Herbal Cures

Monday, April 11, 2011

Of course, the very first thing I did after the paycheck was deposited was to transfer the borrowed $25 into our oldest daughter’s checking account. 

We had two kids home for the weekend, and so bought a few extra groceries.  We also replaced some herbal supplements (fish oil and red yeast rice) that  Mr. Struggle has been taking to help lower his cholesterol, in the hopes that he can avoid going on medication at his checkup later this month.  Even though he is not overweight and eats fairly carefully, Mr. Struggle’s cholesterol count has crept up over the years.  I’m not sure that the herbal supplements save us any money since we have a reasonable co-pay for generic medications on our insurance plan, but we’ve heard the cholesterol-lowering drugs can have a lot of negative side effects.

Mr. Struggle and I celebrate our wedding anniversary this week, but we have decided on smaller presents and elected to skip the obligatory dinner out, in order to save money for our upcoming trip next month.     

The gasoline prices continue to rise.  I only bought half a tank,  waiting for the full-time paycheck to come later this week and hoping that prices go down in the meantime.

  

Here’s the breakdown:

Carryover:   $0.68

Deposit:       25.00 Miss S1’s refund check

                   169.53 part-time paycheck

                         .02  interest earned      

Total:        $195.23

Expenses: $25.00 repayment to Miss S1 for refund check

                     34.01 gasoline (includes lawnmower gas)

                     24.75 herbal supplements

                     29.11 anniversary gifts                            

                     39.21 groceries

                     20.00 cash (pocket money)

Total:       $172.08       

Current balance: $23.15

Have you or anyone you know had good results using herbal supplements to lower cholesterol?  How about side effects from the traditional medications?  I’d love to hear your comments!