Hi Sunny,
Welcome to OPK land!!!!
You are absolutely right about peeing your money away. I hear you loud and clear!!!
Purchasing from an on line distributer will cut your costs significantly. I would recommend beginning to test at around 10 days for the first cycle. The reason being is that many women 'think' they are ovulating at a particular time and then when they use opk's they learn that they are oing later or earlier than they thought.

If you know through charting that you have NEVER ovulated before day 16 it would be fairly safe to not begin to use your opk's until day 12. The reason is that most women will ovulate within 12-24 hours after detecting a surge. So, you need to be testing at least 3 days before the surge. For the first couple of months of using opk's I would recommend beginning on about day 10 though, and continuing to test until you get a surge and then for a day after. After say 2 cycles of doing this you will begin to know for you what the sticks look like leading up to a surge and for how long the surge lasts.

There are a few on line LH strip distributers. I use Lullaby and I love them. I know other women have other brands that they use. It does work out to be quite cost effective. After a couple of cycles you will not need to test for as long in your cycle and therefore the cost will be less. Of course LH strips give you a clear picture of when your 'window' is open and therefore it does increase your chances of setting the best possible scene for egg capture!!!

I really really hope that you get good results from LH strips and that this month you catch a healthy egg!

Big big hugs,