One thing became painfully clear after I had my first child. Time is something I took for granted for a long time. I have always procrastinated and put things off but now that I have become a parent that one plentiful commodity of time is now a scarce resource.
Everyday I battle with my schedule to find more time to try to get more things done without sacrificing family time which is more important than anything else to me.
One of my time “hacks” is fully embracing the monster that is Amazon Prime. I was very reluctant to jump on board paying an annual fee to Amazon but they have just made things so easy and convenient for me and my family that I can’t imagine our life without it.
Less Grocery Store Visits
I loathe spending my free time on weeknights or weekends in the grocery store. Unless I am shopping at 11pm at night and no other customers are in the store, it is an extremely time consuming and frustrating experience (Side Note: If you have haven’t tried click and collect for your groceries, it will change you life)
After seeing the expanded amount of grocery items on Amazon we decided to do a cost comparison with our local grocery store. Some items definitely cost more on Amazon, a few cost less but most are around the same price as what we pay in-store here in Canada.
Typically we don’t shop based upon flyers or coupons, our grocery trips are built upon the meals we have planned on making for that week.
So with the costs relatively the same we began using Amazon Prime as our primary way to get dry, non-produce goods and a lot of the other non food items they tend to stock at grocery stores like dishwasher pods, dish soap,etc.
Delivered Right to your Door
I don’t know whether to feel bad for the delivery guy or not. Some of these boxes that Amazon ships things in can be quite large. Not having to spend extra time in stores, standing in line or slowly shuffling along behind Mr. indecisive in a narrow aisle are all positives in my book.
Ultimately it all comes back down to time. With young kids it can be especially painful to do any grocery outings. Right now it is winter in Canada, it can be biting cold and the snow can pile up in the driveway. Not having to bundle my kid up, put her in the car seat and drive all the way to the store only to to participate in that circus is something I will always be grateful for.
Don’t get me wrong, Amazon Prime hasn’t replaced all of our grocery shopping (yet). For all of the other items like produce we have been experimenting with click & collect grocery stores with positive results but thats an aside.
Subscribe & Save
Yes, utilizing Amazon Prime actually can save you some cold hard cash, which might make up for the lack of couponing/flyer action. Deviously the more you subscribe to on Amazon the more you save.
It works like this. You pick an product that is eligible for “subscribe & save” and then you choose the intervals you want to be topped up with that product. For predictable buys like dish soap, laundry detergent, baby wipes and diapers this a no brainer.
It is one less thing you have to think about and remember, usually when you are running low that smiling cardboard box will show up at your door just in time.
If it sounds somewhat daunting to plan out, don’t fret too much – just take my lazy approach. Write out a list of things you could buy on a regular basis on Amazon. Next time you buy them, write down the date and then write down the date it empties. With the majority of our items, we are turning them over every month.
Oh yeah and it saves money. Like I mentioned before the more you subscribe to, the bigger the savings. The one item where this really clicked for us and sealed the deal was on diapers. By subscribing to five items, we were suddenly saving 20% on our monthly diaper expense. Diapers are going to be a mainstay in our house for several more years so saving 20% monthly over all that time – hell yeah.
Amazon is Fast
I am sure you already know how fast Amazon shipping can be but I am always surprised and impressed by just how great they are. I work in ecommerce, I know the ins and outs of shipping, logistics and internal company processes.
These guys are pros. I’ve ordered items at 9pm and have had them show up around 8:30 am the next day – that is less than a twelve hour turnaround time overnight!
The time between order and delivery will vary based upon where you live. If you are based anywhere near an urban area in North America you can be sure that Amazon has staging warehouses within spitting distance of you.
Amazon Prices are on point
For the majority of non-marketplace items on Amazon, their pricing is pretty much on par with brick and mortar retailers. My wife watches prices like a hawk, she is so good at it that if it was an olympic sport she would win a gold medal. When Babies R Us and others have their big baby sale events, Amazon’s price on those items usually adjust down down to be in line with their competitors.
Note though that they don’t win at everything and they no longer price match.
No Heavy Lifting Required
Okay there is some heavy lifting, bringing the Amazon box from the doorstep to inside your house but as long as you can do a good squat you should be fine. This beats carrying heavy items around the store, out to your car, out of the car and inside the house.
Sorry to the lower back of our neighborhood UPS delivery guy but it is just too damn convenient or I am just too damn lazy.
On a serious note though this point does really help out my pregnant wife quite a bit. She is already having to deal with a lot of pain and pressure – heavy items are a no go.
The Ease of Finding Stuff
Somethings are difficult to find in stores. They can be especially difficult to find in grocery stores who like to flip their layouts a couple of times a year just to keep you going up and down all the aisles looking for what you need in the hopes that you grab a couple more items.
It literally takes me seconds to find items on Amazon and then I usually have several choices to choose from. As a “lazy millennial” who is ruining the world, I’ll take ease and convenience any day.
Prime Video & Music
I haven’t tried Prime Video and Music outside of Canada yet. Both apps are okay at the moment, the interfaces are a bit clunky and I still prefer Netflix and Spotify. However it is a nice added benefit to be able to make use of these apps, especially with Amazon’s ever forward push towards world domination I’m sure they will get better with time.
Cardboard Box Rides!
Have you put your kiddos in of the Amazon boxes and pushed them around on the floor? If you haven’t I don’t know what you are waiting for. I know this isn’t really an Amazon exclusive benefit but everytime a box comes in big enough my daughter LOVES playing with it.
She can kill up to an hour just climbing into an empty box or assembling her Paw Patrol stuffed animals inside. That is an hour for you to do dad stuff man!
Plus hearing them laugh and giggle as you push them around is just awesome. I’m sure there is an Amazon commercial out there where they ape this experience and somehow tie it into the smile on their boxes.
And lastly
The last point here is dumb and I should probably have edited it out but I’m going to leave it in. Whatever.
Everytime that box comes from Amazon, I feel like a kid on Christmas. Opening a box filled with stuff I want is awesome.
So it isn’t cool stuff like action figures or video games most of the time but by the time the box arrives, especially if it is on autopilot with subscribe and save I have forgotten all about what I ordered. The anticipation of opening the box is usually always better than what’s inside.
I’m sure that last point didn’t strengthen my arguments about why you should be using Amazon Prime to save yourself time and money and just overall peace of mind but I’m sure there were a few things here that might have got the gears turning in your head.
If there is any Amazon Prime benefit you know of that I’m not taking advantage of or other ways to save time and money, please let me know so I can up my dad game.