One of the biggest ways to save money is to not be what is referred to as “Brand Loyal”. This is only buying the brands you know and being unwilling to buy off brands, new brands and generic brands even if they could result in massive savings. This can be a HUGE money waster as well as leave you stuck in a brand rut. One thing that the savings margin is so large is with generic medications.

Did you know that when you buy branded medications, you are often just paying for the fancy label and the brand name attached to it? You think you are somehow getting a better quality product because the label is from a household name that has been trusted for generations. This is not true at all!

Are generic medications just as safe as their branded counterparts?

According to Consumer Reports, yes, they are!

The Food and Drug Administration requires that over-the-counter.. generic drugs have exactly the same active ingredients in the same strength as the brands they copy. It also requires that they have the same purity and stability, come in the same form—for example, tablet, patch, or liquid—and be administered the same way (for example, swallowed as a pill…).

So if you are paying for the name brand, you really are just paying for the packaging, the logo and the name. They are REQUIRED by the FDA to have the same ingredients and be just as safe, sterile and stable as the branded counterpart.

So what kind of savings can you get from buying these generics? The cost may greatly surprise you!

I noticed the other day at Walmart that they are offering many of the common and newer medications in generic form in an end-cap display in most stores now. The Rollback price lists all the generic medications on the shelf as 88 cents each. Now, I normally buy my generics at the local dollar store, but this makes them even cheaper! (just over getting 1 free for every 10 you buy!)

What can you get on the shelf? Allergy, cold, cough, children’s and pain medications as well as creams, ointments and rubbing alcohol. In my opinion, the rubbing alcohol is not as great of a deal because often, you can find that at an even lower price, but the Allergy generic medications are a blowout deal! I saw they have generic Allegra and Zyrtec. Normally, these are in the range of costing quite a bit, especially Allegra because it was just recently released for over the counter use. One thing to look for on the label of the boxes, though, is the tablet count. I get the 88 cent generic Zyrtec and it comes with 14 pills. That makes it around 7 cents a pill! Branded Zyrtec in the 14 count pack  is $12.84 on the Walmart website and that works out to almost 92 cents each pill! This is nearly a 90% savings buying it in these 88 cent packs that Walmart is offering!

Buying generic medications is a phenomenal money saver. One can pack their whole medicine cabinet full for a very low price.