Amazon Mom Update

Almost a year ago, I signed up for Amazon Mom/Prime program.

What I have learned, and it is also what I expected, is that having Amazon Prime makes it super easy to buy stuff from Amazon.  "Free" two day delivery on lots of items means that I often go to Amazon for my buying needs.  Does that mean I'm spending more in general?  Hard to know.  I could be making the same purchases, but simply making them at Amazon instead of other retailers.  Or I could be making more purchases since Amazon makes it so easy.  I suspect it is both.

Today, I was working on my Amazon Prime subscription box.  The subscription service allows one to sign up for purchases that are regularly occurring.   For us, that includes diapers, wipes, diaper genie liners, baby sunscreen, baby snacks, etc.  If you sign up for five items a month that ups your savings to 15% off on everything and 20% off on diapers.

So each month, we get diapers and wipes.  Normally we get some puff snacks for Baby Sam.  That normally leaves two items left.  We have storage space, so I'm genarlly looking for something we go through a lot of and is a dry good or cleaning supply.

As working parents, coffee is a big thing for us, so today  I decided to look at coffee options.  On Amazon, even narrowing by Prime, that brings up thousands of choices.  Select ground and hazelnut and I'm down to hundreds.   Sort by price and I come up with some brands that Mr. Sam buys regularly.  Ok, price per bag, price per ounce.  No idea if this is a good price.  Am I falling into the trap of buying something to get a discount that isn't a good deal?   Cross check to the Wal-mart site and yes this is a good price.

Do the same thing for Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and I'm good to go for check out.

So bottom line, discounts can work but you have to be careful about making a poor buying choice for purposes of getting a discount.

Also, being able to get items I need delivered makes my life so much easier.  Between, work, baby, family life, maintaining sanity is important.

Uphill Battle

I'm sorry I've not posted here more.  But, now I understand how busy one gets with a full time job and a new baby.

Financially, we are all over the place.  We can't seem to get back on track post baby.  While our incoming salaries remain the same or better, our outgoing expenses are much. much higher than normal.

Child care is running $1900 a month ($22,800 a year) which appears to be way higher than normal for Florida, but I don't know anyone in my circle paying the Florida annual average of $8300.  Add in diapers, formula, wipes, etc. at $300 a month or so and we are up to $2200 in expenses.  And, we actually don't spend much on Baby Sam, we hit the thrift stores for books and toys and I stick to super sales for baby clothes.  At present, we are also adding $200 a month to Baby Sam's college fund.  So in total, about $2400 a month in baby expenses.

Another challenge, we are converting a rental property from rental to family.  We have, in the past, utilized one of rental properties for our snow bird relatives which was a financial hit.  Now, that we are turning the rental property to a family property, we have had a couple of months where our old tenants have not paid us.  So that also, obviously, impacts our cash flow.

Anyways, we continue to contribute to our 401ks, at max level, and continue to put money into savings, but we need to catch up on our IRAs.

Hope your summer is going well.

Amazon Mom?

After ordering a big box of Seventh Generation wipes and Diaper Genie refills from Amazon, up popped an offer to join the Amazon Mom program.

The Amazon Mom program is a spin off from the Amazon Prime program.  The basics of Amazon Prime are free two day shipping, access to films, t.v. shows, music and e-books as well.  The annual cost for Amazon Prime is $99.

Amazon Mom is part of your Prime membership so it costs $99 a year and includes the above Prime benefits.  In addition, it offers discounts on diapers, wipes and other baby related products.

Specifically you get:

5% off baby wipes. Get 15% off wipes when you subscribe to 5 or more items.
15% off Subscribe & Save:  Save items when you subscribe to 5 or more items.
20% off diapers (15% Amazon Mom discount + 5% Subscribe & Save discount).

Lets talk about subscriptions, that means that you sign up for automatic delivery of certain things, diapers, wipes, formula but also things like soap and toothpaste and non baby items too.  My research indicated that there are pros and cons to subscriptions for baby items including the fact that babies grow and change so you need to manage and update things like diaper sizes and formula preferences, etc.

Amazon Mom used to be a better deal, but I guess folks with fake babies triggered Amazon to close up the extra 5% discount loophole for Subscribe & Save.

I have friends and Mom friends who swear by Amazon Prime, it IS a lot easier to simply order what you need for baby rather than trying to run errands with a baby in tow.  But, Amazon doesn't offer these discount programs or free shipping and then lose money on it.  They know enough about consumer behavior and habits to know that many people will order more items (that cute outfit or toy) such that Amazon will make enough in profits if the shipping is free or if there is a discount.  Certainly there are people out there that are disciplined enough to only order the items they truly need and they make the program work for them.  I also think Amazon Prime probably makes great sense if you are located in a rural area or an expensive area such that you can't get discounted products in a quick and easy fashion close by.

So far, I've not signed up for Amazon Prime or the Amazon Mom program, I'm still thinking about whether it would work for us and whether or not I would truly come out ahead.  Back to my earlier Amazon order, I still obtained free shipping on all the items I ordered without paying for a Prime membership.  

What about you, do you have an Amazon Prime membership, what has been your experience with these discount programs?