Barry and I live in the buzzing metropolis of Southwest Virginia. When looking out the window or driving to the grocery store, you never know when you might be passed by a horse or a tractor (watch out for poop!)…and we wouldn’t have it any other way. BUT, because of that factor, our choices for shopping are very limited.
I shop at Kroger and Sam’s Club for the most part. I am not a Wal-Mart shopper, even though I know I could get a few things cheaper there. We enjoy supporting small local businesses as much as possible, but when it comes down to it, I can’t find everything I need here. And it doesn’t make sense to drive 45 minutes-1 hour (one way) to find things that I need…fuel costs negates any savings.
Because of that, we choose to do a lot of online shopping – so I thought I would talk a bit about the places we use over the next few months. The first, and probably my favorite, is Amazon.com.
Special note: All links used in this post are affiliate links. Part of the way that we make money with SMC is by being an Amazon affiliate. See that Amazon search box on the right side of my blog over my Vitacost button? When you search for Amazon products that way, I make a small percentage of your purchase – it’s just another way we keep this site up and running at no cost to you. And really, I don’t share ANYTHING I don’t use and love – that’s not how I roll.
Amazon Prime
Last year, Barry and I decided to give Amazon Prime a shot – because we were using it so much that the two day shipping was a big perk. Yes, the initial cost was hard to swallow at first…and that’s why we waffled…but after using it for almost a year, we are totally sold.
Included in Amazon Prime: free two-day shipping on all “prime-eligible” items, unlimited streaming of 41,000+ movies and shows (we use this a LOT), and over 350,000 Kindle titles that you can borrow for FREE.
If you’re not sure if Prime is right for you, you can try it free for 30 days! However, if you’re a mom, dad, grandparent or caretaker, you can get Prime free for 3 months with an Amazon Mom free 3 month trial. Or, if you’re a student, you get Prime free too! Just make sure to cancel your subscription before it’s over if you don’t love it as much as we do.
Craft Supplies
Annie and I do a lot of crafting, so I try to find everything I need at the Dollar Tree…sometimes that doesn’t work though, so I buy craft supplies on Amazon. For the most part, it’s cheaper than any other craft store anyway…and most of the time it’s cheaper than eBay!
I would encourage you to price check Amazon before you purchase somewhere else – it might be cheaper…then again, it might not. But for us, a lot of time it works out…because it might be $1 more on Amazon, but I’d have to drive an hour to purchase it from the store. No savings there.
Amazon used to ship most items free with a $25 order, but that rate has increased to $35, which is another plus for having Prime…no minimum order.
Toiletries
We also purchase toiletry items from Amazon. I am known to wait for good sales on Amazon for toilet paper…I am usually notified about those from Deal Seeking Mom. I can get TP, using Subscribe and Save (which will be its own post), for cheaper than I can get it at the store…I don’t like paying more than $.25/regular roll. And Barry is quite particular about his TP.
Food
And finally, let’s talk food. I buy a lot of food from Amazon. Around these parts, people aren’t really into the natural living thing…so even if YOUR Kroger sells yadda-yadda, chances are mine does not. And for those of you who can buy Kerrygold at your Sam’s Club, consider yourself lucky and go eat a buttered muffin for me. I can find things at Amazon that I can’t find locally – like these quick cooking steel cut oats. Which makes natural living a lot easier. 🙂
I keep up to date on good deals with the two sites I mentioned above and also from Heavenly Homemakers, who posts Amazon deals on Saturday. I always set aside grocery budget money for monthly Amazon shopping.
Price Check
One last thing – sometimes even if my store carries certain items, I can find them cheaper by purchasing in bulk from Amazon. Case in point, Chi Chi’s green chilies. My local store hardly ever runs a sale on chilies, but we eat a lot of them. The cheapest I can usually find them is $1.25/can. When I use Subscribe and Save on Amazon, I can get them for $1.16/can. Not a HUGE savings, but when you eat a lot of chilies, it adds up. 😉 However, if my store runs a sale, I stock up there instead.
So, if you’ve never thought about purchasing food, toiletries or crafts from Amazon, hopefully I’ve opened that door for you. 🙂 I recommend clicking this directory if you want to ship items to Canada from US.
Any more Amazon tips you’d like to share with everyone?
Hi Stacy, You’ve got me hooked on $.25 a roll toilet paper. But I’m a little slow on catching on exactly how to and where to sign up. Kathy
I just sent you an email with a screen shot of what to look for…
HI Stacy,
I am confused, I saved this URL:
http://www.stacymakescents.com/trim-healthy-mama-essentials-and-where-i-buy-them
I was thinking this was a long list of items and where you buy them, but the URL now brings me to the shopping at Amazon post.
I am mixed up?
No. 🙂 I took that post down when we quit Trim Healthy Mama. I didn’t feel right keeping it up because I had been accused of trying to make money off of them. If you’re looking for something in particular, I can try to help.
