buying our freezer vegetables and our canned goods, and you know, like our generic stuff, everybody's buying our generics. You know, there were a small contingency of you though paper and plastic products are are hard on the name brand, but a lot of you said medicine too, even though you know it's the same.
So we're gonna be talking in this first article about what chefs purchase generic and name brand on the food category and what pharmacists and doctors will buy name brand versus generic, because we I mean, we trust them, right, So we're looking we're taking a fun little spin on this and not just going through an article that says, you know, get all of these things off brand, they're all the same. But truly, what do the experts in their field bi generic themselves?
And these are the most common categories that we're faced with regular weekly, monthly decisions of which one name brand or generic. Certainly, yeah, your smaller appliances and that kind of thing. That's a whole other search category. But when it comes to food and medicines, here's what they have
to say. This article comes from NPR. It's a study that they did, and I like what they first start off by saying that pharmacists and doctors are more likely than the generic public to buy generic medicine, and similarly, chefs are more likely than the general public to buy generic food. Is what they found in this study. And from there the article is pretty much charts and graphs. That's it. It's just a graph of art. When do
chefs buy generic? And they've got this whole list of the types of foods when they are tending to buy generics and when they're tending to buy name brand. Same chart for and pharmacists only with things related to their field. So we can start off with the chefs. They are
primarily when it comes to favoring generics. The top items that most chefs who responded to the survey will buy generic is on baking mixes, which I side note, because you're listening to our podcast, you're going to get our commentary. This is somewhat surprising to me because I would expect that chefs and bakers are making their own baking mixes, so I'd be curious what it means.
Flowers.
I think that, yeah, yeah, because oursowers.
The brown sugar, I mean the brown sugars on the list. But I would say, I would say flower, this is baking mixes, is flower because you definitely, I definitely see a difference in like brownie mixes name Brandon generic difference.
Yeah, so and tea, baking soda, powdered sugar, brown sugar soups, cranulated sugars, spreads and dips. As I'm going down the list, it's getting less and less likely that they're favoring generics, but still leaning on the side of generics. These are fine spreads and dips, baking supplies, canned seafood, interesting dried fruit, pickles and olives, frozen juice, drinks, frozen breakfast foods, gems and jellies, condiments and sauces, syrup and molasses. Molasses size,
however you would pluralize molasses. Frozen veggies. We all know that one. Salad dressings and mayo, cheese, oil and shortening, frozen fruit toppings, canned fruit, milk, frozen pizza and snacks, nuts, cookies, spices and seasonings, canned veggies, candy, butter, and margin. It's the very last one before it dips into people buy a named brand. Any of those stand out as surprising to you, Jen.
So, I will say the first. The first four are definitely far above and beyond all the others, as baking mixes, which we're going to call flour, tea, baking soda, powdered sugar. So I'd think you're pantry basics. I'm not surprised that they're all buying them generic. A few things did surprise me, so frozen pizza and snacks.
It's a small, small.
Percentage, but it does lean in favor of generic. And I think the list of things that chefs will buy name is actually very short, so there are quite a few. I think it probably dips into like half and half territory once we get to around nuts. So nuts, cookies, spices, seasonings, canned vegetables, candy, and butter, margarine. Those are kind of I would say, in the middle. It's like, it's take it or leave it on what your preferences. I buy
all generic nuts. I think they're fine. Spice and season same, canned vegetables, same, but candy I would never buy generic, so but I don't buy candy that often too, So you kind of gotta take it or leave it with you know, most of the things that these chefs buy are generic. That I think that's the point.
And to clarify, we're not talking about organic versus non organic. We're talking generic versus name brand. Because you can get organic generic in a lot of these different categories as well, and so I think we could kind of apply these similar concepts to that as well. You can get organic.
Yeah, and Eric one of the I mean a couple of the responses we got from the front letter is that people do will buy name brand organic food for their nutritional value. But organic generic is the same as organic name brand, so you can still save money on
your organic products. They come from the same farm if you are you know, if you know any farmers, you know that if they are, if the farm is organic, then they're selling their produce to somebody who is selling it to both stores and name brand sellers.
So all of these whole are yeah. Yeah, you can talk to anyone who's in wholesale distribution and they'll be able to talk to you about white labeling who they sell to, how those brands are then able to put their own brand or on the packaging. But really we're all kind of getting from a lot of the same distributors.
