Poll - cost of vitamins

We all know vitamins are very important after RNY.  Unfortunately, some of them are expensive.  The amount RNY patients spend on vitamins varies widely, depending on what vitamins you need to take, what brands you like, and where you buy them.  But i wanted to do a poll just to see how much people spend.

How much do you spend per day on vitamins?

I know, that requires doing some math.  If you figure out how much you spend per month, you can just divide it by 30 to get the average per day.

Feel free to share any money-saving tips, too.

I spend about $1.06 per day on vitamins, which I think is pretty good.

Well it does take some calculating...mutters "times 2, carry the one.."   Seriously, last time I calculated about 2 months ago it was just over $1.25/day.

Money saving tips:

Naturemade-not only often on sale Buy 1/Get 1 at Rite Aid but you can also register on their site and enter the codes found on the side of the bottle.  500 points and you can get a $7 off coupon for their vitamins.  I get about 80 pts per bottle that I enter (varies by what product you have) so it doesn't take long to get to the 500pts.  They have other stuff but the coupon is the deal. 

Generic-I buy generic Centrum Silver and Citracal Petites.  It can make a big difference.

Shop around- I know it's nice to have one place but follow those sales. Puritans Pride runs a good sale often.  Amazon can be helpful and subscribe and save there can help more. 

Coupons can help.  Even if you don't want to enter your points at Naturemade they have coupons available to print and so do a few other companies.  Check those websites! 

Pay attention to all those Groupon type deal sites (healhydeals, eversave, etc).  I have gotten a few of the $XX for $XX worth of product" at several sites that sell vitamins. 

I am new post op and haven't got my labs done yet ,but have wondered if the vitamins at the dollar stores are of less nutritional value?

You'd have to read the label to see what nutrients they have.

 I would be super cautious about ever taking a supplement found at a Dollar Store, they could be imported from China or anywhere and not safe.

Never, ever.

Guess I have lucked out:
I take 2 multi's a day (bought 2 generic's at rite aid with 365 in each BOGO) 36$ for 730
Calcium (6 a day) BOGO again 18$ for 360 
Vita Lady: Iron with C (1 a week) 36$ for 120
Vita Lady: Vit D3 (2 a week) 24$ for 120

Works out to 57 cents a day!

jazz
Where do you get the generic centrum and citrical petites?

Most of the time I get the Target Brand...Up & Up.  They keep them right next to the Centrum and the Citracal.  WalMart also has a generic Centrum...actually Rite Aid does as well if I am not mistaken.   You save several dollars.  Even if I have a coupon I can usually do better with the Up & Up as opposed to the regular Centrum. 

CVS - I do - CVS spectravite brand, and tehy have the calcium. Thsi week - BOGO... great sale.

I don't buy vitamins monthly so I honestly couldn't give you a "daily" total.  I'm a volume shopper so when I spot something at a "rock" bottom price, I'll buy 3-4 of them and have a 6 month supply of whatever it is.

My money saving tips are coupons, coupons, COUPONS.  Stack your coupons with store sales for even better deals!  For instance, CVS has there bogo sale going on right now.  Last night I purchased two boxes of Centrium womens vitamins (100 count bottle).  They retail for $13 a bottle.  With the bogo 1/2 price they were $20.50 for 2 bottles before tax.  I used 2 $4 off coupons from the Sunday paper ($8 total off both bottles) and some other CVS rebate coupons I had gotten last week and I walked out the store paying $5 for two bottles of vitamins.  That's a 3 month supple of vitamins. 

CVS also has all thier store brand vitamins bogo 1/2 off and some of the major brands are also bogo 1/2.  This is usually when I "stock" up.  I'm usually able to get a 3-6 month supply of some vitamins at a fraction of the cost.