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Money Hacks

Prescription Drug Discounts

Most insurance plans apply prescription discounts, but you pay 100% of the discounted price until you meet the annual deductible, after which you pay typically 10-30% until you reach the annual out-of-pocket maximum. And then the calendar rolls over and we start all over.

Today, 4 January 2022, I needed to pick up a few prescriptions. Most are recurring prescriptions, and one was new. Upon receiving the ready-for-pickup notification from my local CVS, I was shocked to see one prescriptions we typically pay less than $2 for cost $82! The new prescription was also priced similarly, at $78. The other two prescriptions were free. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ok, I thought, I know this is because the deductible reset. But seriously, this stuff is super common and should cost next to nothing. Then I remembered last year when I read about a free prescription discount provider called GoodRX. I thought I should check to see if it was possible I could get these prescriptions any cheaper.

Prescription #1 Price Breakdown
Retail price$119
CVS Anthem discounted price$82
Walmart cash price$17
Kroger GoodRX discounted price$17
Costco GoodRX discounted price$20
Prescription #2 Price Breakdown
Retail price$260
CVS Anthem discounted price$78
Kroger GoodRX discounted price$38
Costco GoodRX discounted price$49
Walmart GoodRX discounted price$60

Wowsers! I can save $105 just by getting these at Kroger instead of CVS and using the free GoodRX provider instead of Anthem's "negotiated" 🙄 rates.

What's the catch? Well, you need to make sure that these expenses are still counting toward your annual deductible. By using the GoodRX discount or a cash price, this expense will not be filed to your insurance company and therefore not count toward your annual deductible. But you can fix that! All you need to do is file the claim with your insurance or prescription provider and provide your receipt.

The 6-Step Prescription Hack:
  1. Go to the pharmacy that has the cheapest price
  2. Ask them to transfer the prescription from the pharmacy that is currently holding the prescription
  3. Use the GoodRX app to get the discount at the pharmacy
  4. Pay with your highest rewards credit card (I like using the Citi Custom Cash card for 5% cash back, or the Chase Freedom Unlimited for 3% in cash back)
  5. File the expense as a claim with your insurance or prescription provider so it counts toward your annual deductible
  6. Save the receipt for your HSA tax-free reimbursement

Even after I meet the annual deductible, I will continue to use this method just to stretch my healthcare dollars farther.

Note that I looked up these same prescriptions with the GoodRX Gold membership plan, and they seemed to be more expensive. Um, ok. I guess it's not worth paying for GoodRX then. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The links above were to a referral code that gets us both $5 from GoodRX. If you would like a link without a referral code, use this one.

Gasoline Prices & Discounts

Ranked by generally cheapest per-gallon price:

  1. 7-Eleven app with discount codes; could save over $1/gallon
  2. Sam's Club → Sam's Club Mastercard 5% cash back
  3. Costco → Costco Visa 5% cash back (Costco only accepts Visa credit cards)
  4. Murphy USA / Murphy Express → keypad Alt ID → Sam's Club Mastercard (watch for Walmarts that may not have Murphy gasoline anymore) (or Costco Visa)
  5. Walmart (I think there's a discount with a Walmart+ membership, too, but that's not free)
  6. Exxon → Exxon app or keypad Alt ID → Sam's Club Mastercard (or Costco Visa)

Use the GasBuddy app to find the cheapest price near you.

All gas listed above is part of the Top Tier program except unbranded 7-Eleven (Exxon and Mobile are Top Tier) and Murphy USA/Murphy Express.

7-Eleven App Stacking

Get the app and get a discount on your first 10 fill-ups, an additional discount if you use their linked payment program, and there are frequently great discount codes saving $0.50/gallon, and the discounts stack!!

Sam's Club Mastercard (5%)

5% cash back on gasoline everywhere that accepts Mastercard (pretty much everywhere except Costco). No annual fee. Issued annually as a Sam's Club credit, but you can redeem it for cash in the store. Requires active membership.

Costco Visa (5% in 2025!)

5% cash back on Costco gasoline (new in 2025!) and 4% cash back on gasoline everywhere else except superstores and groceries (Sam's Club and Walmart code as gasoline). Issued annually as a certificate, but you can redeem it for cash in the store.