Yeah, so let's talk about these things that chefs time and time again will always choose name brand on. And we're going to start at the lowest, So the next one on the list and go down to the highest, which was far and above anything. It is even higher than like flower being something they all buy generic. This is far and above anything they all buy name brand. So the first one is Eggs. It dips a little bit into the buy name brand. And I was shocked
about this one. I always buy the store brand, but I buy cage free. There's so many types of eggs. Now you've got your regular, you've got your cage free, and then you've got your organic cage free. And I was like, I'm going to go somewhere in the middle to go cage free. I like a brown egg. I just prefer it. So I go in the middle there and I save a little bit of money. But eggs is the first one on this list. Carbonated beverages, yes,
hands down. Of course, they've got proprietary recipes that are guarded with lives that are dispensable. So like, yes, frozen baked goods one hundred percent, Yes, you can't. You can't get better than a Marie Calendar pie if you made it. Juice drinks, that was actually surprising to me because we will all I'm maybe this is juice blends. I'm not sure, but we're always when we do get juice, which is rare, most it's usually orange juice, always the store brand. But
I can see I don't really drink juice. So if you're if you love juice, I could maybe see this yogurt I yes, yes for me, but only because the flavors are more unique in name brand cereal. So we're in our top three. We're in our tarp three Cereals number three.
Yeah, agreed.
Everybody is here for that number two, which has double the number of responses dried veggies and grains. So this was really odd to me. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I don't think I've ever bought a name brand reggie, dried veggie or grain.
I don't think dried veggies. What is that chips? Are we talking about chips? We're talking about potato chips? Is that a dried veggie?
I mean, yeah, maybe I don't anyways, Yeah, you're probably right. I don't think you never think of any I never bought them. Interesting, and then the number one thing on the list that almost everybody his name brand. Nobody's getting it from the store ice cream, and the hands down, yes, Hogen DAWs is it if you're asking, it's Hogan DAWs.
I take it to the next level. And I won't even buy ice cream from the store. I'm going to the creamers. There are some good ones where I'm from in Pennsylvania, and that's where you're getting ice cream.
Yeah, that is that is if you're gonna go out somewhere. Why go out for dinner go out for ice cream? That's really because you cannot make that quality at home. If you're going to go out, make sure you get something that you cannot make it home. And it is ice cream for sure. Ninja creamy ain't got nothing on it. So those are our our chef inspired list and it's yeah, I mean, I guess the middle section is really like take it or leave it. I guess one once you
get to I don't know. I would buy everything.
I would.
I think I would agree everything on this list. I would buy generic, but I would also buy some of the other things generic too. Ice Cream is something I will buy name brand, And I would say salad dressings, but I make my own salad dressings, mostly frozen breakfast foods. They just don't have. I did buy. I did buy frozen chicken sausage, but they discontinued it, so now I have to buy the name brand. But yeah, that's kind
of that's where I'm at. Everything generic though. Oh, cookies cookies, actually I will buy those name brand, but Public's Bakery cookies, I don't know if that counts. That's a generic, but they are the best cookies. Ever, so.
I don't know, that's like a grocery store, that's the grocery store brand.
Really, Yeah, is there anything on the generics list that you buy name brand?
Jill?
You know, I do get name brand ketchup. I've tried to branch out and I just can't do it. It's hines for me.
Yeah, I do it because I like their sugar free ketchup. But yeah, same, yeah, but yeah, so it's a short list.
Yeah.
I think if you go into the grocery store knowing you have your like five things, you buy name brand, then that's awesome.
Do it.
You don't have to buy generic everything. And even when you are buying generic, you don't have to buy the lowest quality everything. I will get the store brand toilet paper, and I get the best quality of it. I get that beast quality store brand toilet paper.
I think what stands out to me when it comes to food is it's all preference based. So I think that it's not necessarily that you're going to get lower quality as far as like nutritional value, but what are
your taste preferences. Of course, you can compare ingredients from one to another and make your own choices, but You're not necessarily going to be making these awful decisions for the food you're eating by going generic versus name brand, again, because you can also get organic if that's your preference, within the generic brand. So that's what stands out to me.
