I love Amazon. You love Amazon. So I thought I’d show you what I order from Amazon each month!
If you missed it last month, you can see what I ordered from Amazon in September by clicking here.
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). My YNAB Budget 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. 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.
October Amazon Purchases
October was a slower month for me Amazon-wise than September was. I did start ordering Christmas items and everything shipped free with Prime. Let’s see what I got!
I did have a couple of Kitchen & Laundry Room Remodel items on this month’s order list, including this bread box for the pantry. I’ve been wanting a bread box for a long time, and this one is nice and roomy. We are able to fit one full loaf of bread, english muffins, and tortillas in the box with room to spare. It comes in a ton of colors, and is budget-friendly. There was even a coupon at the time I ordered it! Click here to see the rest of my DIY Pantry Reveal.
Along with the bread box, I also ordered this t-shirt that has been stalking me on Facebook. I swear, every time I would peruse my feed, this shirt popped up. I ordered the Olive Green and I love it! The smallest size is a Small, so its a little oversized on me, but I really like that look for this shirt. It’s long enough that I can wear it with leggings, the baggy fit tends to fall off a shoulder, which I love, and the material is thick. I can’t wait to get more colors! Plus, it’s under $20!
For the boring Kitchen items, we had to get an 8″ flexible duct pipe and collar clamps for the new vent hood.
I finally broke down and bought this eye balm stick because my concealer was showing my fine lines. This stuff is amazing. It’s a cooling stick that you swipe under your eyes before you put your concealer on. You can also use it over your makeup throughout the day for a refresher. It’s full of good for your skin peptides, and the cooling effect feels wonderful.
Our Polaris Pool Sweep needed a new bag to deal with all of those leaves. We were able to order one on Amazon for less than $15.
Christmas Gifts
Santa made his first order of the holiday season to knock out some of our list. In October, I picked up advent calendars for each kid, plus one of their two toy gifts.
I am apologizing in advance for these photos. I still have one kid at home all day, and she doesn’t take naps. She also likes to be my shadow and follow me wherever I go. When the boxes from the North Pole (aka Amazon) get delivered, they go straight to Santa’s Workshop in the attic to get wrapped. So I had to sneak up there and take these pictures in my attic that has one lonely lightbulb as its only source of light.
My son loves legos, and the Lego Advent Calendar that our Elf brings him is always a hit. This year, they have a Harry Potter Lego Advent Calendar, and I want it for myself. How cute are the minifigs in their Mrs. Weasley Christmas Sweaters? OMG. Christmas in the Wizarding World. Sign me up! He’s going to flip out when he opens this. It’s not available from Amazon right now, so I’ve linked it from Target.
I also got him the Knight Bus Lego Set. We love to put these sets together!
My two daughters are obsessed with Barbie. Last year, I purchased the Barbie Advent Calendar for the first time, and it was their favorite thing to do right when they woke up each morning. They had to see what new accessory Barbie was going to have today. I wish there were two different versions so that they could each have their own. I saw a YouTube video of the unboxing of this one, and the outfits are really cute. They’re going to love it.
Just so they don’t fight, I also bought the Lego Friends Advent Calendar so that they each have their own calendar. It was a great price on Amazon compared to other stores.
For their gifts, I bought a Barbie Pool Float Accessory Set and a Barbie Dishwasher Accessory Set. A few years ago, I used an IKEA shelf to set up a Barbie Apartment in my daughter’s room. I had my Barbie furniture from when I was a kid, and we’ve added to it over the years. This is their favorite thing to play with (and mine too!), so I like to fill in the missing pieces with their gifts.
For our monthly Subscribe & Save order, we all got our monthly vitamins. This was the first month in a while that my Olly Gummy vitamins could ship. They do not ship these in the Summer due to the heat. Doug got his SmartyPants Men’s Complete. I got my Smartypants Women’s Complete, plus my Olly Sleep and Olly Skin Supplements.
Total Spent on Amazon in October
This month, I spent $339.32 on Amazon. $293.30 of that was on our Amazon Prime Credit Card, and I used $34.12 in Gift Cards that I earned from Swagbucks. I chose not to redeem any of our points for cash back on our Amazon Prime Credit Card.
With the holidays coming soon, I haven’t ordered their big gifts yet. My son wants the Harry Potter Lego Clock Tower, and my daughters want the Barbie Dream Camper and the Barbie Airplane. Once I order those, I just need to get them some books and some clothes, plus a few stocking stuffers, and I’m done shopping for them. My goal is to get the shopping and wrapping done in the next couple of weeks.
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’ve also got my favorite Holiday items and even toy ideas for kids!
Did you order anything fun from Amazon this month that you absolutely love? Tell me in the comments! Check back next month to see what I ordered in November!
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