Murphy & Exxon Alt IDs

Murphy: Murphy Drive Rewards (MDR) Alt ID phone number on keypad. Earn 1pt/gal, redeem -10c/100pts (up to 20 gal).
Exxon: App w/ NFC or QR. Earn 3pts/gal, redeem -$10/1000pts.

Updated 2026-08-26.

Federal Taxes

Would you like a discount on your federal taxes? Here's the hack:

  1. Obtain the Citi Double Cash credit card, which provides 2% cash-back monthly.
  2. Pay your Federal taxes on pay1040.com (endorsed by the IRS) with a credit card, paying the 1.87% fee.
  3. Enjoy (2.00% - 1.87%) 0.13% off your taxes!

This is also a good way to earn credit card bonuses if you don't mind paying a 1-2% fee to earn the bonus. (Prepaying insurance is another way to do this, with no fee.)

Credit Cards

You can do well with fewer credit cards, but here are the ones I have found the most value in:

B&H Payboo store credit card: instant check-out discount equal to your sales tax (8.25% in Texas), or special no-interest 6-month or 12-month financing above certain purchase amounts. No annual fee.
Sam's Club Mastercard: 5% rebate on gasoline everywhere Mastercard is accepted, awarded annually as a Sam's Club credit, and no annual fee with a Sam's Club membership. (Pro-Tip: you can reimburse the credit for cash at Sam's Club; you do not have to spend it at Sam's Club.) They also offer other rebates on other categories similar to Costco below.
Amazon Signature Visa: 5% rebate on all purchases at Amazon.com and Whole Foods, awarded monthly; I only use this at Amazon (and I don't generally shop at Whole Foods), and no annual fee with a Prime membership. For optimum return, take the monthly rebate to your bank account, rather than applying to your Amazon account as a credit, because you won't receive the 5% rebate on the applied credit amount of purchases. Or just leave it as an account credit since it's less hassle. Whatever. And if you don't have a Prime membership, the rebate decreases to 3%, but that's still very good and what I do; I don't have an Amazon Prime subscription.
Costco Visa: 5% rebate on Costco gasoline purchases (new for 2025!), 4% rebate on all other non-grocery gasoline purchases, 3% on travel, and 2% at Costco, awarded annually as a Costco certificate, and no annual fee with a Costco membership. (Pro-Tip: you can reimburse the certificate for cash at Costco; you do not have to spend it at Costco.) They also offer 2% on restaurants, and 1% on everything else, but I use other cards for those.
PayPal Mastercard debit card: 5% cash back on up to $1,000 spend per month, on a selected monthly category. If you set the category to grocery, it works even at Walmart (in-store and pickup, but not Walmart.com), Costco (accepts all debit cards; the Visa restriction is only for credit cards), and Target. This is a great way to save on grocery expenses, especially at Costco, and you can even get that 5% cash back on prescriptions you buy at groceries.
Citi Double Cash Mastercard: 2% rebate on everything, no limits. No annual fee. (Note: technically this card awards you 1% for purchases and 1% for payments. Therefore, unlike other cards, never reimburse your points/cash-back for a statement credit because you're losing that 1% back for payments! Always reimburse to your bank account.)

I have a few others that I still need to detail here in the future: Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, US Bank Altitude Connect, US Bank Cash+, REI, Citi Custom Cash, Discover, Southwest Performance Business, Southwest Premier Business, and Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus. The Southwest cards enable our two kids to fly everywhere with us for free!

tl;dr Quick Card Reference:
  • Use the B&H Payboo credit card for all purchases at B&H Foto & Electronics.
  • Use the Sam's Club card for gasoline everywhere (5%) except Costco
  • Use the Amazon card for Amazon & Whole Foods (5%)
  • Use the Costco card for gasoline at Costco (5%) and travel (3%). (And other gasoline if you don't have a Sam's membership.)
  • Use the PayPal Debit card for grocery purchases (5%), including at Costco (they accept all debit cards, just only Visa credit cards), Sam's, Walmart, and Target
  • Use the Citi Double Cash card for everything else (2%)