I think then when it comes to medicines and some of the more medical products, I think that can be some people's concern is the potency not there is what it's doing for my body not going to be as good if I'm getting generic versus name brand, And so I think this next s graph will help to shed some light on that. Again, this is going to be talk to your doctor. We're just talking about this survey
that we're looking at. When the doctors themselves and the pharmacists themselves are saying are they buying name brand versus generic? I think that this is where people can feel a little bit more discomfort in decision making and feeling freedom of I don't feel like this is just preference anymore. What can be said about these and across the board. What the survey found is that doctors and pharmacists do buy generic pain medicine more often than your average person.
And we can kind of go through the list and make your own decisions.
Yeah, this list is definitely more even the chef one had definitely it was maybe just you know, a couple at the bottom where chefs prefer name brand. This one's more in the middle, like half are favoring generics in the category and half are favoring brands in these certain categories.
Now, but the side is a part of that to do with the fact that by profession, doctors make more than chef's make. Do doctors well be as discerning with where they're spending their money as maybe chef you might need to.
Be Okay, so immediately I would think that, But since our conversation with Vivian two from your rich bff, I have been altering my thinking. And she tell she talks about like how you can become have the rich mindset, especially and she said rich people. Of all of her experience with rich people, she lives between New York City and Miami, so lots lots of money in her circles. They don't pay full price. They never pay full price, and maybe like celebrity and people that are just like
you know, made of money, they don't care. They have people buy their stuff, but regular old wealthy people who still make their own purchases. They do not pay full price on anything. They look for the deals, and so I think this one comes from just like I know my doctors whenever I've talked to them about over the counters, they've all been very quick to recommend just the you know, the Walmart brand or the Public's brand or whatever the
generic brand is because they're thinking of their patient. They're thinking, they know medical care is super expensive, and so they want you to be able to afford to make yourself
feel better just as much as you do. So I think that is the heart behind people the doctors and pharmacists who favor generics, I think, and by proxy, they're probably purchasing them for themselves more often because they're recommending them so much more often, and they see the results in their patients, Like if a bunch of people are getting the generic versus the brand, they see the brand is working better for their patients. They have a lot more data to work with than even is represented by
their one vote. Yeah, so that my interpretation, But take that to the grain of salt too.
For those polled. Here's where the doctors and pharmacists are leaning when it comes to favoring generic overname brand, and that includes it's all over the counter stuff. So again when it comes to your prescribe medications, talk to your doctor. But neproxy and sodium, so that's your leave EPs and salts, sleeping pills, Ibuprofen or Advil is the main brand of that one. Laxative caplets. So these are your top five of we're gonna go generic mostly most doctors and pharmacists.
This is what they're saying. Now as I keep going down the list, it's getting fewer and fewer, but still on the side of favoring generics, arthritis pain remedies, iron tablets, mineral caplets, nasal decongestins and acid liquid. That's your peptobysmal alternatives or generics. Aspirin tablets that's your bear generic rectal suppositories AO. You don't got to go name brand for
those allergy tablets. So generic alternative to claritin, acetominifin. That's your generic for tylanol, plastic bandages versus your band aids, multi vitamins, cotton balls and in a very slim just neck and neck cotton swabs or Q tips and hey. Side note I am leaning on the side of favoring the brand. I've tried them, believe me, you it's funny that this is put in the category of medicines. I would not call cotton balls or cotton swabs medicines. But whatever,
here we are, you're their medicine adjacent. And I have tried many different Q tips and they fall apart, they break apart inside of your ear. If that's what you're using them for, you're not supposed to show them. You're not supposed to.
Oh okay, No, I do use Q tips almost daily in my ear, and I use the generic ones. I've never had one break apart in my ear.
Yeah, they like I mean, Eric is more rough rough on the ropes than I am, but they just it's not they'll poke not having it. Q tips for the wind for me.
Oh yeah, no. These last five really did shock me. I thought acetamnifin would be higher on the generic list, so that really shocked me. Plastic bandages, I will buy name brand band aids. They are much sturdier. Multi vitamins also shocked me. I would never buy a generic multi vitamin. They're already so unregulated. I have a hard time buying multi vitamins at all, and I really wouldn't buy a generic one. And then yeah, cotton balls Q tips, I do buy those generic. I guess I'm more delicate in
my ear than everyone else. But yeah, those those shocked me I would buy. I would definitely get some of those. One that I'm kind of feeling called out for pep to bismol. I've never bought that generic brand, and it's pretty high. It's like in the middle of the list for generics. Oh yeah, so good. All right, So we've got a lengthier list of name brand preferences than our food list, but I'll let you know when we get
to our top three. So, but we'll go from the from the next on the list all the way to the It was mostly everybody chose this last one. It was even higher than ice cream. So right, next, coming in hot with the first name brand preference, laxative tablets. That's a very small margin too, so if you're getting generic laxative tablets, you're probably all right. Next is low dose aspirin tablets. I'd probably agree there. Hydrogen peroxide and
rubbing alcohol are next. I have never I didn't even know there wasn't name brand.
