Coupons for Prescriptions

   Prescriptions can be expensive, even if you have health insurance. Especially if you take one (or more) that are on the non-generic, non-preferred list. My birth control of choice happens to fall into this catagory. I have tried several kinds and most pills make me a moody bitch with other side effects that are not pleasant. I'm a fan of and advocate for the Nuva Ring. It is a low hormone dose and much more convenient than taking a pill every day. It works for me. But it's EXPENSIVE. Wicked expensive. $110/month! I'm telling you at this rate, it is cheaper to not have a child than to have child. (Okay, that is probably not accurate. But you see my point.)
   I was on this prescription before I had my son and I remember it being pricey but not THIS pricey. I called the pharmacy and the insurance company to see if it was my coverage that had changed or the price of the Rx that had gone up. The price went up AND my coverage went down. Super. I did not see how I could justify spending that kind of money on a non-life-saving medication. I asked my best friend, who happens to be a pharmacist for Walgreens, if she had any suggestions. She told me to check the manufacturer's website for coupons. Sometimes they have them - not just for birth control but a lot of non-generic Rx companies offer coupons so the product is more affordable and therefore selected over others that treat the same issues. At first I thought, "A Rx coupon? How much could it possibly be for... $10?" It would still be too expensive. I checked the Nuve Ring website anyway and BOOM! $50 off. Not just once...every month for up to 12 uses. After 12 uses you just print another coupon! Holy smokes! I literally printed the coupon and called in my Rx the same day. A $50/month savings. That's $600 a year.
  Lesson here: If you are on a non-generic, non-preferred Rx, go to the manufacturer's website and scout it for coupons.
  

Cut Years and Thousands Off Your Mortgage

   It seems like I'm always waiting until the last minute to pay the mortgage bill; mostly because Wells Fargo is not a found vendor on my Regions online bill pay options. So I have to snail mail them a check every month like the cavemen did. At least twice now, my check has been "lost in the mail" and not made it to WF on time. To settle the most recent debacle, I called and spoke to a lovely lady who educated me on automatic bill pay. This woman's advice is saving us $30K. Here's how:
   When you enroll in automatic bill pay, WF splits your mortgage payment into 2 equal bi-monthly payments (every 2 weeks). The most practical option is to select payday as your transaction date so you can be sure there is enough money to cover the automatic withdrawl. Not only does this save me time and hastle, but lots of money. Twice a year, there are THREE paydays in the month. Therefore, there will be three (1/2) mortgage payments in those months too. The first two would be regularly accounted for. The extra one, goes 100% to principle. Since this happens twice, it's like a full month's mortgage payment going directly toward the principle of your loan. We already round up to the nearest 100 when paying our mortgage so we pay it off a little early, but this is making it that much faster.
   So by making an entire mortgage payment extra each year, we are expected to pay our home loan off NINE years early, saving us $30K in interest. This is crazy easy and there is absolutely no reason anyone should not be doing this!

For those of you comprehend things better with an image, here's a cool infographic!