Let's Talk Prime
When my friend Renee told me about Amazon Prime several years ago, I brushed it off. Why did I need to spend $99 to have free shipping? I didn't order anything online that often. Especially not from Amazon. As the blog became a reality, I found myself ordering more and more from Amazon. So much so, that I decided to look a little deeper into the free shipping perk vs. the cost of Amazon Prime. I shop often for my household family as well as family and friends out of state. I shop often for myself- and a lot of the time, it's after I already ran out of something. Yeah, I know. Plan ahead. Normally I am the queen of plan ahead, but life happens and you forget to buy laundry detergent or dog food. I am also the queen of "I refuse to go to the store for one thing." I have shopping lists, coupons, my various savings apps. I'm not a die-hard couponer, but I'm definitely a saver, and going to the store for a bag of dog food is not conducive to saving. For SURE as soon as I walk in I'm like ohhh... I need this, then this, then- the I wants kick in. God help me if I'm shopping hungry too. No, just no. No one item shopping trips. So Amazing... I mean Amazon, was running a 30 day free trial of Prime, and I bit the bullet and went for it. As it turns out, after having Prime for 3 years now, it's required to work with one of the companies I do to review products for their clients, but it has DEFINITELY earned its keep. One of the top things I shop for on Amazon is spices. Long story short, you get more quantity for a lot less, and free shipping. I cook for my family almost daily, and I go through spices so quickly here, it pays to just go online, click, and ship. I had ordered some things right before Thanksgiving to make my famous home made turkey brine. Some of the ingredients were never cost effective or in the size package I needed at the store. Hello Amazon! What I DIDN'T know was that Amazon had partnered with USPS, and Amazon packages for Prime members were delivered on SUNDAYS. Yes, Sundays. I was getting into my car to take my step son to the park when the mail truck pulled up, and my extremely friendly mailman jumped out of his truck to hand me a box. I thanked him, and took it inside. It was then that it dawned on me that it was Sunday. I immediately Google searched Amazon Sunday delivery- and viola! There it was! A partnership between Amazon and USPS for Prime members to get Sunday delivery of packages. So let me stop right here and tell you how often Sunday delivery has saved my ass in either a kid, pet, or cooking crisis. Because you know- when MommyGyver makes Rice Krispy Treats, I use the tiny little marshmallows you get in cereal. Where do you get those? Amazon. I don't just buy honey. My husband is a honey addict, and a legitimate honey snob. Who has rare varieties of honey and can deliver on Sunday for me to coax him into drinking tea because he got a horrible cold, and he won't touch it without this insanely hard to find honey...? Amazon. Who can get diapers to me on the weekend that my car is in the shop? Amazon. Free of charge. Then, as if I wasn't hooked enough, they introduced Subscribe and Save. You pick items you buy however often. For me, it's once a month. So every month on X date, I get a box of the stuff I use the most. I don't have to go to the grocery store for it, and I can change my subscription whenever I want. (If I have a great coupon for an item, I skip Amazon and add it to my shopping trip list) But once you hit a certain number of items you subscribe to, you get a bigger discount on the box. It's great. I'd say it's not the ultimate in money saving, but I figure in the free shipping versus the gas that I'd use driving 20 minutes to the grocery store. (Assuming I'm only going to ONE store, which is hardly ever the case) So between Amazon, and the Jet app for my phone, (I'll talk about Jet another time) I'm really sold. If you order online often, there is a huge benefit to the Prime program. Usually there are other perks that come with it too, but those vary on when you sign up and what they are offering. Here's a link to get Prime free for 30 days. I promise you, I needed this. I can't say you do, but I can say I didn't think I did either. PS. I'm typing this at midnight, after being sick in bed all weekend with strep throat and a stomach virus- and I just ordered everything we ran out of while I've been sick. So, here's the break you need, moms. Running low on toilet paper and tampons, and you are bed ridden ill (the one time you allow yourself to stay in bed BECAUSE you are that sick) you know your husband won't go get your brand of anything. Amazon mother-effing Prime to the rescue.