{"id":21366,"date":"2017-11-22T17:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T22:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/frugal-living\/?p=21366"},"modified":"2019-11-08T17:10:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T22:10:59","slug":"why-i-spend-12-a-month-on-amazon-prime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/frugal-living\/why-i-spend-12-a-month-on-amazon-prime\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Spend $9 a Month on Amazon Prime"},"content":{"rendered":"

BIG NEWS! Save $40 on your Amazon PRIME membership if you are a Veteran.<\/strong> New and existing PRIME members are eligible for this discount, however it is only available for active duty service members or veterans. Family members are not eligible.<\/p>\n

Of course, if you veteran lives in the same house, the entire family can take advantage of Amazon prime with their account.<\/p>\n

This veterans discount only lasts until November 11, 2019<\/strong>, so don’t delay! Renew your PRIME membership or finally get one with this amazing deal!<\/p>\n

Get all the information here!\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Amazon<\/p>\n

If you’ve never taken the plunge and tried Amazon Prime<\/a> the holidays are the BEST time to sign up for a free trial. When you sign up for\u00a0Amazon Prime \u00a0<\/a>you get a free 30 day trial.\u00a0After the 30 day trial you can cancel your membership and you won’t be charged.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

However, being a frugal shopper, I like to save money and it rubs me the wrong way to spend money on things we don’t really need.<\/p>\n

When Amazon Prime<\/a> was first introduced I was skeptical.<\/p>\n

I’m going to pay how much per year for what?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My brother, who is always first to find out about these kinds of things, signed up for\u00a0Prime\u00a0<\/a>right away. After a year of watching him order off Amazon and always get free shipping, while I waited for free shipping deals, trying to get my order value up to get free shipping, or missing out on great deals (for things I needed) while he was able to order them and have it delivered to his house in two days I decided to try it.<\/p>\n

I signed up for a Prime free trial<\/a> and I was hooked. After all a prime membership is only $10.99 a month or $99 for the year if you pay in full. I realized that the $99 yearly fee was only $8.25 a month, less than two trips to Starbucks. Would the savings really add up?<\/p>\n

It did, and here’s how.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon Prime is FREE for 30 days<\/a><\/h3>\n

Yes, this is a marketing tactic from Amazon,<\/a> however you can use Amazon Prime for 30 days then cancel and be charged nothing at all, ever. So for the next 30 days you can enjoy all the Amazon Prime Day deals, free shipping, holiday playlists, free books on Kindle and movies for free. When I signed up for the free trial I had every intention of cancelling my Amazon Prime membership after the 30 days, but I got so much value out of it, I decided to keep it.<\/p>\n

Important: You must cancel your Amazon Prime membership at the 30 day mark if you try it and decide it isn’t for you.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

You can sign up for your trial membership here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After your free trial expires you have two payment options. A year membership costs $99 if you pay in full. Amazon Prime monthly payments are $10.99 a month, so you do save about $30 a year when you pay in full.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon Prime gives you Free Shipping on thousands of items every day.<\/h3>\n

When I first signed up for Amazon Prime I had six kids at home. It was not easy to load them up and take them on errands. In fact I often avoided errands for as long as possible, because it was so much work getting them dressed to go outside in the cold, load them in the car, then unload them at a variety of stores.<\/p>\n

What I realized was many of the items I purchase regularly (toilet paper, paper towels, diapers, etc) are available on Amazon for a competitive price.<\/p>\n

If I can shop on Amazon <\/a>instead of loading up the kids and taking two hours out of our day to shop it is worth it!<\/p>\n

Also, if something is only available online, I usually purchase it from Amazon because I know I get free shipping and the price is better (which it usually is).<\/p>\n

I do most\u00a0my Christmas shopping on Amazon.<\/h3>\n

For most of my adult life I’ve lived away from family and have not spent Christmas with them. This means mailing gifts every single year. With Amazon Prime<\/a> I ALWAYS have free shipping, never have to wait in line at the post office (seriously that’s a nightmare at Christmas) and the gifts always arrived in two days!<\/p>\n

Amazon carries so many products it is almost impossible not to find a gift for a loved one on the site.<\/p>\n

Amazon Prime gives you FREE Kindle books through the lending library.<\/h3>\n

I love to read, and we love to go to the library. Sometimes the books I want to read are not available at my library and I’ve waited weeks or even months for books to come in. When you have Prime<\/a> you are able to “borrow” books for 30 days to read on your Kindle.<\/p>\n

This is an awesome way to read without spending money, worrying about library fines, or lost library books. They have over 500,000 titles available in the lending library so there’s probably a few books available you have on your list.<\/p>\n

Amazon Prime gives you unlimited\u00a0photo storage.<\/h3>\n

This is a new feature for Amazon Prime and probably the one I’m most excited about after free shipping. Since I pay $30 a year to a photo storage company and another $10 a month to Dropbox<\/a> to store photos this feature pays for itself every year.<\/p>\n

Cloud Drive offers secure online storage, automatic photo backup, and lets you access your photos anywhere: on your phone, computer, tablet, or any Fire device.<\/span><\/p>\n

After losing 40,000 and three years with of photos this summer when my son dropped my computer (some where backed up, some weren’t). I’ve been uploading photos to the cloud. I don’t want to lose any more photos and when you take as many as I do you need unlimited photo storage!<\/p>\n

Amazon Prime gives you thousands of free videos and television shows.<\/h3>\n

I don’t use this one often because I’m not much of a tv\/ movie watcher, but it’s definitely a great savings.<\/p>\n

You can instantly stream Prime Instant Video<\/a> titles from your computer’s web browser, Fire phone, Fire TV, Fire Tablets, iOS devices, and hundreds of other Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players, set-top-boxes, and gaming consoles.<\/p>\n

They have lots of kid’s shows available for free including Thomas, Veggie Tales, Angelina Ballerina, as well as lots of holiday movies.<\/p>\n

Amazon Prime gives you free streaming music.<\/h3>\n

We’ve been paying $9 a month for Spotify for the past year. Now Amazon Prime gives you free streaming music<\/a>. They have over a million titles including holiday music and playlists (yay! Love me some Christmas music!)<\/p>\n

This is a new benefit for Prime members that I’m excited to try out. I’d love to cancel my Spotify account and save!<\/p>\n

Amazon Prime gives you early access to Lightening Deals.<\/h3>\n

I love Lightning Deals <\/a>around Christmas time and on Prime Day because the prices are really amazing. A Prime membership gives you access to these deals 30 minutes early, so if it is something you really want to buy it will be available early and you’ll be able to get it before it sells out.<\/p>\n

Six Month Free Trial for Students!<\/h3>\n

If you have a child with a .edu email address they are eligible for a free six month Amazon Prime Student membership. The benefits are the same for a student membership but if you decide to continue with the program it is only $50\u00a0for the year instead of $99.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the student membership here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For my family Amazon Prime adds up!<\/h3>\n

Amazon Prime yearly membership $99 or $8.25 a month.<\/p>\n

Things I don’t need because I have an Amazon Prime membership:<\/p>\n