Best Prices on Prescription Medicines

Our local ABC news station recently aired their featured story, "Don't Waste Your Money," researched and reported by John Matarese, which focused on comparison pricing of generic prescription medications. The results were shocking, so I wanted to share the information with you.

When Tom Baldwin needed to fill a prescription, he went to the drugstore his mom used for decades...Walgreens.

So he was surprised when their "family pharmacy" (Walgreens) charged them $136 for a bottle of Gabapentin, a generic anti-seizure medication.  The Baldwins assumed since it was a generic, it would cost much less.

Tom's mother Barbara told me, "At first I thought it was an error in their computer system." 

But it wasn't an error. They were even more stunned when they checked the pharmacy at a nearby Costco, after a recommendation from a relative.  Tom says, "I decided to call Costco to get a price and it was $15 and some cents, 90 cents I think, and I couldn't believe it!"

According to Consumer Reports, Tom's experience was no fluke. The magazine priced a 30 day supply of 5 common generics, and then took an average of the prices. The best prices on prescriptions were at Sam's Club and Costco, neither store requires a membership to use their pharmacy.

• Walgreens was again the highest at $157.
• CVS wanted $116.
• Target's pharmacy quoted $106.
• Wal-Mart was $104.
• Sam's Club and Costco were just $48.

FREE MONEY!

I received a surprise check in the mail today. 

FREE MONEY!  What a great feeling to find something exciting in the mail rather than the typical bills and garbage mail. It wasn't much -- a check from a class action lawsuit divided by about a million people, but I'm not complaining.

Do you know what this means to people on a budget?  Well, of course you do.  You are on a budget, too.

So, what did I do with the money?  I cashed it at the bank exactly 23 minutes and 6 seconds after I received it.  Then I took the boys to a sporting goods store and bought Cole his first batting helmet and Ryan some batting gloves. We also stopped for ice cream.

Why didn't I save it or pay bills with it?  Because I realize the importance of stimulating our economy. I am an American and it was the responsible thing to do for my country.

Finally! A New Way to Do Laundry!

I would imagine many of you are looking for ways to save money, just like me.  Am I right?  I've cut our household budget in ways I would never have thought possible ten years ago.  I'm proud of myself, yet I know there must be more ways to save; so I never stop searching. 

As I was sorting through my mounds of laundry, I remember I needed more supplies and it dawned on me that laundry supplies are one area in which I had not attempted to save money, other than using coupons regularly.

I walked into the laundry room to take inventory of what I needed and I couldn't believe my eyes! Tide fell in love with Downy and they had baby laundry supplies. (They've been unsupervised far too often!)  I went from three or four laundry supplies to seven or eight.

It all began when WE had kids -- enter Dreft.  He was my new-kid-on-the-block detergent.  I love Dreft; anything that gets out smashed baby carrots is high on my list. Plus, Dreft smells like a little baby after a bath -- delightful. You know the scientist who bottled that "baby smell" must be a wealthy person.

Well, my sons grew and with that came mud puddles, dead lizards in pockets, and sliding into home plate -- enter Clorox for colors.  Did I stop buying the Dreft?  No. It smelled like babies; my babies are growing up, and, well, just no.

Then one late night when I was taking care of a sick child, I had the TV on and there was that dreadful infomercial with that obnoxious man screaming about OxyClean.  Did I cave and buy it?  No. The guy drove me nuts. Then the next day, my husband came home from work and asked me if I had ever used OxyClean. Given that I am not completely convinced he knows how the washing machine works, he got my undivided attention. I told him no and asked why.  He said he got a spot on his white dress shirt at lunch and a buddy of his had a tiny spray bottle of OxyClean.  My husband sprayed it on the spot and POOF! The spot was gone.  Enter OxyClean into my laundry room.

Do you see where this is going???  Add to the mix that my oldest son tends to get rashes easily and I have to be careful of laundry detergents -- normally I double rinse his clothes.  Enter a higher water bill.

Well, finally, I have a winning combination... I only have three supplies to wash clothes.  AND they are cheap!  

Want to know what they are?  Come back and I will tell you...

I need to do some laundry.

Photo credit: grrlTravels

Secret Weapon Revealed

This orange box is a mother's secret weapon. I always thought its best use was for chocolate chip cookies and was I wrong -- although that will remain my favorite use. 

You put a cup-full of baking soda in the washing machine (I use half a cup... read further to find out why) when the water is filling so it dissolves; then load the clothes.

The detergent I am using is its cousin, Arm & Hammer Essentials.  It qualifies as "going green" and also is a great detergent.  One of its ingredients is... you guessed it... Arm & Hammer baking soda, thus I use less of the baking powder. 

*** After everything is loaded, I let the washing machine agitate for a few minutes to be sure it is mixed thoroughly, then I stop the washing machine and SET A TIMER for 10 minutes. This is the ultimate secret and I swear it makes a huge difference. The timer will prevent you from forgetting it is soaking and end up behind with your laundry.

The baking powder can be used as a paste and, along with an old toothbrush and a bit of scrubbing, will take red clay stains out of my son's baseball pants -- which are white.  (I have to believe a man thought of the color 'white' for baseball pants.)

The third laundry supply I have is yet another Arm & Hammer product, their dryer sheets. 

The best part of all is the prices.  I get the laundry detergent on sale in the grocery store for $3.99!  (Normally around $5-6) The baking soda -- well, it is cheap too and you can get large boxes of it.  The fabric softeners are often $1.00 off at our grocery store, which puts the price at $2.99.

I have no shame -- I stock up on all of these supplies when they are on sale.  I've never seen any of them advertised so I have made it a habit to cruise down the cleaning supplies aisle regularly to check the prices.

If you feel the need to have a liquid fabric softener in the washing machine, try your store brand.  I've tried Publix brand before and it worked just fine. None of the items I use have a scent except the dryer sheets.

That's it!  My secret weapons are now revealed.  I am saving a lot of money since I am no longer buying Tide (that is all I have ever used). 

There are lots and lots of uses for the baking powder. I use it on other cleaning jobs, too.  Do you have any special uses for it?  If so, please reply and let's share our cleaning secrets. Then we can all have extra spending money and also perhaps spend less time cleaning!

http://www.armandhammeressentials.com/products.aspx

P.S. Sorry for taking so long to spill... I've had a hard time getting on the site.