Big sales like Amazon’s Prime Day can be awesome, especially if you’re smart about them. Prime Day is Amazon’s big annual sale, exclusively for Prime Members. It’s kind of become a thing the last few years, with sales similar to Black Friday. If you’re not currently a Prime member, no worries! You can sign up for their 30 day free trial and still get all the sales. If you decide Prime isn’t for you in the long run, just cancel before you’re charged at the end of 30 days. I like to set a reminder in my phone for things like this so I don’t forget!
Tips for Shopping on Prime Day
While big sales can seem like a wonderful opportunity, more often than not they just cause you to spend money that you didn’t really need to. In order to avoid that, don’t go browsing for things you don’t actually need. Before you start shopping, make a list of things that you will legitimately be buying in the near future. Birthday presents. Christmas presents. Household goods. Planned upgrades for your home that you just haven’t gotten around to yet. Now go look for these things specifically.
Before you hit the purchase button, consider again if it’s something you actually need and will actually use. Is it going to help you or is it just going to make it that much harder to reach your financial goals? For myself, I’m primarily shopping for others today. I know it’s only July, but I have my eye out for some great Christmas presents. The holiday season is always hectic and stressful, so if I can buy just a few presents ahead of time, it’ll make my future self that much happier.
Top Things to Buy
Audible
My husband and I took advantage of this deal last year and we have been LOVING Audible. We pick out books and listen to them together. It feels like much better quality time than just watching tv every night.
Amazon Echo
We listen to audiobooks together primarily through our Echo. We just have the first generation (link) in our kitchen/living room area, and an echo dot in our bedroom. These work perfectly well for us, though the echo dot’s sound quality isn’t as great. They have the new Echo Show link majorly on sale, which looks pretty nifty too.
Of course, the Echo is for a lot more than just listening to audiobooks. We also use it as a hands-free kitchen timer. If you have a Spotify subscription, then it’s really easy to listen to music on Spotify through the Echo. My sister’s family has the Amazon Music subscription and the kids love requesting their favorite songs from Alexa.
If you don’t want to use Audible, Amazon Music, or Spotify, you can still get good use out of the Echo as it functions as a bluetooth speaker as well. It takes a couple minutes to set up the first time, but every time after that you just have to say, “Alexa, connect my phone,” and it’ll connect via bluetooth. I use this feature a lot.
Kindle Unlimited Reading
There are all kinds of books you can get with the Kindle Unlimited Subscription, like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Amazon Music
You can currently get 4 months of music for $.99, which is a really great deal and certainly worth checking out, especially if you have an Echo.
Prime Pantry
This is a resource that I’ve certainly underused. I definitely plan on buying more of our staples with Prime Pantry so that we’ll have fewer, and shorter, trips to the grocery store.
Other Products to Watch For on Prime Day
Amazon is rolling out most of its deals throughout the way, so it’s hard to say for sure what are going to be the best sales. Based on last year, and things I love from Amazon in general, here are some things to look out for.
DNA Test
These have been really popular and would make a great Christmas present.
Instant Pot
We got one for our wedding and use it quite a lot! I often make this chicken tikka masala with it. Black beans and chickpeas from scratch is another favorite of ours. Things really do taste so much better if they’re not canned.
Smart plugs
These are an initial investment, but I can definitely see how they could pay off in the long-term. I was wishing we had some a couple weeks ago when we went on vacation so that we could turn the lights on and off in our apartment without actually being there. That’s still a thing people do, right? Make it look like you’re not out of town?
Smart Thermostat
In the same vein as the Smart Plugs, a Smart Thermostat is an initial investment that pays for itself after a time. If you can get it on sale then it’ll pay for itself even more quickly!
Diffuser
We have two of these in our home and use them all the time. I love that this one isn’t all plastic-y looking.
Books
If you use the code PRIMEBOOKS18 you’ll get $5 off a $20 book order! I’m pre-ordering this book today and debating on what my second should be. #bookwormproblems
Phone Chargers
I’m not sure why this is, but I just feel like you can’t have enough chargers. I love these nice long ones from Amazon.
Immersion Blender
We got an immersion blender for our wedding and it’s been incredibly handy. I use it for everything from scrambled eggs to smoothies to homemade mayo. And the cleanup is SO much easier than a traditional blender.
Some other things we got from our wedding and absolutely love:
- Baking sheets with lids. These have been so handy.
- These mixing bowls with lids and grater attachments. All my friends are jealous of these.
- The Newlywed Cookbook. The brownie recipe will change your life. Or at least make you dissatisfied with any brownie you eat in future.
Overall, I’m a huge fan of Amazon. My husband and I created our wedding registry on Amazon, which was a wonderful experience. It was also slightly easier than using the Target registry, for both us and our guests. I’ve also had good luck finding the best deals on text books from Amazon, so the Prime membership has more than paid for itself in shipping through the years. I hope you’re able to find the things you need today. Happy shopping!