For neither the name Now I'm always generic on that.
Yeah, Contact lens solution one hundred percent. You gotta go name brand. You got to get the nice contact lens solution. I'm actually shocked. This is so middle of the road. I drop some lotions. Lotions is whatever, but I drops. Why are I drops and lotions in the same category.
It's weird.
Yeah, fabric bandages, okay, so maybe this was why they put plastic bandages and fabric bandages separately. Antacid tablets we're getting pretty high. We are in the top five now. So we've got cotton rounds round a.
Different from the cotton balls, so people are less discerning what their cotton balls, who cares? But when it comes to cotton round so we're getting name brand at least the doctors are.
Yeah. Coming in at number four is migrain tablets, So I I don't I didn't know there was anything besides Kyle and All for migraines. But migraine cap tablets coming at number four. Number three, rectal medication ointment is coming in at number three were rectal medication rectal suppository.
Who cares, that's gonna be generic, But rectal medication ointment Okay, that's.
Got a brand. Yeah, number two sleeping aid tablets, So this is interesting. We we got melatonin, We got a name brand kids melatonin for Kai. When we brought Atlas home, his sleeping was a little erratic for that transition, so we were giving him melatonin, and then we found out that the melatonin we gave him supposed to be one milligram, and studies came out and found that it was each gummy had two milligrams. It had over one hundred and
ten percent more than the stated value per gummy. And so I mean, even with a name brand, you got to do your research. And honestly, I think name brands are more prone to this type of thing than a store brand, So do your research. But sleeping aid tablets.
Sure, Now this is interesting because that's that's second to the second highest in doctors favoring name brands for sleeping aid tablets, but third to the highest and doctors preferring generic is sleeping pills. So I am not entirely sure the difference. But when it comes to sleeping pills, they're all like yeah, generic, But sleeping aid tablets they're all like, yeah, name brand to your do you figure it out. Figure out figure.
Out how number one, number one at easily probably forty eight percent prefer brand over generic alkanola alcalizing effervescence Alka seltzer Doakka seltzer.
Wow.
So if you need to get alkaline, don't go generic, go name.
Brand, or at least that's what's there.
You have it. There is your comprehensive list. The link to this is in our show notes. So if you just head to wherever you're listening to this and go into our show notes or click the link to our show notes, you'll be able to find the link to these charts and you can see for yourself what chefs, doctors, and pharmacists are buying generic and name brand.
Well do we have time? Now? We have time. We're making time.
We have time. Yeah, time TikTok yes. So I the inspiration for this episode came came from you. Guys. We will often do polls to and ask you what do you want to hear on the show. We do him about once a quarter. So this was one of your ideas. But I was, you know, scroll and Insta, and I came across this guy named orin Orn Meets World. He's on TikTok and Instagram and he's a creative director for
you know, luxury e commerce, all of this. He's a really great follow even though nothing to do with what what we talk about, but he has the series that he does called Product Versus Brand and it's all these things that you are seeing influencers have like hawking on social media, you're getting served ads for you know, all of these things that you've se scene everywhere. And he goes through and he's like, when you buy this, are
you buying the product? So you're buying it for quality, for how it lasts, for its function, or are you buying the brand? Are you buying it just to show it off to look cool? And so I thought this was going to be a really great way to round out this episode to talk about these products that you see all over are you buying the product versus the brand? And we're not going to play the tiktoks, but we are going to go through a few of his videos. We'll have the links again in the show notes, but
let's start it off. I want to start out with one of my favorite topics he did a video on, and it is pans. When you buy pans are you buying the product or the brand, and he goes through all the popular ones, starting with all Clad, and when you buy all claud you are definitely buying the product. You're buying the best, but you're going to pay for it. So that's why we did a recent friend letter where we broke down how can you get all Clad quality
or vet it through another another product line. So we talked about ply, we talked about all kinds of things.
