"Never Again!" Share your budget misfires.

[UCFGrad01]

I hopped on the "make your own detergent" bandwagon. Never again. First of all, I had to check and make sure my arms hadn't fallen off into the bin after shaving down all that soap. It works okay (with gain smelly stuff added) if you have clothes that aren't that dirty, smelly, or have stains. It didn't work too well for me in any of those situations. Back to Tide for this gal!

 

[ellochka]

Cheap Dryer Sheets. I bought some cheaper Snuggle Dryer Sheets instead of the usual Gain brand to save a little money. While I was pregnant the smell of those dryer sheets made me SO SICK I ended up throwing them away. I still can't stand that smell.

LOL!!! The same thing happened to me and Glad "odor protector" garbage bags! The worst thing was that my DH bought a large pack and he was doing everything to finish them up through me trying to explain to him why he should not use them (yeah, I remember you said that, so I am not buying any more - no, that's not what I am asking you to do!). That was such a waste!

 

[ellochka]

I hopped on the "make your own detergent" bandwagon. Never again. First of all, I had to check and make sure my arms hadn't fallen off into the bin after shaving down all that soap. It works okay (with gain smelly stuff added) if you have clothes that aren't that dirty, smelly, or have stains. It didn't work too well for me in any of those situations. Back to Tide for this gal!

I always puzzled me why a magazine called "real simple" was full of weird recipes with ingredients I never buy and don't know where to buy just to make things that are available on every corner. Simple it is not. 100% agree with you!

 

[ellochka]

Manolo Blahnik shoes. I only ever got one pair - my present to myself for 30s birthday. They were very practical but cute brown low heel mules. The leather on the inside of the shoe was so delicate, it would grab my toes, so they gave me blisters on every single toe . They also had those extra long pointy toes that I was tripping over all the time. I ended up selling them on eBay a few years later.

 

[cassandrap83]

Auntie Anne's frozen soft pretzels with butter packets and cinnamon and sugar. Superpretzel boxes are approaching $4 here and the Auntie Anne's were on sale for like $1.25. We bought 3 boxes thinking they'd be just like they are at the mall - NOT!! Not only do the pretzels have a weird chewy-ness about them, but the instructions have you microwave the butter packet. After 2 minutes (30 second intervals) the 1tsp of butter still hadn't melted.That creeped me out enough to pitch the rest.

 

[DHSbutcher]

Off brand lean cuisine style food. Our public has a great selection of frozen foods, however a bit of it includes a lot of knock offs- so gross. Im very particular so I just wait til the brands I like are on sale.

 

[MAJPLO]

Kirkland (Costco) brand frozen waffles (instead of Eggo brand) and Kirkland/Costco brand tomato sauce. Gross. At least my kids seem to like the Kirkland waffles. But my waffle days are over. Those things are terrible.

 

[kerplop]

We're always on the lookout for low-sodium options for our favorite foods and thought we'd try the "touch of salt" Wheat Thins. I have never spit anything out so fast as I did that. It tasted like chemical-filled cardboard and they basically disintegrated in my mouth!

 

[Gracie09]

At least back in the 90's it did. But Alta Dena tasted so much different and a whole lot better.

What! Please provide some source for this

 

[kmb584]

What! Please provide some source for this

I'm curious too. I googled because the thought of plastic in milk caught my interest but all I found were articles on milk plastic, as in the process of converting milk to plastic (apparently very common in the 20th century).

 

[tink2dw]

Great Brand version of Cherry Pop Tarts.
I gave Hubby a List. I had put down Cherry Pop Tarts. He came back Great Brand version. First off, said what is this? I could not tell what it was? Hubby said it is the Pop Tarts you ask for. I said it doesn't say Pop Tarts?? He open the box and tore the packet to show me. It looked like a Pop Tart, and he point out it said cherry on the box. I took bite. It was liquid sugar goo inside, that tasted nasty. I so shock I told him to never ever buy any Great Brands ever again. He was shock by reaction. Now he always buys me Cherry Pop Tarts.

 

[Pooh bear 39]

Shop-rite's crystal light iced tea. If you leave it out (I don't like my drinks cold), it grows floaters. Have not had that problem with giant's or walmart's brand, only the shop-rite. What gets me is they are all packaged the same.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Kirkland (Costco) brand frozen waffles (instead of Eggo brand) and Kirkland/Costco brand tomato sauce. Gross. At least my kids seem to like the Kirkland waffles. But my waffle days are over. Those things are terrible.

I don't know what brand they are, but my kids love the Eggo knockoff waffles from Aldi's.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I think the Eggo brand must have changed the Nutrigrain recipe. We used to get it fairly often. Got 2 cases of it. Ugh. Tastes awful. Even extra syrup doesn't cut it. Stuck. It just tastes like cardboard.

 

[TravelMommy]

and while I LOVE Aldi, many of their products are daily staples in our home I have yet to have a decent pie or cake from them, many of their cookies are great but any pie or cake I have tried from them, (interestingly enough this has included their frozen brands and ice cream ones too) yuck! I guess because I bake from scratch I have too high expectations there???

 

[hsmamato2]

I have the opposite opinion of A&H detergent just goes to show....it's cheap and works GREAT in our home..... I did learn that all greek yogurts are not equal in taste.... I like the Aldi brand options a LOT, but Cabot gr. yogurt is absolutley sickening (ditto for anything yoplait,dannon,etc) My faves are Fage, Chobani and Aldi brand....
Hmmmm learning to be careful with groupons/livingsocial,etc..... I've had a few times where I wasted money trying to save or felt like I had to buy something to make use of one of these 'deals'.....

 

[valee]

DS thinks the Aldi ketchup is atrocious, and wanted me to throw it out. I tried it, and love it.

We've figured it out - the Aldi brand is less sweet than the national brands, and I love savory foods, whereas DS has a sweet tooth.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

T-mobile. Yes it was cheaper but I could never make a call.

 

[Eureka]

YES YES YES to this, though the Kroger version of honey nut cheerios is good.

We have tried every store brand of honey nut Cheerios and DS11 doesn't like any of them. I'd rather pay (using sales and coupons) for GM than to let another brand go stale and uneaten.

 

[AquaDame]

Tried some store brand acne toner instead of buying clinique.. the active ingredient was the same but something inactive must have been different... worst "saved" $5 ever.

I'm also not fond of the Little Debbie Hostess knock off products. I didn't buy them often since they aren't good for you, but I do miss their cupcakes and ding dongs.