Hello all! Apologies for the long hiatus. Alyssa has been transitioning into her PhD program at Santa Cruz and I (Willow) have been surviving grad school and batting with my health and everything that comes with that

The latest adventure is my pharmacy health insurance, navatis, is denying ivabradine. EVEN THOUGH there are Studies that show it’s effectiveness in POTS patients. Just like the week before when I pleaded with navatis to approve my medication (all $1500 of it ) they smugly informed me they weren’t STOPPING me from getting it, just declining to pay for it.

What are chronically ill folks supposed to do when our conditions are rare and not included in FDA approved uses of certain prescriptions???? It is simply an elitist, evil, cost preventing stategy to prevent patients like me from getting medication that has research to back up it’s effectiveness.

I’m so tired of fighting my insurance just to see my humanity.

As I hung up the phone with navatis I said “when I die, that’s on YOU, (insert you can buy it yourself ) you’ve signed my death certificate. I hope you know that”

Hello friends!

I’ve been wanting to make this post for a long time but I couldn’t figure out the right format so I figure- we’re just gonna do it and work out the kinks as we go!

I was proudly raised on trips to the dollar store, but I know not everyone is familiar with it so I’m gonna post my latest haul show you just how much money you can save. Just on this trip alone I saved $130

So check this out, I got:

3 folders
1 organized file (think a super folder)
1 decorative wood love piece
1 pocket calculator
2 glitter markers
1 binder cup/ small thing holder
1 rose gold notebook
1 “craft jar”
1 pot with sisal rope around the top
100 craft sticks
30 antibacterial travel wipes
1 (adorable) cacti composition notebook
15 sparkly glue sticks
1 thing of wood filler
1 pair of scissors
1 wet n wild mascara
18 medium trash bags (for those smaller trash bins around the apartment)
1 box of tissues (big n small are the same price)
1 pop lock jar
2 cabinet shelves
3 travel Kleenex packs w cute sayings
1 eye mask (migraine saver)

THIS ALL WAS ONLY $25!!!!!!!!

Ok now I’m gonna go through and price all this stuff at a big store (probs Walmart)

3 folders ( 6 bucks EACH for plastic ones that don’t even have cute designs on them omg) $18
1 organized file (think a super folder) $9
1 decorative wood love piece (I found something comparable on Walmart for $40!?!? But let’s say $20 because it’s probably made out of particle board)
1 pocket calculator $8
2 glitter markers $12
1 binder cup/ small thing holder $3 (and it is NOT cute mind you)
1 rose gold notebook $10
1 “craft jar” 83 c
1 pot with sisal rope around the top 8$ (no sisal rope and dollar store props has cornered the market on faux galvanized tin)
100 craft sticks $5.60
30 antibacterial travel wipes $5
1 (adorable) cacti composition notebook $5.99
15 sparkly glue sticks $6.80
1 thing of wood filler $6
1 pair of kid scissors $2
1 wet n wild mascara $4
18 medium trash bags (for those smaller trash bins around the apartment) $5
1 box of tissues (big n small are the same price) $1.50
1 pop lock jar $4
2 cabinet shelves $14
3 travel Kleenex packs w cute sayings .50c
1 eye mask (migraine saver) $10

So if I did a regular shopping trip at Walmart for all this stuff my total would be:

$159.22

AND! I would have had to make a trip to a couple of different stores because I couldn’t find all this stuff on the Walmart website. Honestly with my chronic illnesses the size of the dollar store is way more manageable for me.

I’m gonna do more posts in the future on the dollar store but lemme know if y’all have any questions and I hope this inspires you to save your money that capitalism is draining from you and get out to the dollar store!!!!