I’ve used WordPress before.
I actually have a blog from probably five years ago, where I had decided I would play old video games and review them for fun. I believe I made a WordPress and a Tumblr page for this concept, wrote a post announcing I would be reviewing Dino Crisis (PS1), and then got myself stuck in the game and abandoned the whole idea.
The point is that I’ve used WordPress before, but I still don’t really know what I’m doing. I’ve been playing around with themes, trying to figure out how to pick colours for a palette when it’s only offering me five ‘featured’ options. I want this blog to look simple, easy to read, and gently coloured. I’m gonna keep playing around with it, but in the meantime it looks pretty shabby.
I guess I should write a little about why I’m starting *this* blog. Probably five months ago, I ran out of Dijon mustard. Oh no, I gasped, as if it was the worst thing in the world. I’m a person who is on the fence about trying new things. I love trying new things, especially food, but I’m always extremely hesitant because of the price. I’ve never had very much money, and I grew up pretty poor. This left me with a bit of a fear that I would run out of money and not be able to afford the things I need. So when it comes to trying new food, part of me holds back because what if I don’t like it, but then I can’t afford something I would like because I spent my money on this and now I have to go without??? It’s exhausting.
Anyway, I had bought a small Masterfoods branded jar of it from The Reject Shop (a ‘dollar’ style store we have here in Tasmania, in case you’re wondering) for extremely cheap, just to try, and had discovered how much I like mustard in cooking. Great! That wonderful special had ended by the time my jar was empty, and I looked around the supermarkets before deciding to try the Coles homebrand version.
That was a mistake.
About a month later, I wanted to start slowly building a spice collection. I was investigating turmeric, and spent ages Googling to find out whether or not buying the inexpensive homebrand version would be a bad move. I would save a little money, which is great, but what if the quality wasn’t worth saving an extra dollar? What if buying this cheapest of options, I got a product that didn’t taste or do what a more expensive option would? And how could I know, because I couldn’t find the information I needed online.
Well, I just asked someone in a Facebook group, and they told me that spices are usually the same regardless of brand. I bought the cheapest turmeric I could find, and as far as I can tell, everything is as it should be. Crisis averted. During that time, though, I thought about how useful it would have been to find a site where people discussed the myriad of different inexpensive brand alternatives we have, and which ones are really worth spending a little extra, and which ones are the gems. I’ve seen posts reviewing homebrand options before, but they all seem to focus on one product in the post, and there usually aren’t follow-up posts, or reviews of other items.
So anyway, I thought maybe I could create that site. Post my experiences with homebrand products, rate them how good I feel they are, and perhaps someone else with the irrational fear I have will stumble across a post and feel relieved that someone has the answer. In reality, I might not post very often. I might not post at all. A blog is something part of me has always wanted to run, but I’m terrible for giving up on things early.
In any case, that’s my hope for the blog. To create posts about homebrand products, and discuss whether or not it’s worth getting the cheaper option and saving your money. Because that Dijon mustard sucked, and I wish I had had someone tell me beforehand.
How Good is the Homebrand? 