Hey
@JessT24, I thought it might help to give you a tour of a glucose monitoring kit...
I live in the US. I have two kits, one that's ridiculously expensive, another that's a lot cheaper to use and works just fine. What you see pictured below is a mix of two kits.
On the left side of my kit - (from left to right):
In the left pocket is a card that says "right" on one side, "left" on the other. Each morning, I flip it over so I know which hand I'm testing that day. For my first test, I use my pinky finger. We don't test the finger pads, we test on either side of the finger pad: one side for the first test, the other side for the second test. For my third and fourth test, I'll use my ring finger. If test more than 10 times in a day, which would be rare, I start over with my pinky.
In the next pocket is a stash of replacement lancets for my lancet device that I use to prick my finger. Some people change the lancet with every test, others change the lancet once a day, week, month, or couple of months. I'm in the latter group.
Laying on top of the pocket is a new glucose test strip for my glucose meter, and an unused lancet for my black lancet device - (the circle shape on the end of the lancet contains the end of the lancet's sharp point - (to remove, twist off) - and is replaced when disposing of the lancet, preferably in a sharps container or a test strip container).
On the right side of the kit - (from left to right)...
A container of 50 glucose test strips and my glucose meter with a test strip inserted and ready use. On the bottom of the screen you can barely see a "test strip" and "blood drop" symbol that tell me the meter is ready to use.
Below the test kit - (top to bottom)...
Two different styles of lancet devices, one with the cover on, the other with the cover off so you can see the lancet. We test with the cover ON, of course.
Here's a close-up of the lancet devices. See those numbers on the black device and those lines on the removed cover the blue lancet device? You turn the cover to adjust the puncture depth. The "1" and the short line represent the setting for a shallow depth; the "5" and the long line represent the deepest depth. As you can see, I use the setting halfway between "2" and "3".
When it's time to test, watch the video below and follow the instructions that come with your kit.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/how-to-test-blood-glucose-levels.html
The first couple of times you test, it's a bit awkward, but it will soon become second nature.
My best advise is to
find the cheapest test strips you can find and buy the meter to go with it. If you share which country you live in, forum members will tell you which is cheapest. I say this because the test strips I got with my first meter were 66 or 86 cents depending on where I bought them. The strips I got with my second meter only cost 18 cents each. Which meter do you think I'm more likely to test with as needed when the cost is out-of-pocket? You got it. The cheaper one.