Dollar store Christmas

 Im kinda torn this Christmas. I'm excited for it yet I'm not. I'm all good as far as financial and food but mentally and somewhat physically , I'm just not feeling good. (Update: let's be honest I need a job. I've tried locally and no one wants to hire me. I honestly think this has been my Christmas funk lately)

In previous years I've been more pumped. We've had our fair share of Hallmark movies to criticize. Activities as well as other Christmas traditions that fill up the holiday and make it fun.

So what's missing?

I'm not sure if I can pinpoint just one thing. I mean I am a bit stressed about money. Joe Biden is a disaster who is causing higher gas prices and higher food prices. I don't have a job. I'm not all there spiritually. I don't know.

I have motivation to work hard I just need a simple push in the right direction. Every time I say a prayer I ask for that push yet I'm not getting anything.

There's a quote by one of the apostles it goes something like this. "The lord is more willing to help those who get off the wagon and push rather than the person who sits still no matter how fervant or well the prayer is said."

I just don't know where to begin. Plus my Grandma died this year along with traditions and I may lose another member next year. The future is not so bright.

Anyways, in other news.

Last year I talked about a family down in southern Utah who were asking for help with Christmas. They had two kids and the dad was missing a paycheck. I wrote about it here.

http://viscarjones.blogspot.com/2020/12/its-ok-to-have-poor-christmas.html?m=1

Well they are back again. They were asking for some more Christmas help. Their add had been deleted so I suspect they got what they wanted but I find it interesting for 2 years they still need Christmas help.

Let me also make this statement. Over time and while writing this blog I have realize it's actually ok to ask for help when you need help. I have overtime even realized people who teach you that you need to be self reliant at one time or another received help. Sometimes the rule makers are not following the rules.

I wrote more about that here.

http://viscarjones.blogspot.com/2020/08/thats-why.html?m=1

Now let's get to why I even wrote this.

What to buy at the Dollar store if that's your only option for Christmas.

If you are super tight on cash what do you buy?

I'm not only going to add suggestions. Guess what. I actually went out and bought a gift for my wife.

So if I were this family what would I buy.

For The two year old. 

This one is the easiest. Toy cars and tracks. Puzzles. Coloring books with crayons blocks.

For the 6 year old. Puzzles again! A paint set. Colored clay, coloring books and an art set. Her own cup and plate. I would even grab a small pan and a cookie mix for her to make cookies.

For the Parents you have to think as in a theme. For example. For the wife a relaxation kit. Bath bombs a candle relaxing lavender bath soap. Massage oil. Bath salts.

If husband is into camping and survival give him.a survival kit. Rope a lighter duck tape a tarp or plastic cover. Flashlights and batteries

 They even sell pocket knives. Combine that with a bag of food.

How about a travel kit for when finances get better. Toothbrush and toothpaste snacks shampoo soap deodorant. Notepad crossword puzzles. Put in an itenerary of where you would like to go and make it a goal to go!

Shaving kits. Assured razers are not too bad. I just used one the other day.

A tool box. Pliers razer knives screw drivers wire cleaners

Cell phone chargers car chargers electronic cleaners.

Car cleaning kit. Armor all, sponges, wheel cleaners soaps wrags.

Car oil change kit. Oil, oil pan.

Seriously it really is an option. Think of it as a blessing before the bigger blessings come. 

My medicine cabinet.

 So while I was playing pharmacist and Dr. Dad in my family I thought I would share what I use and some money saving tips when it comes to over the counter medicines, pills and such

My go to pill for almost everything is ibuprofen. It's not a cure all but it's certainly my first choice. Have a cold try ibuprofen. Have a headache try ibuprofen. Nose stuffy, try ibuprofen. If that doesn't work then I move on but more than 50 % of the time, ibuprofen does work.

Now I am not one to buy name brand. That is pretty much a quick way to overpay and simply give your money away. A name brand bottle can cost 10 times that of an off brand. The cheapest ibuprofen I know of is Sam's club. 10.88 for 1200 pills. Less than a penny a piece.

I don't mind using Aspirin but don't use it that often. Aspirin is in the same family of drugs as ibuprofen but I feel it's not as effective unless it is taken with Tylenol then it's very effective. I will get into that later.

