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Get the most from your Amazon Prime membership

If you've looked at any of past posts, you will notice I order from Amazon a lot. For me, anyone that will deliver to my house (in 2 days!) has a big advantage because I don't like going to stores. If I don't like something, I send it back.

The only downside to ordering online is we constantly have to take our recycling out because there are so many boxes! C'est la vie.

Here are my tips to get the most from an Amazon Prime membership!

1. Free shipping is a no-brainier
I'm going to start with the most obvious. If you want to get the most from your membership, use it a lot. Check Amazon's selection and prices for everything.

Consider when you want to go to the local Target to buy something that is .50 cheaper there than from Amazon that you are also using gas, wear on your car and time to get there an back, even if it's only 3 miles away. Using federal mileage reimbursement rates (.53 per mile) that is $3.18, plus your time. Also, let's be honest, you're going to buy more than that one item you needed - I always do.

2. Take advantage of no-rush shipping promotions
When I check out, I always think about whether I really need my item in 2-days or if I can wait and then I look at what Amazon is offering in exchange for choosing "no rush" shipping. If it's something I'm interested in, I will do no-rush to get the credit.

Lately, they have been offering either $5.99 off a Prime Pantry order or $20 off an Amazon Home Service. I got $20 off a carpet cleaning booked via Amazon, which is a pretty good deal for letting them ship me the dog treats I ordered in 5 days instead of 2.

However, my favorite is when they offer $1 credits for a digital product, like books or movies. I  collect these up for a while then get a whole book or movie for free. Sadly they don't give you a choice of what benefit you'll get. It seems like they will give me digital products a lot and then toss in something I don't want. If I really don't need my stuff, I might still choose this unattractive offering to bring back the digital credits, which are what I really want.

3. Use Prime Video to replace or supplement Netflix
There are some pretty good TV shows and movies on Amazon prime's streaming service. They are even developing original content (I liked Man in the High Castle, the Good Girls Revolt and the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). If you are thinking about getting Netflix, consider Prime instead. It's cheaper and you can get all the other benefits too.

If you are thinking about cancelling your cable, between Netflix and Prime you can definitely find something to watch. We have both services but no cable and really the only thing missing is the news and sports.

4. Borrow free books on your kindle
If you have a kindle e-reader, you can also borrow a free book once a month. I used to use this a lot more but since it's only on a kindle device (not kindle apps!) and my kindle is really old, I hardly ever use it anymore preferring to borrow e-books from my local library instead. However, if you using your kindle a lot, check out the free books available!

I used it to read Harry Potter in German which was kind of fun.

5. Discounts for Subscribe and Save
One thing I don't take advantage of is the savings for subscriptions to products, I don't like things being auto-shipped because they might come when I don't need them. But if you are definitely going to need diapers or dog food every 3 months, you can get discounts for having it auto-shipped to your house.

6. Amazon music
I'm not very musical so I can't comment on their selection vs spotify or other services, but it would save you money to use this instead of paying for an additional service.

7. Prime-only discounts, such as prime day
Being a Prime member also opens up Prime-only perks like access to special deals. I generally find these really hard to search, I don't want to scroll through pages and pages of what is on sale to find something I might want to buy by chance. However, once in a while, one of their recommendations to me are gold. For example I bought these adorable wool socks on a lightening special.


While I definitely get my money's worth out of my Prime membership and order from Amazon more often than I should for a frugal lifestyle, imagine what I'd have picked up at Target if I was going there regularly?



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