Some brands are household words: “Pass me a Kleenex”, “There’s a mess, get the Lysol”, or “I’m hurting, I need a Tylenol”. Tylenol, for example, is a go-to medicine for pain relief and fever reduction. But if you actually have Tylenol in your medicine cabinet instead of the generic version, well… terrible joke alert… it’s definitely not pain relief for your wallet.

And it’s not just medicine: most grocery store chains and big box stores have a robust ecosystem of generic products including toiletries, food, and household goods. In many cases, these products directly mimic name brand versions that cost a fortune more. But even though the generic is right next to the name brand on the shelf, price tags literally side-by-side, we’re collectively awful at buying generics. How bad? According to research done in 2014, Americans alone spend about $44 billion a year in “wasted money” by buying name brands when equivalent generic products are available.

It’s a death of a thousand cuts, financially: a few extra dollars here or there doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it adds up and compounds over a lifetime.

In this article, I’m going to talk about some of the broad categories of generic products, how to change your shopping habits to start buying them, and some first steps you can take right now.

Medicines

When we’re sick or hurting, we want to be sure we’re getting the best medicine, and we don’t want to stress out thinking about it. Perhaps this explains why, out of all the product categories I researched for this article, the biggest price differences occur between generic and name brand medicine.

In the case of Tylenol, for example, a quick price check at H-E-B (my local grocery store chain in Central Texas) showed that a 100-pill bottle of store brand acetaminophen costs $2.01, while the name brand costs $9.75. That’s almost five times more!

The funny thing is, medicine is one category where you can be absolutely certain the generic is exactly as good as the name brand, which is why pharmacists and doctors overwhelmingly choose generics themselves. Let me explain how to figure out what to buy:

A medicine contains one or more active ingredients – this is the actual drug or drugs you’re taking – as well as inactive ingredients, such as the components that makes the medicine into a pill or a cream. A generic pill might look slightly different than the name brand pill, but it contains the same active ingredient(s), and that’s what matters. Some common examples of active ingredients are acetaminophen for Tylenol, ibuprofen for Advil, and loratadine for Claritin.

If you don’t know what the active ingredient of your medicine is, don’t worry. You can look it up online or look at the Drug Facts on the back of the package in the store. To make it even easier, a lot of generic brands have started putting “Compare to…” information right on their labels. And if you prefer some kind of variant of your medicine such as day time, night time, extra strength, multi-drug formula, extended release, etc… rest assured there will be a generic version for each popular formulation.

Toiletries

You may already be wise to buying generics when it comes to medicine, but did you know the same concept applies to toiletries? There are generic versions of popular toothpastes, mouthwashes, body washes, shampoos, lotions, and much more. And once again, many of these generic products aren’t shy about stating exactly which name brand they’re copying, right on the label.

For example, Sensodyne is a popular toothpaste because one of its active ingredients helps reduce sensitivity in teeth. It’s also quite expensive, but generics are available. Using my local grocery chain’s prices again, a tube of Sensodyne Extra Whitening sells for $6.10 while their generic brand sells for $3.57, about 40% less. And over in mouthwash, a 500-ml bottle of Listerine is $4.09, while the store brand equivalent is$1.50, about 63% less.

If buying generic medicine is a no-brainer, buying generic toiletries is an “almost no-brainer”. For toiletries that have active ingredients, such as toothpaste or mouthwash, once again these will be the same between name brand products and the generics that mimic them. Generics will closely if not exactly copy the other ingredients, especially if they’re sporting a “Compare to…” claim on the label. However, you might encounter some slight differences in flavor, scents, or texture. You might not notice or mind, so my advice is to give the generic a try and only switch back if you really don’t like any of these subtle differences.

Food

Food falls into two categories: the no-brainer stuff and the some-consideration-required stuff.

Staples are a no-brainer: things like milk, flour, sugar, meat, and similar raw ingredients. That study I mentioned at the beginning of the article noted that just as pharmacists know to trust generic medicine, professional chefs overwhelmingly know to save money by choosing the store brand for staples. You’ll want to do a quick check of the ingredients to make sure there’s nothing unexpected, but generally speaking, the simpler the product is, the more likely the generic and name brand versions are exactly the same.