And.
Yeah, we found a couple other options for you. They're actually in our Amazon storefront. I think, I don't know how you get to it. We have it for our book club, So I think like, if you go to Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash books, you can find our books in our storefront. Also Slash Makeup. But if you find our Frugal Friends storefront, I think you'll find those those pants that we referred to in the front letter. So All Clad you buying product our place, which I
had never heard of. But he says when you buy that, you're buying lies. So clearly you're buying brand Stop, which is a competitor to La Crusette. When you're buying Stop, it's less expensive, but you are buying product. It is just as good. So if you're looking for a very high quality La Crusette dupe, stop is it. It still is not cheap. But if you're looking really if quality in the kitchen is your priority, stop you're buying the product, Caraway,
I have seen ads for this. You're buying the brand. There is no legitimate like, it's not better than any other pan you can buy hex Clad, this is the one he uses. He says, you're buying both. It's got a good brand and the product is really good. He's used it for a long time. And then the last one, La Cruset. He says it's the ultimate example of both. And he actually has a full breakdown of the brand strategy for La Crusette, like the color strategy. It is
like mind opening. I guess I don't know how you would say that, but man, the thought that goes behind their color strategies and their limited editions and they're expiring and new. It's like the brand marketing is really great, but the product will also last you forever. And people in the comments were saying it's the ultimate of like it's the ultimate like trick to get you to buy more of something. That lasts the lifetime is all the color stuff. So they haven't to get you to buy more.
They haven't sacrificed quality.
Amazing, But if.
You're looking for a quality dupe, stop.
And I will affirm that if you do Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash books, it will also take you to our pots and pans dupes recommendations, and our frugal makeup recommendations, and our and the books, the books that we talk about for our book club. All right, moving right along something. I'm super interested in water bottles. Oh goodness,
we're all obsessed. We are. The water bottles are hydrated generation of people and myself included, especially when we are living in this age of desiring greater levels of sustainability, not wanting to be buying and carrying around plastic water bottles, reusable water bottles, water bottles that are insulated, how you drink out of them, how durable they are, This is
what we want. I have one of the bottles on this list, and I have influenced others in my immediate circle to buy the water bottle that I use because I do think it's so great. So I was interested to see what Owen had to say about it. But the first one, the very first one, is the one I use a wala And he says that you are buying it for product. So again, buying product means you're
purchasing for specific, unique qualities related to user experience. Usually it's a good product versus if you're buying for brand, you're going to pay a premium just for the company and their status, and maybe because users have a particular affinity for that thing, that's going to drive up the price. But it doesn't necessarily mean that the product is good. So aala, you're buying it for product, I mean specific
qualities that are related to user experience. Is really good, I will affirm, because what I love about a wala is you can both sip out of it with a straw, and even with the straw in it, you can also tip it back and sip it like a cup without needing to change out any of the pieces. You have both functionalities to it and also a nice closeable lid, easy to clean. Love a walla not sponsored by them, but did like them. Please to see that. He also thinks you're buying it for product. Next on the list
is hydro flask. There really is a battle out there between Owala and hydro Flask. But he says it's brand. It's all brand, baby, hate to break it to you. You're paying a premium for the company with a status people just like it.
Well, yeah, he says, it's it's not bad, but like the up charge is all brand. You can get the same thing for less money.
M Yeah, you can find hydroflask alternatives. I do not know of an o Wala alternative, although I'm sure somebody's going to do it, they just haven't yet. Next on the list is Simple Modern. I have not heard of this, but I think it is an Amazon like if you search for it these cup Okay, so I don't really go on Amazon or Target. So that's why I've never heard of it. Okay, Simple Modern. Although what does he say about it?
He says that you watched you.
Just I know I did watch it, but I don't remember what he said about it.
He said, you're paying for their legendary Amazon search optimization.
So I guess that's just basically paying for brand.
It's the it's a very inexpensive product, right, but it's not brand or product. You're not going to be, you know, showing off your simple modern like water bottle in your Instagram page. But it's also not like a super well made product. It's just everywhere. It's very easily purchased. It's probably very easily purchased second hand as well. So I don't know if I would buy a simple modern cup secondhand,
but it probably is available. But you know, Walmart, Target, Amazon, you're paying for the legendary Amazon search optimization that they have honed over years. It's nothing special, but it is everywhere.
