February Finances and Fertility Thread

dragonfly87-2 · February 2017

Greetings All,

The last thread seemed to do pretty well, so figured maybe we could run one each month. It can be a great thread for any questions, comments or vents about the money we all spend in our attempts to conceive.

We all have our moments of going off the deep end to try to get pregnant, and make it rain money...

Image: https://i.giphy.com/3oriNNkHV8Xa02MjBu.gif

And there are times when we try to find ways to pinch our pennies and find the best discounts...

Image: https://i.giphy.com/uLjo3IuxwQIHC.gif

To help get the conversation started, figured I would put a few topics out there:

What is the best TTC related purchase you have made so far?

What was the biggest waste of money for a TTC related purchase?

dragonfly87-2 · February 2017

So, should we turn this into a gif party ladies? If not, I have a question:

Preseed--is it worth it? It seems pretty pricey at $20 a tube. Who uses it and likes it? This is the first cycle I have had a decent amount of EWCM (I drank a ton of green tea--not sure if it was just being hydrated that helped or the tea). But normally, I have fairly low amounts of CM during FW.

And to answer the other questions:

What is the best TTC related purchase you have made so far?

The Wondfo OPK and HPT kit at the beginning from Amazon. $30 for 100 opks and 20 HPTs. Makes me feel a little less wasteful in terms of spending money on those two things. Still have about 70 OPKs left after 5 cycles of using them and 2 or 3 HPTs (need to restock those).

Also, $7 Mabis thermometer off Amazon. Temping has been pretty insightful so far.

What was the biggest waste of money for a TTC related purchase?

I have managed to not spend a ton of money so far on TTC. But I am ambivalent about the VIP upgrade on FF. I did buy it with a discount code (so $24.99 for 12 months), but I am thinking the free version would have been fine. I like the DPO counter, but the symptoms tracker just frustrates me. All of my "normal" symptoms seem to push me above the 80pts threshold and have my hopes high for nothing.

beachbunnyxo123 · February 2017

@dragonfly87 I use preseed and I like it but I agree it is super expensive and they never provide enough applicators. I always wind up having alot left in the tube and no more applicators which is really irritating.

hartmich · February 2017

@dragonfly87 I second the VIP for FF. I also used a discount but now I'm not even tracking cycles because we're benched. Plus like you said, you don't really need any of the extra features, the basic version gets you where you need to go. And to be totally honest..... I purchased it to "tempt fate" in hopes I'd get KU right after. Yeah.

Image: https://media3.giphy.com/media/WiRBjwK64r3s4/200w.gif#2

I do enjoy the vitamins I've added to my routine for TTC, because I feel like vitamins are always a good thing. Right now I just take my PNV, Vitamin D, and Ubiquinol.

I get annoyed that the packs of Wondfos on Amazon are packaged the way they are.... I am the opposite of you and have WAY too many HPTs and always end up needing more OPKs. Sigh. We should set up an exchange.

[Deleted User] · February 2017

<blockquote class="Quote">
<div class="QuoteAuthor"><a href="/profile/hartmich">hartmich</a> said:</div>
<div class="QuoteText">@dragonfly87 I second the VIP for FF. I also used a discount but now I'm not even tracking cycles because we're benched. **snipped**
</div>
</blockquote>
Fwiw you can pause FF if you look in the settings somewhere, and your membership days will be held for you when youre ready to start tracking again! :D

@dragonfly87. @beachbunnyxo123 You can also use Preseed right out of the tube, just like any other lube. But it's not going to get you KU. Try not to think of it as a replacement for EWCM, but rather, if you feel at all "dry" to where sex is uncomfortable (or impossible), the added lubrication should help get the swimmers where they need to go, thereby helping to achieve pregnancy because sex. Not because preseed. ;) and because so many lubes are intentionally spermicidal -- obviously we wouldn't want that!

hartmich · February 2017

@businesswife I tried that, but then it doesn't let you use FF at ALL (at least, that's what it looked like for me if I'm doing it right). Like I just want to go back to the basic version for a little while because I'd still like to chart CM etc so I can predict when AF should arrive etc for my own knowledge. Does anyone know if this is possible?

[Deleted User] · February 2017

@hartmich. Riiiight, yeah I'm not sure you can downgrade like that. I keep track on paper. I can send you my template if you want. I have three cycles on one page.

hartmich · February 2017

@businesswife If you could, that'd be great!

adirat · February 2017

If you have even mediocre skills with excel, you can use that for free instead of FF for temping. That's what I do.

We use preseed as lube (typically no more than a nickel-sized amount per session) so it isn't too expensive that way. We tried using the recommended amount once and it was so slippery neither of us had fun

kiwi2628 · February 2017

Or you could make a second username for FF and insert all your old data so it can be more accurate to begin with

lulu1180 · February 2017

That's what I was thinking @kiwi2628

shortstack930 · February 2017

Best purchase: preseed! I don't make a lot of CM so for us it was definitely worth it.

Waste of money: the clear blue smiley face OPK thing. Spent so much money and you can only get a month or two out of it. Spent half the money on an easy@home OPK and it came with 50 ovulation strips and 20 pregnancy tests!

I just started using FF this month and I still have another two weeks of the VIP free trial. I like all the extra stuff but I honestly can't see myself paying for it.

[Deleted User] · February 2017

@hartmich ygpm

aggo · February 2017

@dragonfly87 I LOVE PRESEED.

TMI but I always need extra help in that department or it's too painful. We use it as a normal lube and ignore the applicators. For us, a little has been going a long way and that's saying something for me. It works sooo much better than any other lube we've tried. I never want to go back. Good thing we don't have to for at least 9 months (if we're lucky).

Waste of money: I keep buying pregnancy tests but I'm letting myself off the hook since it's our first cycle TTC and I'm overly excited. Hopefully there's no next TTC cycle (I feel like there will be

) but if there is, I'll wait til AF.

Dont know if this will be good or bad yet but just bought sperm check per @kiwi2628's post. DH wasn't insulted at all and actually said it's something that's been in the back of his mind, not for any particular reason just usual paranoia, and he'd like the peace of mind. So I'm really excited about that.

safire3 · February 2017

@beachbunnyxo123 Just in case you need it, I had the same problem with preseed and just bought extra applicators from amazon. Here is a link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0195C8I52/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

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