Green Minded Wallet

Apparently today is annual ‘Dump the Pump’ Day, which is suppose to encourage people to use mass transit over driving. Until this afternoon I thought it was just a local thing as our bus service had signs up and offered free rides, but turns out it’s national! I’m not sure how successful it was (though I suspect it likely had more of an impact than in prior years), but I think it a great idea. My bus fare is already paid for by student fees, but I still like the concept. I can’t say that I notice increased traffic on the bus, but hopefully some of the bigger cities saw a greater increase in ridership than my little college town.

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With the ever-increasing cost of gas, many people have been offering tips on how to make your gas go just a little bit farther. I thought that I would share some tips that, if I followed, would likely increase my fuel efficiency.

1. When traveling for a particular purpose, make sure to bring any items that you may need. For example, if you are going to the store, bring your wallet. If you are going to the laundromat, remember to bring laundry detergent.

2. If you have a meeting or event, make sure you know the day, time, and location. If you don’t you will waste time and money on travel, plus you will feel silly when you arrive a week early for the party.

3. If your car is prone to be a victim of hit-and-runs and as such has pieces dangling from it, make sure to secure them firmly and re-inforce them from time to time. I don’t have the scientific evidence to back it up, but from firsthand experience it would seem that having pieces of your bumper scraping the highway at 70+ mph causes a loss of fuel efficiency. I find duct tape and string to be relatively inexpensive, yet invaluable for this purpose.

Any tips that you would like to share?

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A couple of months back, I mentioned that one of my prescriptions (Zyrtec) had gone over-the-counter and generic and as a result my co-pay went from $14 for a 30-day supply (brand name) to $7 for a 30-day supply (generic). However, when I was at the allergist the other day he told me that there were some stores that were selling the generic version (cetirizine) for really cheap. So I did some investigating and found that I could get a 350-day supply for just under $33 through Amazon (including shipping). With a $14 co-pay the cost was roughly 47 cents per pill, at $7 it’s 23 cents per pill, and at Amazon it’s now 9 cents per pill!

What’s even better is that the generic I bought is actually the Sam’s club brand and Costco has a popular generic as well. Sam’s Club charges $17.12 for the 350-day supply, while Costco.com charges $15.99 for a 300-day supply. These prices are approximately 5 cents per pill but don’t include shipping or tax. One nice thing about the Sam’s Club version is that there are two bottles (with 175 pills each) so you could split it with friends. However Sam’s Club requires that you have a membership, while Costco charges a 5% surcharge to non-members for online orders. I went the Amazon route since I don’t have a wholesale club membership and I’m not really sure that I would use one (I figured the discount for one item really wasn’t worth it). Still, over the course of a year I will save about $140 over the brand name co-pay and I think that, is a pretty good deal.

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