I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “you just published an Amazon post like a week ago.” It was two weeks, but yes, I did. However, this post is the March post and you know what that means – QUARANTINE ORDERING. We had the perfect storm for Amazon Ordering in March between moving back into our home after refinishing the floors, Spring Break, and Covid Quarantine. I was ordering all the things. So, let’s see all of the things on my Amazon March 2020 order history – plus how I paid for all of it.
If you missed it last time, you can see what I ordered from Amazon in February by pantry hook wall.
Amazon can be a real time saver, but it can also get out of control quickly. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know I have a pretty detailed household budget that I manage through You Need A Budget (YNAB). pantry hook wall keeps me on track for my goals. Checking it before making a purchase means that I make smart decisions when it comes to spending.
How I Save When Shopping Amazon
I’m not always spending money from the budget when I shop on Amazon. I use Swagbucks to earn FREE amazon gift cards and they really help to have extra “fun money” to shop on Amazon. Now that we’re all home looking for something to do, why not check out Swagbucks and earn some extra cash from your couch? Click here to learn more about how I use Swagbucks every day to earn over $300 in Free Amazon Gift Cards each year!
I also use the Chase Amazon Prime Credit Card to make purchases when I’m not using my gift cards. The Chase Amazon Prime Card gives you the option to earn 5% on your purchase or use your points to pay on Amazon.com. I always select the 5% cash back option when I order, and then I will redeem the cash back as a statement credit on my credit card to save money. That way, each purchase earns me the 5% cash back, and I can choose to erase certain purchases with my cash back through the Chase website.
I tend to save up our cash back for the holidays, but sometimes if the budget is lean and we NEED something, I will use the cash back to reimburse the purchase. All of the money spent is budgeted for in our YNAB budget. We pay the card off the day before payday just like all of our other cards. We never carry a balance.
March 2020 Explanation
For those of you reading this in the future, this is the month when everyone was beginning to quarantine for COVID-19. I made a list of projects to complete around the house. Because we were going to be home all day every day for God knows how long, Projects are my coping mechanism. I wanted to get the house finished.
Because I had a list of projects, that meant that I needed some tools and other items to finish those projects. So a lot of the ordering is that kind of stuff. Also, because we have a high-risk kid in the house, we did not go inside stores. So my ordering increased. Finally, as I worked on projects, I would find things I needed to make them better or whatever, so I would order those. Its a vicious cycle.
Ok, grab a cup of coffee and sit in a comfy chair, because this post is going to be long.
Amazon March 2020 Purchases
For the Kids
Back before all of this started, I had done some research on ways to help my daughter learn to read and work on memory skills. This book came highly recommended. It’s Remember 10 With Explorer Ben, and it is a cute story about Explorer Ben going on all of these adventures, but he keeps forgetting things or losing things he packed. It offers tips for kids of all ages to help Ben remember what he forgot. It shipped nicely wrapped and we really enjoy it.
Our daughter uses this card holder when we play card games, so I told her teacher that I would buy her one for the classroom for when they use cards. Since we never went back to school, its in her backpack for next year! Anyway, we love it, and its a great way to play Go Fish or Uno with little handed players.
For my Spring Break reading enjoyment, I ordered these two books. They are Comprehensive Literacy for All and Children With Disabilities: Reading and Writing the Four-Blocks Way. I’m trying to figure out how to help my child over breaks and the Summer develop her skills. These books are highly recommended in the disability community.
For the House
Right before we moved out to have our floors refinished – like the day before – the drain pump on our 10-year old Washing Machine died. I found a replacement drain pump part on Amazon and it was under $30. Doug watched a YouTube video, and it was a simple fix that took him less than an hour.
I also ordered my gauze pads that I use with my facial toner.
Over Spring Break, I ran out of Collagen Peptides. I don’t have a favorite brand yet, so I just try whatever has the best deal at the time. This brand of Collagen Peptides was great! It dissolved well in my coffee and did not alter the taste.
We had to place felt pads on everything to move back into our house once our floors were finished. I ordered this 258 piece felt pad kit, and it was plenty for us. It comes with all different sized and shaped pads, and it includes a durable, clear plastic case, which I love! The case fits perfectly into my favorite shoe boxes that I use to organize all over my house. The pads are nice and thick and very sticky.
