I about fell off my chair today when, twice in one day, someone at a doctor’s office suggested ways I could save money. I’m not talking about slipping me a handful of drug samples to save me the prescription co-pay. I’m talking services that I was ready to whip out my checkbook to pay for, but the person I was dealing with convinced me that I would be wasting my money if I did.

Situation #1: I had decided to switch my daughters to the “grown up” dentist my husband and I use. Not only are they old enough not to need the pediatric dentist anymore, but said pediatric dentist is a 35-minute drive away. The grown-up dentist? Within walking distance of our house.

Like with most instances when you “switch” doctors, I called about getting files forwarded, and I knew I’d have to pay for the pediatric dentist to do that. Turns out, it was $10 per kid per chart. It also turns out that the person I spoke with at the pediatric dentist convinced me that I didn’t need to spend the money. She said that the money mostly covered the copying of x-rays, but because my kids were both in braces and due for x-rays anyway (once the braces came off), the x-rays I would be paying to copy would be out of date anyway. (I called the new dentist to ask about this and she concurred.) So even though it would have been easiest for the pediatric dentist to take my credit card number and charge me the $20, she helped me to save money instead.

Situation #2: My oldest daughter has been complaining, once again, that she can’t see the board in school. I knew she probably needed a new prescription in her glasses, and after today’s eye appointment, I found out I was right. In anticipation of this happening, I had Jane bring with her the “back up” pair of glasses she owns. My plan was to get new lenses in her everyday glasses, and have her wear the back-up pair until we got the other pair back, and then send the back-up pair in for new lenses. This is usually what I do with my own glasses, though with three pairs of back-up frames, that can get costly. (Truth is I haven’t updated the prescription in those glasses in a number of years.)

As we were filling out the paperwork for the new lenses for both pairs of glasses–and watching the price tag soar past the $200 mark–the optician asked, “Why are you going to pay hundreds of dollars for lenses for a pair of glasses that are just going to sit in a drawer? If I were you, I’d get the new lenses in her everyday glasses and just keep the back-up as is.” So simple yet so brilliant. Sure, we’ll be in a pickle if her everyday glasses break, but you know what? I’ll deal with that problem when it becomes a problem. In the meantime, the optician helped me not to spend $200 today. And for that I’m very grateful.

Are you finding that service providers, medical or otherwise, are sharing money-saving tips with you like these people did with me? Wondering if this is a new recessionary trend….