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.
Showing posts with label Parents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parents. Show all posts
Monday, May 30, 2016
Thursday, July 23, 2015
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.
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.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Red Lobster and the Middle Class
Interesting article from cnn.com about the impending demise of Red Lobster and the continued squeeze of the middle class.
Reading the author's experience about going out to eat at Red Lobster as a kid, I thought back to my own experiences. While I was raised by professionals, college professors, and we had a vacation home (cabin), we actually had very little free money growing up. I think that was due to the fact that my parents income was somewhat sporadic in that Dad was paid only 9 months out of the year and Mom's income was based on then number of courses she taught. We also probably spent more money on housing and recreation than a normal family in that we had a house on the water, the vacation cabin, and my parents prioritized experiences over things. So, we did lots of camping, sailing, skiing, traveling and that all cost money. They also were doing the right things with money, putting it away for college funds and their own retirement. As a result, we didn't have free money for eating out. Eating out was for super special occasions and mostly when Grandpa was in town for business. I can remember Grandpa taking my brother and I out for dinner. As a family, I remember just a few times going out to some kind of all you can eat buffet (I also remember getting sick b/c I ended up eating too much or the foods were too rich). Mostly though if we ate out it was never at a chain restaurant. As a result, I don't have the fondness or nostalgia for chain eating.
Today, we eat out quite a bit (an issue I am always working on) but we still hardly ever eat at a national chain. I much prefer eating at mom and pop places.
Did you have a favorite chain restaurant when you were a kid?
Reading the author's experience about going out to eat at Red Lobster as a kid, I thought back to my own experiences. While I was raised by professionals, college professors, and we had a vacation home (cabin), we actually had very little free money growing up. I think that was due to the fact that my parents income was somewhat sporadic in that Dad was paid only 9 months out of the year and Mom's income was based on then number of courses she taught. We also probably spent more money on housing and recreation than a normal family in that we had a house on the water, the vacation cabin, and my parents prioritized experiences over things. So, we did lots of camping, sailing, skiing, traveling and that all cost money. They also were doing the right things with money, putting it away for college funds and their own retirement. As a result, we didn't have free money for eating out. Eating out was for super special occasions and mostly when Grandpa was in town for business. I can remember Grandpa taking my brother and I out for dinner. As a family, I remember just a few times going out to some kind of all you can eat buffet (I also remember getting sick b/c I ended up eating too much or the foods were too rich). Mostly though if we ate out it was never at a chain restaurant. As a result, I don't have the fondness or nostalgia for chain eating.
Today, we eat out quite a bit (an issue I am always working on) but we still hardly ever eat at a national chain. I much prefer eating at mom and pop places.
Did you have a favorite chain restaurant when you were a kid?
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