Next on the list, Yeddy, Here you go. Everyone. You all know this. If you've got a yeady, you're paying for the up on this You comments are yeah. I mean, if they're paying for the brand, and they've paid that much for the brand, then they're all in. We're probably going to get tons of content. Probably not.
Well, No, you've got a door. He was drinking out of one. He said, you're paying for the brand, but it's a good one. I'm using it right now.
As a podcaster. I a little bit have beef with Yeddy to begin with, because they also made a microphone for some reason, and it's not good.
Is it the same brand?
I'm pretty sure it's the same. Now what I'm pretty sure. Was like, we make coolers and this one podcasting microphone, and everyone's like, oh, we got to get the microphone, and the rest of us podcasters are like, no, it's not actually good.
No, it's Logitech, Jill, It's Logitech. Dang it yet made.
We have our attraction, log We have a retraction. Folk, Jill.
You went through your life thinking the blue Yetty was made by yet I did.
Because because Kirkland exists. Because also Kirkland, who like sells chicken and boxers in like practically the same aisle. O.
Logitech is not I mean, it's an okay brand.
I really thought that they're like you and every.
You're buying the search algorithm optimization on Logitech Blue Yetti it is the worst microphone.
But here you go. Here's where the two converge. Don't waste your money on Yetti coolers and don't waste your money on a Yetti microphone, even if they aren't the same brand. It's not worth it.
No, but Yetti is good quality. It's just like highly overpriced.
Yeah, I like this next one quality, but you can find an excellent quality cooler not at Yetti prices. Okay, this next one. Y'all are waiting to know about your Stanley, and it's both. It's both. You're buying it for both brand and product. It's a great product, but also everybody and their mom literally their mom and you as mom are love and your Stanley for the brand of it too.
Yeah, he says. The actual caption is Stanley's CEO could unite this divided country. And I will say, okay, so I didn't get the hype, but we got Stanley Cupps as a gift and I have been using mine every day since then. I get the hype. I would never purchase.
This, nor will you ever go out and get public holding one. Please say it, repeat after me.
I already I will never go Already did I already did?
All right?
There will till later.
Okay, I'm so bored camel back. Yeah, but I mean we were talking forever. We could do a whole episode on just water bottles camel back. Camel Back is product, it's good product. You're buying it for the product. There you go, last, but not least now, Jeane, you're buying it for the brand. I loved how he wrapped up this TikTok by saying he's never met a small mouth now Gene drinker who he can trust.
I don't narrow amount the cup, not the person, right, not the person Nalgene drinker that he could trust. But yeah, it's like why, It's.
Why I will tell you because now I have hung out with some rock climbers. I have not become a rock climber, but I have hung out with not rock climbers, and they love their nal genes when climbing because of its durability. It can just knock up against be dropped against rocks. But also they don't need the insulation factor and the weight of a heavier insulated water bottle. They would prefer the plastic lightweight when climbing and carrying gear.
So well, in that case, every every expo is giving you a free plastic water bottle.
In that case, it doesn't.
You're buying the brand and one quick last one. We're not going to go through this one the whole way, but I loved he did a product versus brand phones and we love this one he goes through. He actually introduced me to a couple phone brands that I didn't know of. And so maybe you will get introduced to some too. First one is dumb wireless, and they make essentially premium non smartphones, so it's got like everything you
need except no social media and no Internet browser. But you can still listen to music, you can text message in every other way. It is a smartphone, but there's no Internet browser or social media options. And he said, you're buying that for product because you're buying that essentially it does things that no other product does.
And he says, you're seeing you got to buy.
In Yeah, the next iPhone, you're buying the brand. He does caveat with like the newest one, the iPhone fifteen Max. I think if you're a content creator creating content every day, then then you're buying the product. But if you are buying anything else and you have any other profession, you're buying the brand. He actually says, you're buying the blue bubble. But everyone will have blue bubbles soon, so buying the brand.
Next is one plus. And I'd never heard of this one either, But you're buying the product and it actually looks like a very cool phone. It's got a light up back. It just looks sick. Next, Motorola Raser. You're buying the brand and it's a lame one at that Samsung z Flip though you're buying the product, he says, the ux is great and it is changing the game for flip phones. And then finally, Google Pixel, you're buying
the brand that it is basically an iPhone knockoff. It's not innovating where all the other phone companies are innovating. But sound off in the comments.