They’ve done a great job on all of our furniture except for the island stools in the kitchen. Those stools get really heavy use, and they have started to wear off of those. If you’re not pushing and pull the chairs in and out with a 50lb kid sitting in it, you probably won’t have this problem. I’m considering these nail-in versions, but our stools have metal legs with plastic feet. I’m not sure if they would stick. Do you have any suggestions?
We have been wanting to replace the floor outlet forever, but we couldn’t do it until the floors were finished. The old brass one has been broken since we moved into this house. This in-floor outlet kit was easy to install and looks great on the finished floors! I especially love it because the outlet box is recessed, so your plug goes into the floor. Our old one had a metal flap that we ended up removing in order for the rug to sit flat.
I’ve been stalking this little rustic wood pedestal for several months. It used to be under $20, but then it was on a big blogger’s Instagram, and was instantly sold out. When it was finally available again, it was almost double the price. I decided that I would rather have it at the higher price than wait, so I bought it. I really love it as a candle stand on the island.
Right before Spring Break, I finished a little refresh of the Dining Room (which I will show you in the next few weeks). I knew I wanted to do a basket wall above the board and batten, so I had been collecting wall baskets for the few weeks before the quarantine. Just before the quarantine, I turned to Amazon to find 3 that were the perfect size to finish my collection. These Amazon Wall Baskets may be my favorite 3 on the whole wall! They are excellent quality and were cheaper than the ones I bought in the stores.
Even though we had water-based products used for the floor refinishing, we still had a little odor. Same thing when we were finally allowed to put our new rugs down on the floors. I ordered these Bamboo Charcoal Bags to absorb the odors, and boy did they ever! These bags are great because you can recharge them by putting them out in the sun once a month, and they last for 2 years. They come in a set of 8 (4 square bags, and 4 smaller bags – perfect for the car!). I’ve been hiding these around the house, and we have no odor issues – even in my son’s room. If you have pets – or teenage boys – or stinky husbands – you NEED these. They are an absolute need. 100%.
Quarantine Amazon March 2020 Orders
And here’s where the quarantine ordering starts. Oh you already thought that stuff before was quarantine ordering? Ha! I fooled you! That was the Spring Break/Floor Refinishing ordering. Here’s where the real shopping spree starts (all frugally, obvs).
Organizing Items
With the quarantine, I felt compelled to organize everything in my house. I decided to start with the laundry room because it was driving me crazy. We had never really organized it after we finished the remodel (I swear to God that post is coming. Like it might be the next one after this), so it was time. I measured my space, organized what I could with what I had on hand, and then placed an order for what I needed to finish the project.
First, I got a clear turntable for some random cleaning products that I keep in a cabinet. I love turntables, and use them all over the house. I like this one because it has taller sides. This way, the bottles don’t fall over. It fits perfectly in the cabinet with room to spare. I can’t say enough about this turntable. I love it.
Next, I wanted to use the door to organize some small things that I sometimes use when I do laundry. Right before the quarantine, I purchased a small bottle of this stain remover, and I didn’t want it to get lost in the cabinet. So I ordered this clear command caddy to hang on the door for easy access. I also keep my mesh bag folded up there.
I had always wanted this Laundress Stain Brush for the laundry room, and it would go perfectly in that caddy, so I finally got it. It was cheaper on Amazon than it was in the local stores.
We had an old customizable storage bin to hold our batteries, but it wasn’t really working for our family anymore. I looked around and found this lidded battery organizer, and its like the best thing ever. It organizes all of our batteries of every size, and it fits perfectly with my shoe bin organizers that I use to organize in the laundry room. 5 stars for this!
One of the things I organized in the laundry room was my Command stash. This includes all of the extra hooks and strips that I had bought over the years. I was able to fit it all in my favorite clear shoe box along with the box of felt pads I had purchased earlier in the month. I wanted to hide cords and keep frames from moving on the wall, so I ordered some more clear hooks and picture hanging velcro to add to my stash since I was running low. Those clear hooks are my favorites for hiding cords!
Finishing the pantry was high on my quarantine priority list, so I ordered more pantry hook wall so that I could finish my pantry hook wall. These are the same ones that I used in the laundry room, and they are so affordable!
