In an age where the cost of living is constantly on the rise, many families are tightening their budgets, searching for ways to cut expenses. Yet, despite the financial challenges posed by inflation, some people continue buying the more expensive brand-name products over cheaper generic versions.

Below is my story.

THE ARGUMENT THAT STARTED IT ALL

Look, ALDI is great for a lot of things: affordable, quality meats; an above-average cheese selection; the occasional brand name you can scoop up for cheap. And sometimes you see an ALDI brand of something and think to yourself, "Hey, this is way cheaper than [Leading Brand]. Let's give it a try."

And a lot of times, this works out... but not when my fiancé bought generic Cheerios.

On paper, it seems like Cheerios should be easy to replicate. It's a no frills cereal. They're just "oaty rings" or whatever. How hard can it be?

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Yet somehow! Someway! General Mills does it best. And I voiced my opinion on this.

My fiancé was convinced I was wrong. So, I held my tongue and labored through the box.

Then I bought brand name Cheerios. And my suspicions were confirmed:

You're right. These are better.

And so, I won that argument, which every relationship expert will tell you is the most important thing in the world.

So I wanted to know what the rest of Utica thought. I asked on Facebook, "What's a brand name you'll ALWAYS pay for, no matter how cheap the generic version is?"

Below are the most common responses: