It would appear that any number of Personal Finance bloggers consider brand loyalty to be a mortal sin. At the risk of being blacklisted for saying so, I don’t agree.

First, let me make it perfectly clear — I’m talking about brand loyalty not a Name-Brand fixation. To me, buying a product just because it’s “the brand to have” is the ultimate in consumer prostitution.

I don’t buy products because of the brand; I buy brands because I like the product. That’s what I mean by brand loyalty. It’s a practice that saves me time, money, and frustration. It’s a practice that makes my life immeasurably easier.

Some frugal gurus preach using generics or whatever brand is the least expensive at any given moment. I have nothing against generics or house-brands. In fact, sometimes it’s the house-brand to which I am loyal. And I certainly have nothing against saving money. What matters to me is, is the product a good value for my dollar and does it meet my family’s needs?

Once I find a product that we like, I tend to stick with it. Why change? I spend enough time shopping for my family; I have no desire to add time and effort to the task by having to re-evaluate each purchase every time I shop.

When I need laundry detergent, I know exactly what brand to get (Tide Free). I also know who carries the larger boxes and what price I should expect to pay. When I need tomato sauce I know which brand to get (Muir Glen) and which stores carry it. I know it’s going to taste good and I know it won’t trigger an allergic reaction. I know which brand of tampon The Daughter prefers (Playtex unscented), which mayonnaise The Husband likes (Real Foods), and who makes a mac & cheese product that The Son likes and I feel good about feeding him (Annie’s). We all prefer the Kroger house-brand cheese and The Husband likes their generic Raisin Bran. I know that Organic Valley is a “purer” company but the fact is that Horizon’s products taste better.

Sometimes a product/brand/manufacturer lets us down. The Son (and me too, before my food allergies got so severe) used to love Ian’s Chicken Pot Pies. Then they changed their product by “improving” the crust and the filling. Strike that one off the shopping list. Yuck. Whatever they did, they lost a loyal customer. And sometimes a brand stops making a product. The Husband wore Old Spice Lime after-shave for most of his adult life but they stopped making it several years ago. And Shick seems to have stopped making their injector blades. Crabtree & Evelyn stopped making their Goats Milk triple-milled soap. We do our best to roll with the punches but having to replace a standard product in our house can sometimes be a long and traumatic experience. Even worse, it can be an expensive experience. The Husband hates the new Jergen’s hand lotion formula and I don’t think I want to know how many bottles of lotion he’s purchased in his search for a replacement brand.

Postscript: During all this thinking about brand loyalty I haven’t been able to shake the image of George Clooney’s quest for “Dapper Dan” in the movie, “Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?” Just thinking about it cracks me up.

Costco Gas — $46.08
Filled up The Tank today on the way home from getting The Son to class. It took 17.527 gallons at $2.629/gal. My current odometer reading is 115,117.

Daughter Reimbursement — $25.31
Last week The Daughter bought some kind of powder/make-up at Origins at the mall. She put it on her debit card. Today I transferred reimbursement funds from my checking account to hers.

The Husband, who’s a terrific husband and a wonderful and (for the most part) hands-on father, wondered why I was paying for her make-up. Apparently he wasn’t involved in the decision as to handle the teenager-and-make-up question. [More likely, he was and just forgot about it.] So I told him [read: reminded him] that it had been decided that since I/we reserve the right to have the last word on how much, when, and where The Daughter can wear make-up (meaning that I get to say if and when she’s wearing too much), I will pay for said make-up.

School — $150.00
The Daughter’s sports activity fee

Chipotle — $6.36
Dinner for The Daughter on the way home from tonight’s game.