Three Household Products I Don’t Buy Anymore—and Why

Here are three everyday items I stopped buying once I learned how easy the substitutes were.

These substitutes didn't require special equipment, rare ingredients, or a learning curve. They just required questioning the idea that everything useful has to come in a plastic bottle with a marketing slogan. Ana_Malee/Shutterstock

There was a time when I assumed I needed to buy name brand, readymade cleaning solutions and laundry products. If something needed cleaning, fixing, deodorizing, or shining, surely there was a brightly labeled bottle for that—preferably one promising miracles in a trigger spray. I bought them faithfully. And then one day I realized something mildly embarrassing: I was paying a premium for watered-down versions of things I already had at home.

That realization didn’t turn me into a homesteader or a pioneer woman. It just made me more stubborn about spending money on products that didn’t earn their keep. Here are three everyday items I stopped buying once I learned how easy the substitutes were.