Try new brands…

One thing you’ll  find with couponing is that you have the opporitinty to try new products for a fraction of the cost or even FREE.  Now there are a few things that I will only buy a specific brand…but most things I buy whatever is the lowest price.  Dawn over at Saving Saints has a wonderful example of being open to new brands, thougth it was worth passing along.

I use to think I could only wash with Tide. Store brands just didn’t get my clothes clean, especially when it comes to my children’s clothing with their food drips, fingerprints and caked in dirt. Like I use to feel with diapers, I thought that buying Tide at Costco was the best value. Well I decided to figure out how much I was paying per load and what my $tock-up Worthy Price is for laundry detergent. The large box of Tide above cost $27.63 or 15 cents per load. Since I started my couponing journey early last summer, I have been able to get liquid Tide on sale with coupons and a catalina promotion for 4 cents per load. But that was 6 months ago. I do use the $1 off Tide coupons that come in the P&G inserts to get free travel size (one load) packages of detergent. I really wanted to find a more consistent “deal” on detergent.

My husband found Xtra brand laundry detergent at Family Dollar and the regular price is only 6 cents per load. He decided it was at least worth trying out. We decided we would use it to wash our towels and sheets. They get stained less often and we don’t care as much if they fade a little. The first thing we noticed after using the detergent is how great the laundry smelled! It was so comforting getting into bed and our towels smelled so fresh. I decided it was worth using 2 brands. Tide for my more soiled laundry and Xtra for the rest. But I have done a few test loads with my children’s clothing and guess what!? It does great with the heavy stains! I still pre-treat some of the stains depending on where it came from, but have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the detergent and most of all the price. So if I can get Tide for less than 6 cents per load, I will be stocking up on it. Otherwise I am happy to buy Xtra and no longer pay 15 cents per load at Costco!