LIVE CHEAPER - USE STORE BRANDS

Want to dramatically increase your nest egg? Buy generic or store brands! If you saved $5 a day for 30 years, and earned 10 percent interest on it, you’d wind up with $342,000! To get you started, here are products that you should always buy generic, to save that $5 a day, according to Yahoo Finance:

• Water. You have several options: Expensive name brands, the store brand, or tap water at home. The cost difference goes from mere pennies for tap to $3 for a name-brand bottle of the same thing! If you’re concerned about taste or contaminants, get a home filtration system or a filter pitcher.
• Buying brand-name milk can run you more than $5 - but the store brand is $2 cheaper, and is produced with the same quality standards as the major brands.
• While you’re in the dairy case, grab the generic margarine. Avoiding a famous brand can save you 60 cents a pop.
• Over-the-counter medication. From cold medicine to eye drops to ibuprofen, most contain the same active ingredients. Name-brand products – like Tylenol - will run you $11, but the store-brand can cost just $7.
• In the cleaning aisle, reach for the bleachwithout the familiar label and you’ll save another 60 cents. One-ingredient products are the same no matter what brand you buy, and off-brand spray bottles of kitchen and bathroom cleaner cost a dollar less than the brand seen on TV.
• If you’re going to make homemade soup, spaghetti sauce or pizza, oregano is probably on your shopping list. Watch out! Name brand spices can cost $4 more than the store brand, which is a mark-up of 342%!