Grouse Creek Farm is sort of in the middle of nowhere. It’s ten minutes to the closest gas station, fifteen minutes to our closest one grocery store (expensive!) town, and forty-five minutes to the north end of the large city. And we LOVE the country life.
But with everything requiring a drive, gas costs add up quickly! Having to make a trip to the store because we ran out of toilet paper isn’t economical. And yet I always used to wait until the last roll to remember to buy it.
Same with wipes. And diapers. And more household goods then I care to mention, actually!
That’s where our Amazon Prime membership and Amazon subscribe and save has come in handy. And no, I’m not an affiliate, just a large family mama trying to keep her sanity and sharing what has worked for us.
If you aren’t familiar with Subscribe and Save, you might want to check it out. Each month (or on whatever schedule you choose) you get the same item delivered.
This system has allowed me to slowly stockpile necessities like toilet paper and diapers. I’m no longer waiting until the last diaper to remember to buy some. No more phone calls to Bryan saying, please stop at the store on your way home from work!
What do I have delivered currently?
Monthly:
Diapers for Simon and Brynna
Every other month:
Dishwasher soap
Toilet paper
Baby wipes
Every three Months
My vitamins
Vinyl gloves (makes cleaning up dirty jobs so much nicer!)
Gallon size freezer bags
Every Four Months
A new shower curtain liner (never remember to change this before!)
Every Six Months
Quart size freezer bags
I like that I’m able to adjust my deliveries as needed. Too much TP on hand? Skip a delivery.
But, I purposefully choose delivery times that were just close enough that I wouldn’t run out and I could start a non-food stockpile. It’s worked great!
Budgeting for Subscribe and Save
Since not every delivery is the same, it was a little hard for me to figure out this piece. Bryan helped, and we came up with a good average for the months with a moderate amount of items. We now devote $95 a month from our budget to these household items.
On months when fewer items arrive, we transfer the rest into savings, and track it on our savings spreadsheet.
On a month with more items, we apply the $95 and pull whatever else we need from our Amazon savings fund. We have the money we need without having to readjust everything on the high months.
I’m loving it! No gas, no forgetting to buy essentials, and room in the budget to add on an item or two and still be ok.
Do you use this feature of Amazon? What do you have automatically sent out?
