The 12 Days of Savings: Spend Those FSA Dollars Before the Holidays

As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020, over-the-counter (OTC) medications can now be purchased without a prescription or letter of medical necessity from your doctor. This is great news for FSA account holders who can now use tax-free funds to buy cold and flu medicine, pain relievers, cough medicines, and more OTC meds. Stock up on the OTCs you use for cold and flu season like analgesics, cough medicines, decongestants, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, including the brands you know and trust when you’re feeling under the weather.

While it may not be cheery to think about the sniffles, fevers, aches, and blahs that come with catching colds and flus in the winter months, having these medications on hand when you need them most will bring peace of mind. Best of all, these all come with tax-free savings when using your FSA funds!

Another joyous provision from the CARES Act for FSA owners with allergies is the ability to buy allergy medications without a prescription! Allergies can be a nuisance, but now allergy sufferers can rejoice using their FSA dollars to buy OTC allergy medications to keep sneezing, itching, swelling, and other unpleasant symptoms in check.

If you or your loved ones have allergies, it may behoove you to use up any remaining FSA balance to stock up on allergy meds for when allergens strike next!

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, half of workers spend more than 65% of their day sitting, and depending on the occupation, could spend nearly 90% of the workday sitting. Whether sitting all day or not, chances are that your posture may get out of whack during the workday. Wearable posture correctors have become increasingly popular to help people offset the negative effects of slouching. They are also more affordable than fancy ergonomic furniture, and now that many people are working from home, it’s even easier to wear a posture corrector at work without worrying how it looks!

For the perennial slouchers among us, may this FSA gift help you to hold your head high (literally).

If you use glasses or contacts, you can celebrate the fact that you can pay for your eyewear with FSA dollars! As the law of glasses goes, every time you try on new frames at the eye doctor, the most expensive pair always manages to pick you—so unfair! Or maybe you’re a contact user who has tried to get away with wearing your “dailies” for two, three, six days…who’s really counting anyway?

Now you can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that your eyewear—glasses, contacts, or even prescription sunglasses—can be purchased using pre-tax FSA funds. If this news has you blinking back tears of joy, let it flow!

If you have body aches, whether from exercising too hard or contorting to make room for your pets in bed, here is pain relief you can use anywhere! Handheld light therapy devices use LED lights to penetrate deep into the muscles and joints to provide some relief from stiffness and soreness.

It’s definitely worth trying, especially if you have leftover FSA dollars to spend down this December!

This year has been more stressful than most. The annual American Psychological Association’s survey on Stress in America found that 2 in 3 adults have experienced an increase in stress during the pandemic and nearly a quarter of people reported that stress manifested as tension in the body.

If you hold tension in your neck and shoulders, this weighted neck wrap that can be heated or cooled, depending on your preference, could help! The wrap has lavender and mint inside for a soothing aromatherapy effect, and the 3-pound weight simulates the pressure of a massage. Have a spa experience at home with the peace of mind that you saved on the expense with your FSA tax-free funds!

No need to stick thermometers under tongues, in armpits, or anywhere else with these new no-contact, infrared thermometers! Sure, it was nice in the olden days when grandma would use the back of her hand to check for a fever (before wrapping you in eight blankets to sweat it out), but these days, something a bit more precise and less…touchy…may be ideal!

Use the no-contact thermometer to check your temperature at home, out on the go, at your business, or wherever it may be helpful to get a quick temperature read. And it can be funded with FSA bucks!

Keep those FSA tax-free dollars circulating and bring some vitality from toe to head with a foot circulator! This electrical muscle stimulator device targets acupressure points in the feet with electrodes that you can program to one of fifteen settings to provide prescription-strength relief from pain, swelling, and stiffness.

Get a foot massage while you work from home, or gift someone you love with the promise of a foot massage every day next year—you don’t have to mention you won’t be the one to give the massage! Spend down those remaining FSA funds with a gift that will truly keep on giving.

Outshine the holidays with a glowing complexion funded by your tax-friendly FSA balance. Skincare products like blemish-reducing face wash, gentle exfoliators, topical spot treatments, light therapy devices for acne, moisturizers with SPF for sun protection, and many more are available for purchase.

Put your best face forward in the new year with these complexion-enhancing (and did we mention tax-free, FSA-fund-eligible) products!

For new parents and parents to be, your FSA funds offer the gift of parenting products for you and the little one(s) you are welcoming into your life! Shop for smart baby monitors, pre- and post-natal vitamins, creams for diaper rash and eczema, breast pumps, gentle nose wipes for baby, and many more products that will keep you and your new babe healthy and happy.

Being a parent is a gift unto itself, but buying the supplies you need with tax-free funds makes it just a little sweeter!

Nothing beats slipping under the warm covers of your bed on a cold, winter’s night—except when the bed’s been heated up for you! This electric heating pad is large enough to offer thermotherapy pain relief for legs, feet, torso, or wherever you need it most. Heat can help with muscle aches and spasms, stiffness from arthritis, cramping, back pain, fibromyalgia, numbness, restless leg syndrome and more by promoting blood flow and circulation to help the body heal and release tension.

Use up that FSA balance with a bed warmer that will help you sleep tight with healing heat!

A first-aid kit is a must-have in every home—but we are not judging if you don’t have one yet! This family first-aid kit is compact but comes with everything you might need to fix up knee scrapes, cuts, minor burns, splinters, stings, and any other little injury you can safely treat at home or while out exploring nature with friends or family. We love this product because the company that makes it, Caring Mill, donates a percentage of each purchase to  the non-profit Children’s Health Fund, which is dedicated to breaking down barriers to health care for children in underserved communities.

This FSA purchase gives back to you through a pre-tax savings advantage and embodies the true holiday spirit by also giving back to those in need!