The commenter stand in our friend letter speaking of something that transcends brand name, brand generic. It just it is, has been and always will be the bill.
That's right, It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week.
I just I am so excited to be able to leave this message for you folks. We really appreciate your podcast, and it's very appropriate for me because my grandfather, my father, my brother, and my nephew are all named William and go buy bill. I'm excited because my partner, who is sixty nine, went back to work so that and it
is now officially forgiven. It was over two hundred thousand dollars of student loan debt, and then it was even more wonderful about it is that we've been together for fifteen years and we've not gotten married because he did not want to burden me with that debt, and now that it's forgiven, we can finally get married. So just amazing feeling of joy and wanted to share up with everyone.
Oh my gosh, that's so sweet that I have definitely heard of people who one of their biggest reasons for not getting married is because they have a particular debt that they do not want to bring into a relationship that they love so much. And so the fact that this student loan debt is now forgiven and like you can start your marriage fresh, that's so wonderful. Congratulations.
I see why you are so excited to leave this bill. I have goosebumps, not because I'm cold, but because this is such a beautiful, heartfelt, meaningful bill that is really life changing. Experiencing this debt payoff, this debt forgiveness now freeing up this new life for the two of you is amazing. Congratulations and also not to gloss over all of these other bills, all your life, grandfather, father, brother, nephew, so many bills. This is probably the most bills we've gotten,
all smashed into one really incredible bill. Thank you so much for calling in and sharing this wonderful news with us. If you all listening have wonderful news about student loan forgiveness, or debts paid off, or just a lineage of Williams that go by Bill, we love all of it. True Friends podcast dot com slash Bill. We cannot wait to hear from you. And now it's time for phew.
All right, what are the products that our name brand that you don't mine spending money on, whether it's for quality or not. For me, it's Apple products. It's just I've I've been a loyal Apple user since two thousand and six, two down six, two thousand and seven, and they have always served me really well. Every other computer I had before then had problems, and I've never had problems with my Mac that are not of my doing. Apple has never given me problems. The problems have always
been my fault. So I'm a shill. I'll buy all of the Apple products and I but I don't buy a lot of tech stuff, like my tech stack is minimalist, and that is why I will spend more for Apple. Gosh, I don't know what else. Do you notice anything about me let's name brand, the appliances we bought like name brand, not high end luxury, but we made sure to buy the name brand appliances for the renovation.
And your name brand on your shoe or I guess specific brand. I don't know if you'd call it name brand, but you're running shoes.
Yeah, my running shoes are not a well known brand, but they are product for sure, product and brand. They're called Diodora, and I think they are a little they're cushy, but they're no Hoka. So if you're a runner, you get it.
Yeah.
I would say I would not spend money to buy the Stanley, but I look at her and I love her.
Yeah. I think you could probably get something very similar to a Stanley if you're just looking for a straw and a big bottle. There and plenty of options.
Out there, Yes, one hund. I just didn't know I needed this product until I had it, and otherwise I would look for an alternative had I known I needed it. So that's where I'm at. I wouldn't spend money on Stanley, but she is beauty and grace.
Jillum. I know that we've mentioned a few throughout the podcast already, so based on what hasn't been talked about yet, Ritz Crackers, Ritz Crackers all the way. And here's the thing, you know what you like after you have tried it. There have been times where I've said, you know what, let me just see if i can get away with spending a few dollars less on off brand crackers cracker rounds. Nope, they're not the same. They're not as buttery, flaky, good,
crispy crunchy Ritz and Graham Crackers. I can't. I can't do anything other than name brand on those on those bad boys. However, it depends on what I'm using when I make my own pie like crust like Graham Cracker crust pies, which isn't often, but we're just coming off the holidays and I just did I used I used off brand Graham Crackers, yeah, and that tasted fine. But if I'm just eating like a snack, I'm gonna prefer the name brand. Mm hmm.
Yeah. I made a Oreo cookie crust and I almost grabbed the generic, and then I was too scared because I was like, what if there's of fat to car ratio in the baking? That's different and it says Oreos, And then I realized I'm adding butter to it. It doesn't matter. So yeah, I should have gotten the generic. It was delicious, you know.
