If I ordered this on Amazon, I’d have it by now…

Errands with six kids are tough.  Trips to Target never seem to cost less than $80, by the time I buy the extra things that the children beg for or that I decide I “need.”  Or, I pay a babysitter and then come home stressed out after an hour under the florescent lighting, having forgotten at least one thing that I meant to buy.  When I avoid going, a list of small things that we really do need piles up.  In winter, especially this snowy winter, this has been getting even worse, and we are away on the weekends, so errands without kids are not an option.  For two weeks I watched the high chair scrape up my hard wood floor, the felt pads had fallen off and I kept thinking that “tomorrow” I would get to the store and buy some more.

Enter Amazon prime, my new best friend.  Prime is an annual charge for two day shipping on all purchases.  This meant that I ordered my felt pads and, voila, they were sitting on my doorstep two days later.  I spent $3.66.  So now, anytime I realize that we need something, I check Amazon first, and order it right away, even if it is only something small.  I don’t “bump up” my order to earn free shipping, so I keep from buying things that we don’t need, which pays for the annual fee easily, I’m sure.  KIND snack bars, which I pay $3 for at the mountain, are 12 for $17 on Amazon, so I ordered a case and threw it in my bag.  Whole wheat pastry flour, which my grocery store doesn’t sell? Skip the trip to another store and order it on Amazon.

I love shopping in downtown Princeton when I can and supporting the local, independent stores, but these are all items that I would be buying at a big chain store anyway, so I don’t feel guilt about it.  Plus, there is the small excitement of getting a package, which still thrills me, somehow, even if it is felt chair pads.  My big car uses a lot of gas, and I used to use about a tank a week, but that cuts down significantly when I skip the errands.

Family life improves when we “find” time in our day, and online grocery shopping, and now errands like this, are found time for my family.  Things get checked off before they even get on my “to-do” list, so I am less stressed.  This is allowing us to stay on top of our household needs while still keeping our weekends for family time, and I am so, so thankful for this small change!