Tylenol is a pill I try to avoid. So many warnings and I've even heard that Tylenol is just not good for you. If I'm not having success with ibuprofen or Aspirin I will alternate with Tylenol. I did this recently at Disneyland. What could have ruined my vacation was stopped with Tylenol and ibuprofen. I typically won't use Tylenol by itself.

Because I don't use it often I typically buy a Tylenol off brand at the dollar store. 

Aleve use to be my go to pain reliever until it stopped working. The problem with Aleve is that you have to wait 12 hours before taking another pill. Let's say you have a headache and you take two pills. 2 hours later your headache still hurts and it feels like Aleve is not working. Well unfortunately you have to wait another 10 hours before you can take another pill. With ibuprofen you can take up to 4 pills and take them every 4 hours. If the pain doesn't subside in the first 4 you can redose and try again.

I'll say this too. If this does happen I would be taking Tylenol after 2 hours. Then alternating every 3 hours after that.

Again I don't even have Aleve in my medicine cabinet but if I did I would purchase it at the dollar store. Typically I think it's 12-15 pills for a dollar.

Off brand is called naproxen and it's in the same family of pain relievers as Aspirin and ibuprofen

Excedrin. I love Excedrin. Yet I don't have it in my medicine cabinet nor do I buy or use it often. You get a similar effect by alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol. If you're not familiar with what Excedrin is, Excedrin has 3 ingredients. Aspirin, Tylenol and Caffeine. You can buy all 3 ingredients at a dollar store. This is why I don't have Excedrin in my medicine cabinet because it is alot cheaper to make it than to buy it. Even Aspirin and Tylenol sold at the dollar store comes with caffeine!

Now after doing some research it seems that Walmart does have the cheapest option at just a dollar for 24 pills for 4 dollars you can get 200 pills. At the dollar store you would buy 60 aspirin and 40 Tylenol which works out to be around 80 pills for 2 dollars. The dosage for an adult is 500, mg of aspirin and 500mg of Tylenol. Aspirin comes in at around 325 and Tylenol is 500 in one pill. I'm fine dosing higher with two pills with aspirin but again Tylenol is one I stay at or below dosage.

I also have about 7 pills that are locked up in a safe of Percocet. These are simply for pain emergencies. It is so hard to get these now days and thankfully I haven't needed them. I keep them because I have had to wait 12 hours in #10 pain to get to a Dr only to write me a prescription for this and some antibiotics. I'm not addicted and I don't have any addictions. (Except soda!) These are simply to remain functional until I can get to a Dr if pain is at that level again.

I'll talk about 2 other drugs I take and quite honestly the rest of my cabinet is mainly stuff I take every once in a great while or my kids take it. For example Allergy medicine. It's not very effective with me and overtime my allergies have subsided quite a bit but on a really bad day I do take some Benadryl. I have several options and they all have their potency.

Pseudoephedrine is a decongestant. It is only available across the counter. You cannot buy it off the shelf. For colds this is an awesome decongestant. Not to be confused with phenylephrine which is more common in cold medicines and sucks

Lastly Day and Night time cold relief. I take these every once in a great while yet again these have ingredients that I don't like such as phenylephrine and Tylenol (acetaminophen) I'd rather take pseudoephedrine with some ibuprofen and make Tea with honey and lemon for my cough.

As a bonus I like to keep zinc on hand. When you start to feel the first symptoms of sickness, take some zinc every few hours. It has been proven to minimize colds. I did this while having Covid. You can believe what you want but for me it helped.

Oh and one last thing I want to mention. You've heard of an aspirin regimen? Taking a low dose of aspirin to prevent a heart attack or stroke. I have practiced something similar when it comes to vacations or strenuous activity. I don't know what it is but like I mentioned above I do get these very painful headaches on vacation. Typically they only last 24 hours and I'm good for the rest of the vacation but they knock me out. Similarly hiking or in one trip taking a handcart across the Wyoming desert can cause some unwanted pains at night so here's what I do and what has saved alot of vacation time. I start taking 400 mg of ibuprofen every 8 hours a day before the vacation starts till about day 3 or 4 OR after a sign of a headache. Trust me. This has been a lifesaver.