This week I was in CVS and I needed to buy some Claritin for my 7 year old son (the poor kid is suffering terribly with allergies this year). I have been giving him children's Claritin, but I have to give him two tablets b/c that is the dosage for 6yrs+. That equaled 10mg. And a box of 20 tablets (so a 10 day supply for us since he got two per day) was $21.69. A little over $2/day.
I saw that adult Claritin was on sale so I thought I would see if he is old enough to take that. Sure enough, the label says 6yrs+ and one tablet equals 10 mg. So now he only has to take one per day (though he will have to swallow it instead of having yummy grape chewables, thankfully he is able to do that).
The cost? A box of FORTY pills (which is now a 40 day supply for us) was originally $21.99, but I got $8 ECB (extra care bucks...like cash to use next time) back with the purchase, so the net price was about $13.99. That is about $.34/day! Even without the ECB it is still only $.50/day which is WAY better.
So I am saving over $1.50 PER DAY on medication that my son needs just because I took the time to read the label and decipher that it was the same exact thing, just packaged differently.
That got me thinking about all of other things that we spend extra money on just because we don’t realize that we are being charged more for the same product because of marketing or packaging.
Medications
In addition to charging more for children’s versions of medication as illustrated above, pharmaceutical companies charge a lot more for name brand medication than generic versions. In some cases there is no generic available, but next time you need to buy an over the counter medication take time to read the label of both the name brand and generic meds. You will almost always find the exact same ingredients. We always buy Target brand pain relievers…they are MUCH cheaper than the name brand and work just as well!
Other Generics
I am the first to admit that sometimes generic products are NOT the same as their name brand counterparts. There is no generic ranch dressing that compares to Hidden Valley and there is no way I’m replacing my Diet Coke with “Diet Cola.” But, there are many other generic products that are great and are a perfect substitute for the higher priced name brand. We buy a lot of generic groceries and toiletries…I encourage you to try out generics if you haven’t already. You may not love all of them, but it’s worth testing things out so you can save money in the long run! (My favorite generic…Target Up & Up cleaning products).
Snack Sized Packages
Oh, I know how much easier it is to be able to grab an individual baggie of snack mix to throw into your kids’ lunch box. But is it worth paying a lot extra for that convenience? If you take a calculator with you to the store (or use the one on your phone) you can do a quick calculation to find out the price you are paying per ounce of a product. Some grocery stores even have the price per ounce/unit printed in really tiny font on the shelf. Pay attention to that! Manufacturers love charging you for different packaging…whether it’s snack-sized packs, special promotional packaging, or just different sizes of the same product. Make sure you know how much you are paying! Sometimes it IS worth paying a little extra for the convenience factor, but if you find out that you are paying twice as much then you might be more likely to buy the large back of snack mix and a box of Ziploc bags and make your own snack-packs.
There are so many more things that we all could save money on if we would only pay close attention…so read those labels and calculate the costs!