27 Ways Amazon Online Shopping Saves Me Time, Money, and Stress

1. I get what I want period.
2. My order comes quickly.
3. Shopping online doesn’t take gas. No trip to the store saves me gas at $3/gallon and for me it’s about $3 per trip.
4. Drive Time. No trip to the store saves me minimally a drive time of 30 minutes.
5. Always in stock. No walking around the store looking for something that might not even be in stock. Been there, done that!
6. Free 2 Day Shipping Guaranteed for Prime Members.
7. A kid free experience—and if you’re anything like me, Amazon online shopping doesn’t even compare with the traditional way to shop. Hands down shopping always takes longer with kids in the equation.
8. Shop anytime – this is handy because your time is precious. No waiting for a store to open or stay open late.

9. Shop anywhere – sometimes this anywhere thing is so helpful even directly from your phone.

10. I have control. Shopping online with Amazon helps me to remove things I can’t control (distractions – people, red lights, slow cars, kids throwing up in the car—you get the picture.)

11. Easy re-ordering. I just click on my order history—and it shows me all my purchases.

12. Easy returns. For the most part returns are free. (Take note: Make sure the product indicates free returns. Amazon used to offer free returns on everything, but it doesn’t now.)

13. There’s a paper trail. My shopping history tracks where I bought something and when I bought it.

14. Inspiration. Amazon gives me ideas for other stuff based on previous purchases.

15. Try on at home. Forget that feeling of the pressure to decide on a purchase based on a dressing room experience.

16. It’s like 2 Men and a Truck Delivery. If it is a heavy, a large size, or an awkward shaped item—someone else takes care of it. They do the heavy transporting, not me. No wasted time trying to figure out how I’m going to get it home.

17. Prices are very competitive, if not always cheaper.

18. Gifting made easy. I can send something from Amazon to someone else with gift wrap. I did this for a couple of blogging friends this past year. It was super easy and fun.

19. Shared Prime membership. My husband and I share the membership so he can order and I can order through our individual accounts.

20. Tons of free videos. With your Amazon Prime membership you automatically get Amazon Prime Video. There is quite a variety and we love all the kids options.

21. Music options like Pandora. Also included in a Prime membership is Amazon Prime Music – it’s kind of like Pandora, so it’s a great option for listening to music throughout the day.
22. **My favorite on this list**   The Amazon Kindle. By far this gem—Amazon Kindle saves me time, money and stress! Not only is the Kindle Fire reasonably priced, it’s kid friendly, has parental controls and you can manage how long your kids are using it. Each kid can have their own login, plus it’s an extra handy tablet for adults as well. My husband and I both have Kindles too for reading books—those we’ve purchased, sampled, or loaned from the library.

23. Free books and magazines. Amazon Prime Reading (also included in your Prime membership) comes with certain books and magazines that are free to read. In addition with your Kindle you can share your library with other family members. This is the best because both my husband and I can read a book at the same time on our own Kindle.

24. Large selection of audio books. Audibel is Amazon’s online audio book option. For us it is the best for road trips. We drive a lot! 

    My husband recently added an audible membership to our Prime Membership and he loves it. His daily commute is nearly three hours so listening to books and podcasts has become one of his newest favorites. He just told me the other day that he is thankful for the Brad Thor books on Audibel (action, mystery—think Jason Bourne)  especially after a hard week because it keeps him awake on his commute home.

    As I mentioned before, because we share a Prime Membership, I can access on my Kindle the Audible books he has purchased.

    
    

25. Universal registries. The Registries – this was one of the things we utilized for baby showers. It was so easy and helpful for me so I could re-order things, see who purchased stuff, and it was helpful for relatives who lived out of state. Anyone who had my link to my registry could just shop online with Amazon and have things delivered directly to us.

26. The Wish List. From time to time things will pop into my head that I need or that I would like to purchase. When I place things in my wish list it results in Amazon letting me know when it goes on sale or the price has changed. It also is a great place that my husband and family members can look at my list to see what I would like for my birthday or Christmas through the Friends and Family List option.

 

27. “Free” Toys and Crafts. This one may be silly, but it totally is a benefit to me. We love to get mail and we love to do crafts and paint and be creative. So sometimes the best toys for my son to unleash his creativity is—you guessed it—by creating excitement in receiving our packages and by using the boxes and packing material from our Amazon purchases!