One Snarky Chica with Issues

I try to do as many thing as possible to be frugal. You know, I do things like re-use plastic baggies and things like that.

Another thing that I do is buy generic instead of name brand. And usually this works out pretty well for me. I do have a few things though that I just can’t go generic on - like cheese. I must have Sargento cheese. The taste difference is just too much for me to compromise. I also have to have Walker’s Shortbread over Meijer or Target brand because they are just better and the cost savings is only like $0.20 a box.

Usually when I discover that I don’t want to buy the generic any more it is no big deal. I tried Target brand shortbread and realized I needed the Walker’s, but I was able to eat the Target ones.

Sadly, that is not what happened to me recently.

I was having a problem with my shower drain so I needed to get some drainer cleaner. Drainer cleaner is expensive. So, I had a 20% off coupon for Big Lots so I went there to see if I could get lucky and find some drainer cleaner on the cheap.

Score for me! I got there and they did indeed have drain cleaner. They were small little single use bottles though. I was able to get a bottle for about $0.80 before tax so I bought four of them. I figured I would stock up in case it took more than one and that would also leave me some for next time.

Four bottles and $3.42 later and the shower drain was still not unclogged. So, I sucked it up and went out for name brand drain cleaner. I found a bottle for $4.29 before tax and it worked perfectly.

So, instead of paying $4.29 and having it fixed right the first time - I spent around $8.00 for the same result. This time around trying to be frugal ended up costing me in the end.
Now drain cleaner is on that short list of items that I can’t go generic on.