cheapskate

Yes, I am frugal.  I enjoying finding the best bargain, rarely pay full price for anything except groceries, and have been known to spend a ridiculous amount of time comparison shopping.  I like buying 'off brand' or 'store brand' products and reveling in the savings.  

I have to say, however, that is not so for certain members of the family who are convinced that  there is no way that "Great Value" pain killers work as well as Tylenol, and the list goes on for other medicinal products.  I don't know, I only see the savings.  I personally have become used to store brand yogurt when I remember that each time I eat it I am saving minimum 20cents per container.  That's about a dollar a week!  Think of the savings!

I have tried to get into the whole coupon thing, but haven't been as successful as I would have liked.  Probably because most of what I buy is cheaper as a store brand anyways.

So, on to the point of this....I have always bought generic Cheerios.  They are well over a dollar cheaper than real Cheerios, and while I know that don't have that same magical taste, well a dollar is a dollar.  BUT, the past couple of boxes I have splurged and bought the real thing.  Yes that big yellow box of goodness that just oozes memories of childhood.  Those perfect little o's that we  so generously litter every restaurant floor with.  They have to be the most perfect baby snack made.  And in my endeavor to be a healthier me, I have convinced myself that at lunch they do make a healthy and crunchy alternative to chips.  But the last time I went to the store I went back to the orange box.  Store brand.  Generic.  Basically yuck.  No one will eat them.  Clara picks a few and then pushes them away, Greta will do the same if she is starving.  I was annoyed the other day and packed a heaping sandwich bag of them determined to prove that this is ridiculous.  But as I'm sitting at my desk munching on my generic Toasted O's, a bottle of water, some strawberries  and cheese, I realize that they are yuck.  It's like chewing on cardboard sprinkled with a hint of Cheerio dust.  The initial taste isn't bad, but the chews after that just don't make the grade.  

And so, I'm going to search the internet to see if birds or squirrels might like these mixed in with their bird food, and I'm going out today to buy the YELLOW box.  The one that says Cheerios, costs $1.27 more, and is the perfect food for us all.  Is there such thing as generic bottled water?  oh yeah, it's called the tap.