Regardless, but it would have been delicious with generic Oreos. Yeah.
Yeah, Well, thank you for listening. I hope that you are more cognizant of product versus brand when you are making your next purchases, knowing that there's nothing wrong with spending more for quality, but know that not everything you buy needs to be a of highest quality, and you could get the same quality of a much less in a much less popular brand. So these are just the things to be aware about when you are thinking of buying generic versus name brand. And something else to think
about is leaving us a review a kind review. And I will say, after just reading this review, just now, I want to Jill, I want to confess to you. I did not I did not say it wasn't it wasn't me. But Travis was talking to his class. He teaches at a aircraft mechanic school, so think of the student population there, and he told he was telling them to listen to frugal friends. And then he may or may not have said, if you leave a review for the show, there may or may not be extra credit.
Oh my, I don't think you want to say this out loud. We do, now, brib.
I didn't. I did not tell him to do this. I and they're not our target Democrats, but they could be. They could be. Travis loves the show and he's an aircraft mechanic, so but I think it's for different reasons. So I, after saying that story, I'd like to read this kind review from Jason. All it says is Jason, and Jason says frugal and funny. This podcast is both entertaining and informative. Jen and Jill have a great dynamic and the tools and tips that they provide have been
extremely helpful. Thank you Jason.
Jason, I'm really hope that you do well in your class and that it's not based on the teacher making you do tasks outside of learning and becoming an airplane mechanic.
And if you are Jason and you are are a true listener.
Jason, my being ax I.
Didn't really think anybody. I thought it was just a funny joke, you know, I didn't think anybody actually did it.
And took it to me.
I'm gonna have to ask Travis if he has a student named Jason.
Now. Wow, Well, thanks for listening. Whether you're here out of compulsion or you're here by choice, your own free will, we're glad that you're here. And if you are truly enjoying this show and it's not because someone told you to enjoy it, please do take a minute to leave a rating and review so that others who truly want to know about frugality and have some fun and be entertained by the two of us knowing or not knowing
about YETI coolers or YETI microphones. And you're still here for it, please please leave us in a kind review. We would love that. It would really help us a lot.
See you next time, Jason, be next time. Grugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianna. I forgot about that story. Actually I forgot that he did that, and then I'm like, oh, I wonder if I'll ever see like a review from one of his students. But I never checked the reviews. I don't check the ratings and reviews for my mental health gold.
How is no? Yeah, me neither. How does how would he? I don't even know. I'm not going to ask more questions, not while we're recording. I'm so concerned. Oh my gosh, Well, I am remove myself from this. I am not a part of students' grades. Hinging on.
It's not going to change a little extra credit it. It's gonna be fine.
It's gonna be fine.
But hey, if you're a fan of the show and you are looking for new and unique ways to offer extra credit, we do not condone this, but we will not get mad.
Any good review is a good thing for us.
When we started this show, and I think it may be our secret to success, I would take my friend's phones and leave a review of the show. I took so many phones.
You can go in the archive of the reviews and find the reviews that you think Jen actually wrote.
I'll tell you there. It was our first twenty reviews. I'll tell you no why you could scroll all the way back our first twenty reviews in like May May of twenty eighteen.
Meanwhile, me and my route, though I thought that you couldn't review your own podcast. So me on my own phone did not review us until about a year and a half into us doing this podcast. And I think you did yell at me on a podcast episode, like you haven't reviewed us, you haven't left us a review. I'm like, I didn't think I could. I thought that the algorithm was gonna stop me. You know, I've not known a lot in this life, and Jenn has helped
me to discover most of it. No, No, like you Yetti cooler versus Yetni microphone, like that you have a roth Ira from your spouse. Yes, yes you can.
Okay, I did help you with that one. But the Yetti cooler and podcast microphone, Yeah, it's hilarious. You need to get off here right now and go tell Eric you did that.
Okay, I will, you know what, Like, I'm not even gonna edit. I'm not gonna have them edit this because at the end of the day, I'm not talking good about either brand. So like, who's gonna really be upset? Like I don't care for Yetni cords.
And this is why we don't get I mean, we kind of have to take what we can get with sponsorship dollars because we do stuff like this, like YETI is not going to be over here sponsoring us for sure. Stanley isn't going to like, we gotta take y'all. We gotta take what we can get, and that's Mint. I don't know whatever, Go get a Mint phone.