Stop Hating on Dollar Store Pregnancy Tests!
Pregnancy tests from the dollar store - should you buy them, or should you walk on by?
These tests have been in dollar stores for years now, and for some reason, there is still a stigma surrounding them, even though thousands of women have claimed that these pregnancy tests do actually work.
I am one of those women.
When my husband and I were trying to get pregnant with our first child, I was constantly buying pregnancy tests from the drug store to check if there was a bun in my oven. It was expensive. Just to give you an example of prices, here’s what I was paying:
- First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test: $15-$20
- Clear Blue Pregnancy Test: $10-$15
- Store Brand Pregnancy Test: $7-$10
Now, at first glance, $7-$20 for a pregnancy test doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re obsessive compulsive like I was, you don’t stop at just one. To be absolutely, positively sure that you’re pregnant, many women take more than 1 pregnancy test.
Since it took my husband and I a little while to get pregnant, I would say I took about 8 tests. Thankfully, only the first 2 or 3 were from the drug store.
That’s when I found it…
One day I was doing some shopping at my local dollar store (Dollarama) and as I was walking down the aisle with health and beauty items, I spotted a pregnancy test for $1 (the price has gone up to $1.25 now). I was shopping with my mom at the time and when I showed her the test, she said not to buy it. “You don’t pay $1 for a pregnancy test and expect it to give you correct results!”
Since I wanted perfect, 100% accurate results, I put the test back down and kept walking - but it bugged me the rest of the day, and so the next week, when I was in the area again, I broke down and bought not one, not two, but five dollar store pregnancy tests.
The Pro Care One Step pregnancy test from Dollarama states the following on their packaging:
- Over 99% Accuracy
- Use Any Time
- Positive Result in as Little as 1 Minute
- Easy to Use
And then I tried them out…
So, I went home and took one. Negative. The next day, I took another one. Negative again. I waited a week. Negative. I waited another week. POSITIVE! At least I thought it was positive. I wasn’t 100% sure because the line was incredibly faint, but I had a good feeling about it.
The next day I took my final test and it was positive again - this time, a little darker. I went to the doctor to confirm and about 8 months later, I gave birth to my son.
We tried again with baby #2…
Fast forward a few years and my husband and I are ready to start trying to have another baby. This time, I didn’t ask for someone else’s opinion on pregnancy tests from the dollar store. I simply went out and bought my magic number, 5, and when it was time to start testing, I brought them out.
This time, I saw a very obvious positive with the second test. After my doctor confirmed the pregnancy, I still had 3 tests left. I took one a week for the next 3 weeks, just for fun. I don’t know why I enjoyed taking pregnancy tests, but, as weird as I am, I did.
What everyone else is saying…
After talking with a bunch of friends that have kids, it seems like they all had also used dollar store pregnancy tests to determine they were with child - but they didn’t tell anyone about it because they were embarrassed. I’ll never understand quite why.
Whenever I’m at the dollar store and hear people saying “who would buy a pregnancy test from the dollar store?”, I always let them know that many people buy them, and that they do in fact work quite well.
Why spend more when you don’t have to?
Why would you pay $7-$20 for one single pregnancy test when you can pay as little as $1.25?
As thousands of women can attest to, dollar store pregnancy tests really do work. They give accurate results just as well as any of the big name brands do - the only difference is that they cost a significant amount less.
But wait, are they licensed in Canada?
Yes, the Pro Care One Step pregnancy test is now officially licensed in Canada. This means that Health Canada approves the sale of this item.
Although back in 2007 there was a warning from Health Canada saying not to use these items because they were not licensed for sale in Canada, they are now licensed and you can purchase them legally from Dollarama.
What about you? Do you buy pregnancy tests from dollar stores?
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I used dollar store pregnancy test with both my sons I used about 4 or 5 each time only because my hubby couldn’t believe we were finally pregnant after 3 years
as a dollar store owner I would like to let the public know that we order our inventory from the same places as the big box discount stores and often times the product is identical, only the lable is different.
Call me old-fashioned, but OTC tests came out when I was already an adult, so I have a natural distrust of them altogether. My feeling is that if a gal thinks she might be pregnant, even if the OTC test (whether it’s from a Dollar Store or from Rip-Us-Off Drugstore lol) says five times that she’s not, she should go at least to the nearest Planned Parenthood or other clinic and pee in a cup. I think they still charge only around $8.00, and yea, you’ll probably have to fill out a form, but it’s vital to get yourself checked out by a REAL LAB and to consult with the appropriate health professional. If the test is positive, hey, you get to go home with free prenatal vitamins :)! Blessings, All, and please, take good care of yourselves!
I have used this exact test several times. It has been accurate every time (10 times?). With my pregnancy 4 years ago, it CLEARLY showed a positive line within 60 seconds, and the test was also taken a day or two before my expected period.
However, with my last pregnancy 9 months ago, I took the test a couple days before my expected period and it showed negative. I took it again a few days after my expected period and it took the whole three minutes before it showed only a faint ‘positive’ line.
Does that mean my HCG levels were low? Or that in 4 years they stopped making the tests as sensitive?
Either way, it did work! $$$ saved. Yes!
I discovered these tests after 3 months of buying them from our local big box pharmacy. All these times they have never been in accurate.
I have a child who gets chronic bladder infections and after HOURS spent waiting in the Dr office (they are always at least 30 minutes behind), I gave in and ordered strips off Ebay to check for urin infections and blood - never once have they been inaccurate … people are often astonished i’d buy them off ebay (UK pharmacy supplier).
I bought 3 of these tests 4 years ago when I found out I was pregnant with my son, took all 3(figuring odds are if 2/3 were + then its likely I was pregnant) 5 days before my missed period and all 3 came out clearly positive.
I’ve never understood why people hate on these pregnancy tests its not like they can physically hurt you, besides that women can go to walk in clinics and get tested for free, and they just use basic strips that probably cost .30 each haha
I just bought five (ha!) of these and confirmed I am in fact pregnant. I followed it up with a FRER because the positive lines were so faint (and I was, um, 11 dpo…. ha!). I’m obsessive like you though, and while you can get them cheaper online, you have to buy in bulk to do so.. Thus this offered me the ability to test multiple times for 1/2 the cost of a generic store brand!
I will definitely do this when we are trying to get pregnant again!
I used one for my last pregnancy I bought 2 the first I did right when I got home and the second one for my first morning pee the next day and they both showed up positive in 30 seconds and I’m my area the walk in clinic uses the exact same tests so i went there and they said yes I was pregnant and sent me to my ob it turned out the test said I was positive at only 3 weeks pregnant where most others usually show positive at around 5 to 6 weeks
It took us 9 yrs, including 3 yrs of invitro to get pregnant with our 3rd baby. I swear I must have bought 300+ pregnancy tests over those 9 yrs. I wish the Dollarstors carried them back then.
BTW 3 months after giving up on invitro and ever having another child, we got pregnant the “natural” way
If people didn’t buy them dollarstores wouldn’t carry them!
These tests from dollar stores are made as an off label testing kit by the same companies that make the brand name ones. They are every bit as accurate as brand name ones. Compare them to the local drug stores store brand and you’ll likely see they are the exact same pee stick(stores vary on where they get their store brand supplies from)
I used these tests to both test for my last pregnancy. It was quite positive one day after my missed period. I also used them to test out the hcg after my miscarriage. Here I am still ttc in month 15, at 11 dpo. Had a very faint positive dollar store test this morning. And negative other tests.