Okay, just getting ready to go fry by BOGO free chicken, and pondering the forum discussion on ethics of saving.

30 years ago, Foster Farms used to have an unconditional product guarantee on all chickens, in whatever form or pieces you purchased them. If you were dissatisfied for ANY reason, just send in the label POP and they would send you two coupons for free replacements, be it two whole chickens, two packages of breasts, no specifications other than that it was the original product purchased.

We were DIRT poor. And, my mother was raised on a chicken farm, and had a chicken farm until they were lost in a drought. So...she was picky about her chickens, and a super saver. She purchased one chicken, found a few pin feathers, sent in for her coupons, purchased two additional free chickens, found some discoloration on one, sent in for two more coupons, etc.

TECHNICALLY, the chickens weren't perfect. CERTAINLY the intent of the offer was not to provide free chickens for life. And reality is, we couldn't afford to eat bread crusts, let alone buy meat or protein.

I've always wondered how she balanced the ethics of all those free chickens with the ethics of a mother feeding her family. This is a balance in saving. Someone always pays, there is never a perfect balance.

Thought for the day. Got a free chicken to fry!

Okay, we have FINISHED gifts for everyone except each other. Things are ready to ship. I DID get caught up in emotions a bit, and spent more on my father and mother than anticipated. But I love them, and there is so little I can do from the east coast to let them know I'm with them. DVDs and diabetic food will help my Dad pass the time and hopefully eat a bit, and the warm smells of cinnamon buns and gingerbread in the Philosophy products will remind my Mom of the special childhood times we spent.

I did go through eBates, use online coupons, free shipping, free gifts with purchase, discount sources, etc., to get the cost of their gifts down from $620 to $95.

Also, my ex-SIL, I love, and I'm tucking in the Yves Rocher snowflake throw and rose lotion and other free wtih purchase for $90 to FREE.

Now I just have to total it all up, ship, and get on with hubbies gifts!

Well. We did not INTEND to shop today. But my doctor actually recommended it to destress. Ah, if he only knew. So, went into the store with NO LIST, and a few coupons I grabbed on the way out.

Didn't do too bad, $90 down to $59. Mostly we had to get "emergency" supplies for our dog, since she has had the runs for two weeks since her surgery and meds. So, baby wipes and Oust and chicken and different dog food and some doggie shampoo. We did get a BOGO on chicken, so I can cook that up, and a free can of mighty dog to try. The dog is losing weight, so got to get this fixed! Also got a BOGO on Oust, some fresh broccoli and cauliflower on sale to cook and serve with the chicken.

I am a bit bummed that the vet just told us to switch to a smaller dry dog food, so I used my free 4 pound Purina One coupon and others, and now I have a stock pile of dry food that she can't eat. Maybe the wildlife will. Switching to canned dog food, well, she has ALWAYS hated it. So hubbie stopped me from using other canned dog food coupons until we see if she will eat anything. SIGH.

But, it really, there were SOME savings, and it did get me away from the email for awhile. All the news about my father's illness and speculation on his lifespan seem to be filling up my inbox. It WAS a nice break to roll through the aisles, pick up a few coupons, and not spend $200 just to fill the cart like we were doing this summer. Progress. Not perfection, but progress.

I've written before about how I cut my drug costs a few months ago from $2K a month to around $1K. I don't have drug coverage, so this is out of pocket for me.

What I hadn't counted in savings was what I was ALREADY saving by pill-splitting. Thanks for reminding me, Katwoman!!!

Pill splitting is NOT taking only half of your dose. It is buying the larger pill and SAVING by cutting it down to the size you need.

One example, Zoloft. I take for my PTSD. If you go to an online site and price out the various forms, you will see how the price ranges:

30 tablets of 25 mg: $77
30 tablets of 50 mg: $75
30 tablets of 100 mg: $76

So, even thought I STARTED at 50 mg dose, getting the 100 mg and splitting them in half saved 50%. Going to 150, my doctor gave me a choice of a script for the 100mg, taking 1 1/2 per day, or 50s, taking 3 per day. Zoloft is a fairly slow uptake with good half life, so getting the dosage exact each time is not so much of an issue. 145 mg vs 150 mgs, my body won't know, and it averages out over time.

So, taking 1.5 of the 100 instead of 6 of the 25 mg is a difference of $110 versus $450!!!

Some pills are much more difficult to split or require an EXACT dose. I still save money by having my doctor write scripts for a combo. (In the above example, using 1 100 mg and 1 50 mg gives exactly 150, but saves between $30 and $300 a month. )

In the pill that I have to use a combo for, since a precise dose IS required, using a combo of 1 100 and 1 25 each day instead of 5 25's (only doses it comes in) saves $700 a month!

This is savings before I even start shopping for best drug prices. At the pharmacy I WAS using prior to comparing prices, the difference on the 125 mg combo was $1500 a month!!!

So yes, splitting pills makes sense. For the manufacturers, the cost of producing the pills doesn't vary much, so the cost that gets passed on doesn't vary that much.

BUT NOTE, you should not split capsules or tablets that crumble. Most pills that can be easily split are scored (line running down the middle to ease in snapping), and tiny pills are most easily split with a thumbnail rather than the huge pill splitter. ALWAYS ask your pharmacist or doctor before splitting pills. They DO understand the cost difference, and WILL advise you well.

So, if I add in the savings from using the best combo of pill sizes with my previous posted savings from price comparison, my monthly savings goes from an original of $5000 a month to the now $1000 a month. Still way too much, but WOW.