Having a fever of 103 degrees is not on my list of things I enjoy. Neither is paying for all kinds of medicines to make me feel better. Due to my extremely busy life, I don’t really have a choice. I can’t just stay home and wait out the illness; I need any help I can get.

This morning at my local pharmacy, I was informed that my insurance doesn’t cover name brand drugs and the medicine I need comes in only a name brand. Bummer! Something I need to assess for sure. But making sure health insurance aligns with the mission of being frugal is for another discussion. Today, I didn’t have an option and had to fork out the big bucks to get back on the road of recovery.

However, there were a few smaller decisions I was able to make that kept me on monetary track: when purchasing the over the counter medicine I picked the generic choice. For instance, the named brand cough suppressant that my doctor suggested I take was $8.99 and the no name brand was only $2.99. I was so shocked by the $6 difference, I actually asked the pharmacist if there was a difference. Guess what she said! No! They were the same. So with her blessing, I purchased the no name brand both in cough suppressant and in acetaminophen (AKA Tylenol). I may have only saved under $10 (which is minor compared to the amount I had to spend for the prescribed drugs) but every dollar counts!

Not only was I able to save but I was able to have a few minutes of happiness by saving in spite of my sick self. Now, I only have to hope that this post makes sense. If it doesn’t, I blame the fever! ~Cassandra