This post brought to you by Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

If your family is like mine it’s large and sick. Okay seriously, my family really is large by today’s standards (with 4 kids I can get away with anything), and they often only share one thing… germs. That’s why I enjoy sharing things like the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens because, saving money in a down economy is priceless, and I would hate to think that children are going without the medications they need because they cost too much.

Right now Walgreens is offering a special discount on annual memberships for it’s Prescription Savings Club. For $35 a year, you can get a family membership that covers everyone in your immediate family (spouse, dependents 22 and under, and even pets). Join today to start receiving discounted prices on your family’s prescriptions. The cost is only $20 a year for individuals.

When you join Walgreens Prescription Savings Club you are eligible for savings on more than 8,000 brand-name medications, and all generic medications. You also get a discount on flu shots, prescriptions for pets (which can be super expensive), nebulizers, and diabetic supplies. If that wasn’t already enough, Walgreens also rewards members when they purchase Walgreens brand products and photofinsihing services.

You can learn more about Walgreens savings by following Walgreens on Twitter and liking Walgreens on Facebook .

~ Post written by Shasta.

The past few months MomDot and a few fantastic fellow bloggers have been sharing with you about insurance – all kinds. Home owners, mortgage insurance, life insurance…trust me, all things you need. I have personally experienced the loss of family members where insurance was the only thing paid for the funeral. In fact when my mom died there was so much scrambling, we didn’t know which way was up. And let me tell you…funerals are EXPENSIVE. The last thing you want to be worried about is who has to pay for what. It also sounds funny because you automatically think “it doesn’t matter, its my family member, I’ll pay for it”, which is true, but when the cost ends in the word “thousand” its compounded stress to an already loss.

I have experienced a fire where they only thing that saved us was…..you guessed it…renters. Of course we have home owners insurance and even have to carry hurricane insurance in the windpool. But I have lived in many a home that was destroyed, lost, or damaged in hurricane force wind and water and making sure your home is covered is nothing to shake a stick at.

While my parents are not elderly, in fact are relatively young comparative to many parents of people my age, I have experienced my father being in the hospital on a very random and sudden medical urgency and have watched him need care. I have watched my in laws grow older and the looming future of their long term care is something that is becoming a discussion among my husband and I. What should they do? What will we do? Are their affairs in order? What are their wishes?

These are all hard things to discuss.

If you have missed my fellow blogger posts, they are insightful and interesting and I urge you to read what they have to say about these topics:

While I dont want this article to come off spammy, like hey go to this company, go to that company, I feel strongly about reminding my audience that there is nothing more important than the tiny details in life that you can set aside and feel confident that its there when (and if) you need them.

DO NOT DELAY in making sure that your wills, your insurance, your future its taken care of and signed on the dotted line.

Who is Gonna Care for Mama When she is Old and Gray?

He’s just a user.  A four-month old user.

Uses me for sustenance and as a taxi-cab to cart him all over the place (all day long).  This baby uses me as a pacifier and uses the small hairs on the back of my neck as a pull-up bar.

No regard for my needs.  Couldn’t care less that my arms and legs go numb from holding and/or feeding him twenty-four hours a day.

An attention-mongering user whose mantra is “Me, me, me.”

One Day Ill own a bigger home

Currently Cory and I are saving up for the 20% down. Or at least get enough in savings to be able to cover it. Mainly because we don’t know what our price point is going to be. Living in NY though the price for homes can be very expensive. I look around in other states and you can get some pretty awesome looking homes for way cheaper then what you can in my neck of the woods. But oh well! We can’t move to a cheaper location because Cory has tenure as a teacher and all of my family lives here.

Christmas Care

Ever since I was a teenager I have long told my parents that if they don’t stop being annoying, I’m going to ship them off to the Shady Acres Retirement Home as soon as I’m legally allowed to do so. This threat of forced convalescence has always been said in jest, but now that they’re getting older and talking more and more about intestinal issues and possible hip replacements, it might be time for us to take that potential option a bit more seriously.

Preparing for My Worst Nightmare

And, if anything were to happen to Hubby …. I would be on. my. own. with THREE children.

That fact terrifies me.  If Hubby died or became incapacitated, what would I do?  I don’t know who handles our insurance … don’t know who to contact for help … don’t know how to access our safety deposit box.  I don’t even know the name of our electric company.

And, that, fellow Mamas, is inexcusable.

Home Ownership

We were so excited to have an entire apartment all to ourselves. This was living we thought. And it was, until we factored in the downstairs neighbor. Within 24 hours of us moving in, this woman had beaten our cat with a broomstick after it got lost in the hallway, had a raging profanity-laced shouting match with her daughter, and even knocked on our door to ask that we “not walk around so much” because the floors tended to creak.

The Future

 I think about the future and how great things will be. Like the boys will be older and maybe fight less? Maybe they will be more independent and will be able to get their own drinks and food. I’m sure most mothers think about those type of things. I hope I’m not the only one!

But I really don’t think about the bad things. Like what if something happens to Cory and I and who will pay for the expense? Who will raise the boys? Maybe when we are older and we don’t want to be a burden on our child to help take care of us. If and when we die how will our possessions be split up and go to whom.

Buying this house is Stressing Me Out

Back in 2000, my husband and I were struggling to pay our bills, so much so that we were 3 months behind on the house note, and stayed 3 months behind for over a year. We kept telling each other that if we didn’t sell the house, if one of us were to get sick for a day or two and have to miss work, we would lose that house. It was terrifying to think we were one sneeze away from being homeless. We finally decided in August of 2000 to put the house up for sale rather than lose it. We’d rather have the equity out of the house if at all possible, instead of losing what we had worked for 16 years to build up. Surprisingly, it only took 10 days after putting the house on the market until we were sitting at the closing table.

Thinking About the Future

My own mother, who is 84, has been having trouble lately with her legs and feet. She also has peripheral neuropathy , which makes it difficult to walk or stand for very long. Her eyesight is getting worse–she needs to have corneal transplants. Her eye doctor won’t even write a prescription for new glasses because he says glasses won’t help until after she has surgery. And for the last three or four years, whenever she has exerted herself enough to prepare Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, she has wound up in the emergency room the next day. She has been living alone since the death of my father in 1992, and has always been a very independent woman. It is very hard to see her get to the point where she needs help with the most ordinary things, like cleaning her house or decorating her Christmas tree.

Thank you so much for spending time with us the past few months and letting us share with you our stories on how, and why, you should be prepared.  Don’t forget to check out all your insurance needs with Genworth.

~Trisha

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