Other products come down more to taste. I recently discovered I like the flavor of store brand sparkling water just as much as the fancy brands (e.g. La Croix), and it’s about half the price. Processed foods may have different flavors, spices, or be made from different ingredients, so you’ll want to experiment. The store brand salsa may legitimately be a different recipe than the name brand. But who knows? You may find you prefer the generic option and can save a few dollars on each purchase!

Keep in mind there are often generics at all levels of a product. For example, you’ll find generic basic white bread but also generic multi-grain bread, generic non-organic milk but also generic organic milk, etc.

Household Goods

The list of household goods for which you can and should buy generics is extensive, and we’re back in no-brainer territory.

Take batteries, for example. Energizer and Duracell may be constantly one-upping each other in their commercials, but the chemistry and battery life is the same in the store brand (when comparing apples to apples, e.g. alkaline batteries to alkaline batteries). So say no to the Energizer bunny and buy the generic – it’s at least 25% cheaper.

Cleaning products, toilet paper, and office supplies are just a few other examples that come to mind. Generic household goods are ripe with opportunities to save money, and you should be on the lookout for these types of generics well beyond the grocery store.

Changing your mind

I think about generics vs. name brands as though a salesperson were following me around the store constantly asking “Excuse me, but could I interest you in paying twice as much for the same thing?”

But collectively we do this all the time, and it takes some effort to change your behavior. If you’re feeling some loyalty to your brands and resistant to change, there’s a lot of psychology working against you:

Advertising: Name brands have ad budgets that generics don’t, and these marketing campaigns work hard to get you to remember the brand and believe their products are better. (Guess where the money for those ads comes from? You, when you pay the premium price.)

Internalized beliefs about generics: You might think that cheaper means lower quality, or that someone only buys generics if they can’t afford to spend more.

Awareness: You might not know a generic option is available, and new offerings come along all the time. Every year, drug patents expire and the generic pharmaceutical companies get to work. Meanwhile, when new foods become popular, generic food makers take notice and catch up.

Habits: We often shop on autopilot, having long ago decided what products to buy. It’s mentally taxing to re-think our grocery list, especially if we’re in a hurry.

The antidote to all of the above is to adopt a new “default attitude” and back it up with a compelling motivation. My attitude when shopping is I’m always planning to buy the generic. It’s my rule across the board, and I need a specific reason to make an exception. The motivation that fuels this is saving money, which is important to me because it lets me do more of the things I like in life. And since there’s no significant difference between generics and name brand products, I don’t even feel like I’m sacrificing anything!

Taking the long view

There are some spending decisions where a single choice can have a large impact on your financial picture. Buying a car, for example. But there are also many situations where you will either get rich (or poor) slowly, and that’s the case with generics.

For example, let’s suppose the average generic is $2.50 less than the name brand. Make that savings once and you have, well, $2.50. So what, right? But make that choice for ten items and you have $25. Now make that savings every time you shop, let’s say twice a month, and that’s $600 a year. In ten years that’s $6,000. You’re slowly saving some serious cash.

Changing the way you shop takes discipline: you have to tune out advertising and resist the psychological appeal of more expensive, shinier brands. But the good news is once you make the mental shift, you can get back to shopping on autopilot with a new money-saving habit: reaching for the generics.

Start now

If you’re ready to overhaul your shopping list, here’s a game plan:

First, make a list. Start by reviewing your last grocery receipt or your current shopping list and noting down the name brand products you see. Then, add to your list by looking through your medicine cabinet, your toiletries, your supply closet, and your pantry. There are probably some name brand products there that you’ve been buying on autopilot!

Second, use your store’s website to look up these products. Search by what the product is rather than the brand (e.g. ‘hand soap’ not ‘Softsoap’) to see what generic options come up.

— Or —

Allow yourself a little extra time the next time you shop to compare products and prices. The generic product will be located right next to the name brand on the shelf.

I encourage you to at least pick three product changes you can make right now, and I’m guessing there are some no brainers on most of our lists. Feel free to share yours in the comments, and happy savings!