We’re like two thirds of the way done. Can you make it?
Tools & Remodel Supplies
Last month, I showed you how we finally broke down and bought a Multi Tool. We have a couple of tiling repair projects that are on our quarantine to do list, and I needed multi tool blades to complete those. I purchased a grout blade as well as a blade to cut through tile.
After the floors were refinished, our honey oak stair railing was sticking out like a sore thumb. We decided to refinish it, but that meant sanding off all of the old poly. I didn’t really want to do that, so I ordered this Varnish Stripper to do the job. It didn’t work. We ended up sanding. It did a great job taking the paint off the spindles, though.
I needed a few more 1″ felt pads, and I couldn’t find just that size from the seller of the amazing kit that I bought. So I ended up just ordering a set of Scotch felt pads. They aren’t as thick as the ones from the kit, but they work fine in the dining room.
Homeschool 2020 Amazon Order
And here’s where the “OMG we’re homeschooling now” orders come in.
Our district graciously offered devices for at-home learning, but my husband and I decided to use this as a sign to purchase our own. We had one old laptop for our son to use. But for our daughter I wanted to get a Chromebook like they use at school. My thinking was we could configure it with the programs that she uses at school, and by owning it, she could use it over the summer to keep up her skills. She uses a lot of technology at school to complete her work due to her disability. We just thought this was the best course of action for the long-haul, not just for this Homeschool period.
I found this HP Chromebook that was in our budget. It’s been a long time since I’ve bought a computer, and this one seemed like it had the most memory for the price. We’ve really enjoyed having it, and I’m glad that we bought it when we did because it sold out super quick. The shipping was really fast. We got it the day after we ordered it.
We also ordered an ipad stylist for my daughter’s ipad, since she uses one at school. This ipad stylist works really well, is larger than most (which is what we wanted), and is budget-friendly.
We have SmartTVs, but they are old. They don’t have the latest apps. We decided to get Disney+, so we needed some sort of smart stick for 2 of our TVs. The Amazon Fire sticks were on sale, so I scooped up 2. We’re pretty happy with them so far. For optimal use, you need an outlet to plug the stick into, and I didn’t know that when I ordered. So that’s an FYI. On one TV, we were able to get power from the TV by using a USB outlet, but it really needs more power than that. The stick sometimes blacks out Disney+ if my kids are binging a show.
Someday, I’ll upgrade our power bridge behind the TV to a dual gang version, but for some reason, that hasn’t hit the quarantine to do list yet.
This is it! The last order of March! Get excited!
One of my quarantine to do items was to clean out and organize the garage. About 2 years ago, I bought this special bike trailer for older kids called a WeeHoo. I never put it together. So in the Great Garage Clean Out of Quarantine 2020, I put the trailer together. It really needed a kickstand, so I ordered one on Amazon.
For our monthly Subscribe & Save order, we all got our monthly vitamins, and I added something new to the mix. Doug got his SmartyPants Men’s Complete. I got my Smartypants Women’s Complete, the kids got a bottle of Smartypants Kids Formula & Fiber. I also got my Olly Sleep and Olly Skin Supplements and my Renew Life Women’s Probiotics.
Total Spent on Amazon March 2020
Holy crap that was a lot of orders. Are you still with me? I promise, the ordering has slowed significantly in April.
In March 2020, I spent $827.84 on Amazon. $684.37 of that was on our Amazon Prime Credit Card that earns 5% cash back. I used $143.47 of my Gift Card Balance that I earned FOR FREE from Swagbucks. I decided to redeem $109.88 worth of points for cash back on our Amazon Prime Credit Card. So that means I only paid $574.49 for all of that. That’s about a 31% savings!
Did you know I have an Amazon Storefront? I do! Check it out if you want to see the things I’m loving on Amazon! It’s fun for me to “windowshop”. I just started loading up the Women’s Fashion list with items for an upcoming tropical vacation (if we even get to go)! I’ve also been updating the Cleaning & Organizing list because that’s what I’m doing during the quarantine.
I’ve slowed down a touch on the Amazon ordering in April, but its still more than normal. Check back next month to see what I got in April!
Did you order anything fun from Amazon this month that you absolutely love? Tell me in the comments!
Take care & stay stafe!
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