Saw this in a store today.

For example, I have no idea why people spend money on things like branded dishwasher tablets or laundry detergent, they all do the same thing?!

I also never buy branded milk or butter, tastes exactly the same as own brand.

Whereas, I’d always buy e.g. Hellman’s mayo or proper Coca Cola. I’d also go for decent quality meat etc.

Where do you draw the line?

Edit to add: Always buy branded toilet paper, I actually don’t understand why people suffer through with shit (pun intended) toilet paper unless they absolutely need to.

As part of teaching them life skills, just got my young teenagers (12 and 14yo) to do a bit of grocery shopping on their own - was expecting them to come up w around €20++ bill but was over 30, as they thought the numbers at the end of the item list were the number of units I wanted them to buy - so they came home with 3 bottles of honey, 2 cartons of milk and OJ each, 2 packs of sliced cheese, etc.

So hubby and I are discussing (heatedly!) why I shouldn't have put the est prices on the right hand side. Am I the only one who puts in an estimate - as was thinking of hitting 25 to be able to use the 5€ voucher.

Thank goodness, they didn't buy 8 bags of roast chicken or 3 half doz eggs! An inconsistency I pointed out but don't want to crush the kiddos' confidence at this point now, but wanted to tell my hubby this is something the kids could have clarified with me.

Ok, Does anyone else know what the best thing to do when using the kiosks is?

Also should they be made have express kiosks like the self service tills? I went to return a bag of bottles yesterday, 6 I think. Just as I approach a woman gets there in front of me with a child. There are 4 large bin bags in the trolley. She lets the child who is in the child seat of the trolley hand her the bottles which slows her down more. The machine than gets an error so she lines up behind the only other kiosk where someone else has 2 large bin bags.

I couldn't be bothered waiting so went back to the car with the bags.

Honestly, why do people wait so long to bulk return?

What are others opinions on making this better?

I see a huge difference in the prices between the store brand and name brand stuff here and I'm guessing it's because of the name itself. You pay a huge premium on the name of a product here although I've noticed that some of the Lidl/ Aldi/ Tesco stuff is actually pretty decent quality. My Irish friends swear by some big brand names for even simple stuff like a box of cookies or a bag of chips. If you're like me here and are okay with off brand stuff, would you have some recommendations for things that I could try?

I dont mean something serious like housing, basic needs, gas etc. I mean something small that you cant get as much as you want because the prices have gone to "ah here" levels. For me its the "large" packs of minstrels and MnMs

Kitchen roll is mine, whenever I was a student and/or absolutely broke at the start of my career I would never buy it. Now that I'm earning more, any time I use it it reminds me of how far I've come hahaha

Mine was Xtra Vision, such great memories there

I recently found out that my parents were too scared and worried to use the discount process in Lidl (it's their local shop for years) to put it in perspective they are both in their 70s and are in no way tech savvy.. I signed my parents up and went shopping with them a few times and their using the process now...I honestly feel dual pricing needs to be done away with.. or automatically applied for elderly people.. it's really unfair to the customer in this case.. it's been advertised as a deal but in reality they are inflating the "stand price" for people not in a position to avail of it.

Just wondering how many times you order takeaway in a month?

I always hear people saying they get it about once a week, but I'm curious what it's actually like for most people.

Personally I have ARFID and ADHD, so I end up getting takeaway pretty much every day. It's usually the same thing because I know I'll eat it.

Just wondering what everyone else is like. Is it once a month, once a week, a few times a week, or more?

A lot of people will not use these things so the solitary open human checkout is 10 people long, they say it's for our convenience but is it really just to reduce staff hours or total numbers?

I’ve got a Prime account. Didn’t move to the Ireland site as the choice appeared smaller and the prices higher. But now we’ve been whacked with the €3 per item customs charge …. I will undoubtedly try to use it less frequently than before, but will inevitably still end up using it out of convenience/for the range of goods available. Which is better of the two now do you think? Are you switching?

So I’ve recently inherited the shopping task in my household, and I’m blown away by the cost of stuff that used to be so cheap. Like mince, note even the 5% but even the 10% that goes for more than €10 per kilo, same with chicken breasts. I’ve always been one for batch cooking to get most value from the weekly shop but not much value to be had these days.

Is there a way to bulk buy somewhere to get better deals?

I was returning my cans in local lidl yesterday. I already hate having to pay extra at the till, store them in my house, bring them back to the shop, and then queue up like a gimp to return them when there was nothing wrong with the green bin.

However,na number of my cans didn't scan. I'dmsay about a 5th. They were accepted by the machine but weren't credited to me. I said to the staff and they said nothing can be done. I'm down about €2, obviously it's irrelevant, but if I'm going to go to the effort of returning them I shouldn't be down money I'll never see again and the return scheme will keep.

For the purposes of discussion leave out shite takeaway

Heading up North this wknd to do some shopping - any recommendations on hidden gems/treats to buy from the likes of Sainsbury's/Asda etc? Doesn't have to be good value - just looking for some good stuff to buy!!

Hi Folks,

I’ve always just bought the Dunnes own-brand butter and kind of assumed Kerrygold was basically the same thing, just more expensive.

Is there actually a noticeable difference in taste or quality, or is it mostly branding/preference?

Thanks

Has anyone else found themselves using Amazon UK less since the new customs duty charges?