Oh no….you still eat their way tho? do you have the list only named different? 🙂 I don’t even remember now, but I just thought of something else and came to check this. Cinnamon, I have read that most of stuff in the grocery stores isn’t “real” or is fillers. Oh, I don’t like conflict like this. I thought you were great at promoting it. Your review is why I bought it .
I buy real cinnamon from Vitacost. It’s good stuff – tastes nothing like the stuff in the store. Ceylon Cinnamon.
Hi stacy, I found the post where you talk about leaving THM, enough said. I am going to go reread it.
Please holler if I can answer any questions.
Hi Stacy,
Can you explain the difference between Amazon Prime and Amazon Mom. I’m not sure which one to sign up for. 🙂 Thanks!
Amazon Mom just gives you various discounts on mom/baby stuff – and you get three months free of Prime (free shipping, streaming, etc). Amazon Prime is a yearly fee and you get the free shipping and other options with it. Does that make sense? You can get prime with Amazon mom, but only free for three months.
Ahhh. I love the bustling metropolis of Southwest Virginia more than any other place on earth. I would trade my natural foods co-op and fancy Kroger in a heartbeat to live back home again. 🙂
🙂 No kidding – we love it here!
An added perk to Amazon shopping here in PA…. They sell $25 Amazon gift cards at the local gas station. I use these to make my purchases. I save money two ways by using the gift cards: 1. I don’t have to use a credit card, so no interest to worry about (even though we pay off our credit card each month), and 2. Our gas station gives10 cents off the listed gas price for EACH gift card purchased there (up to 35 gallons of gas). YAY! A win-win for me!
I can’t wait to see your next post about S&S. I used to LOVE using it – when you would order and items would come right away not “next month on your delivery date to save on boxes/shipments” so that I could get a hot price or use an Amazon coupon. I don’t like the “buy 5 items in one month to save MORE” and the “I need diapers NOW but you won’t ship until my arbitrary shipping date in three weeks.” And with the raised ‘free shipping’ level, and that my state now charges sales tax…sometimes Amazon isn’t my best bet. Then again I especially dislike Christmas shopping in the stores (traffic, crowds, lines) so I will use it for Christmas – but only because my sister shared her Prime with me so I can take advantage of fast, free shipping.
We buy our dog food on Amazon – we feed our dog all natural, as best we can, and Amazon is by far cheaper than buying healthy dog food locally!
Stacy, I know you were going to try once a month grocery shopping. Have you tried Click-n-Pull at your Sams Club? That’s how I get about 80% of my once a month shopping done. It is very hard to get to the store with four young kids (and the five year old is in a wheelchair). So I place my order online the day before, run to my Sams (an hour away) during school with just the baby tagging along, spend ten minutes picking up the meat and other items you can’t preorder, buy it, then stop at the customer service desk for the remainder of my groceries. I end up with three carts and have to shuffle things around, but at least I didn’t have to drag those heavy carts all over the store! Sanity and time saver. We buy a lot of non-grocery items on Amazon, too- I’ll have to look into their food!
I haven’t tried Click-N-Pull yet. I like going in and shopping for my stuff, plus you get free samples (Annie’s favorite).
Amazon Prime is a great thing!! I have an Etsy shop and for cost reasons do not buy my supplies until I get an order. I have what I need in two days if prime is offered. Good thing!! Will have to check out the food and remember to go through your site!! Thanks for the post.
Just had to pop in and say that you are making this Canadian green with envy. I’ve been enjoying your blog for a while now, keep up the great work!
You can share an amazon prime membership with up to 3 other family members! You each get your own login and can ship to your own addresses. ie. My in-laws are on ours with us, do we split the annual fee.
But are you all able to use the streaming tv/movies? So say you are the main account holder and the inlaws are on your Prime (shared) can they stream?
The other advantage to Amazon Prime is the streaming video stuff. I don’t actually use it myself, but my kids do, and have gotten to watch several series that they wouldn’t have otherwise, and it’s nice that you can do it on demand. We also live in a small town, and there are just so many things that are hard to get here. I also ship gifts directly to family members and avoid shipping costs in that way.
I love subscribe and save and if I get too many of one item it is super easy to skip a delivery or change how often things are delivered. We at first would blindly go buy our refrigerator filters from the store that we got our frig from. Now they are delivered every 6 months at $40 less per filter. Ouch that one hurt. Plus, think of all that job security for that UPS man coming right to my door. Better make him some cookies this year 🙂
I just started my Amazon Prime a few weeks ago, and you’ve got me thinking outside the box as far as purchasing grocery items from them. I do love knowing I can get items in 2 days. Yay! I appreciate your tips.
I have had Prime for about six years now. Would hate to be without it! It does get rather embarrassing during Nov/Dec. with daily deliveries. The poor UPS man has watched my kids grow and feels like part of the family.
I would have never thought to buy TP from there. Will check it out!