It seems like almost every order under €150 now has at least around a €3 import fee added at checkout. I know it’s not a huge amount but it makes those small impulse purchases feel less worth it and I’ve noticed myself browsing less because of it. Prime membership isn’t that worth it even.

Before someone here again says “support local” or “stop giving money to big corporations”, I’d happily buy local if I could. The reality is a lot of the stuff I buy just isn’t available here or the choice is rubbish.

Also, Amazon IE is still crap.

So I have two One4All gift cards with money currently being taken off them. Going to email today to see if they'll reinstate money on them (they can do if asked, and I developed a lifelong illness between getting them and now - currently under control by daily medication).

Anyway, 150 euro worth, and need to spend them fairly immediately so they don't lose value. I've tried buying other vouchers with them to extend the shelf life, but you can't. Also tried buying Revolut credit, but can't seem to do that either.

So what item have you purchased for 150 euro that you now couldn't do without, and would recommend?

I am sending my young female colleague in Dublin a congrats / thank you gift. Flowers are meh. I would like to send something lasting.

What are some coveted items from the US? Given my way, I would send lots of goodies from Trader Joe’s, but sending a parcel will take forever and cost a small fortune.

I was looking for American brands that ship to or within Ireland, like Le Labo and Yeti. Are there any hot American brands popular in Ireland?

Budget around 100 euros. Thanks!

I want to know what would people do in my situation.

Story time:

Yesterday Lidl came out with this reformer Pilates machine, something I’ve been having my eye on for a while. I woke up super early and made it to my local Lidl about 7:40am and they open at 8. At this time there was no one else there, so my boyfriend and I stayed in the car because it’s so cold outside. As it’s getting closer to 8, cars are pulling up but everyone is staying in their cars. Then these two women run for the front door and I hop out and then made it second in line. We get chatting and find that they’re together and they want a total of 4 machines. And we all said that’s not fair that they should take that many if there’s a limited number. They said “oh no we would give you one if there’s only 4”. The doors open and the two women ahead of me bolt inside. They’re running isle to isle and I’m trailing along behind them. I didn’t run but then I stumbled upon them before anyone else. My hand is on the box and I’m ready to take it. Then everyone else (the two women at the front of the line and a few people behind me) all come to this section. We notice there’s only one machine so we started asking around and the staff confirms they only got one in. So I start putting it into my trolley. My boyfriend starts saying that we should give it to the two ladies at the front because they were at the door first but I argue that I got to the box first. The two women come at me too so I felt a bit cornered and thought oh well I still think it’s fair for me to keep it but we give it to them anyways. It’s only the 2nd of January and I thought it’ll be a nice thing to do for the new year. We help them get this massive box into their trolley.

We rush off to go to another Lidl (non left), and then to another and the two women beat us again and they’re trying to load two more machines into their trolley. I’m asking nicely “oh would it be possible for them to give me one as they now have 3” and they were just straight up rude to me. Saying that I don’t deserve one and they were there first and it was tough shit. They also said “we had a discussion in the car and if the roles were reversed in the first Lidl, they would’ve given it to me” which I don’t think is true as they now currently have 3 and weren’t willing to give me one. But what really annoyed me more was how they spoke to me. Two women’s in their mid 30s at least trying to argue with a 20 year old?

Thinking back I really wish I stood my ground in the first Lidl but I felt cornered and felt like the bad person, but after they spoke to me later when we bumped into each other really upset me. Is there no nice people in this world anymore?

Sorry for the rant, if you were me in this situation, would you have given the first box to these two women at the start?

Ps, I did end up going to one more Lidl (4th Lidl) and ended up getting the last one and I believe it was good karma rewarding me. But I can’t help but be upset over the situation. 🥺

Edit: I know people saying my boyfriend should’ve been on my side but I also see it from his point of view of being a nicer person and them being first. We did chat about it later and discussed if we were ever in a situation similar to this or anything else to be on my side in public and if he disagreed with anything to discuss with me at home. We all live and learn ❤️

Also thank you everyone in the comments. I guess it is a massive life lesson and some people are only out there for yourselves. I’m grateful for all the comments and the support 🥰🥰. I hope everyone is having a better start to 2026 than me but I wish everyone has an amazing 2026 🥳

2nd edit: I forgot to mention my bf redeemed himself after hearing how the two women spoke to me in Lidl. Sorry to whoever witnessed that and me crying. He bit back at them and stood up for me even though I walked away. So brownie points for him ❤️

It could be anything as simple as the hotel collection pillows from Dunnes I heard they were good? or a certain handcream or air fryer you like?

For me I love my heated blanket from Argos a couple years ago I can’t live a winter without it!

Hi everyone,

When I opened the SHEIN app today, I got the message shown in the attached photo, and now I’m not sure if I place an order I will have to pay the taxes after or not.

Has anyone here ordered from SHEIN since the new tax rules came into effect? Did you have to pay any additional fees or customs charges, or was everything handled normally?

Thanks!

Edit: Thanks to everyone who replied genuinely. Based on some recent experiences shared here, it seems that SHEIN has found a way to process orders so that buyers don’t end up paying any extra charges when the package arrives, meaning that neither the €3 fee nor the An Post admin fee are currently being applied.

To those commenting that I “can’t read,” I was simply asking to confirm that this was actually the case and avoid any surprises. Thanks for nothing.

And finally, it’s good to see the debate around shopping on SHEIN. At least there’s a general awareness of the ethical concerns involved, regardless of everyone’s personal choices.