The best $139 we ever saved
& what we're spending it on instead
Here’s one of the last things I bought on Amazon:
It works fine to hold the pencils, pens, stamps, and paper for our greeting card station in the kitchen. But it cost $22, and was made in a factory in China using who knows what materials and labor practices. It looks kind of rustic which is why I bought it, but let’s get real, I bought it because I had an idea (“I should set up a greeting card station”) and then I wanted to quickly enact my idea via two-day shipping and without having to go anywhere outside of my normal routine (work, school, grocery store, activities). It came in a box, which I recycled, and there was also probably some plastic wrapping inside the box, which can’t be recycled.
Yesterday the girls and I went to a science-themed birthday party for one of Harriet’s friends and then we went to the PTA thrift store, which was just down the street and which is full of baskets and trinket-holders of all kinds (each one usually less than a dollar). Yesterday’s goal was to buy an outfit for Harriet, who will be walking in her school’s thrift shop fashion show this week (Bea is one of the announcers). We found two adorable skirts and a top, plus a cute velvet pillow, a mug, some skeins of fancy yarn (for Bea), and a brand-new lollipop-making kit. The total for all this was $13.90, which will also go directly back to the schools in our community. We also ran into three friends who are in the fashion show and helped them shop, and they found four outfits for $10! The store manager, who heard that we were all getting ready for the fashion show, also let the girls pick out jewelry to accessorize. Harriet chose this monogram necklace:
Anyway, we’re done with Amazon, which I mostly used for art supplies and dumb household stuff I couldn’t be bothered to shop for. I suppose I could still use it to buy something I have no idea where else to buy, but after ending our Prime subscription we will no longer be paying for the privilege of super-speedy shipping that tempts us into hasty, expensive choices.
Most subscriptions renew annually, with a total cost of $139 a year. If you have a Prime membership and you want to cancel it, you’ll still get to use what you need until it ends, but you’ll no longer be locked in to an expensive habit, like we were. To us, this looks like a pretty great savings and a chance to say no to at least one Trump-supporting broligarch.
Instead, why not spend that money on something in your community?
You could join a CSA like In Good Heart Farm, for the most delicious selection of locally-grown fruits and veggies.
Go to dinner at a great local restaurant.
Go indoor rock climbing at totally adorable cafe and camping supply store.
Go to a play or a show.
Do your shopping at a great local bookstore!
Treat yourself to a massage, a facial, or another beauty treatment at a woman-owned salon.
Get a great haircut at another woman-owned salon.
Get your car tuned up at a family-owned shop.
Or, contribute to a scholarship at the BEST camp community I know: Clapping Hands Farm, which is still taking campers for their spring break camps, spread across all the local school spring breaks. (Clapping Hands has a no-one-turned-away policy, which contributes to the vibrancy of the camps, helps our community, and also means they need to fund-raise for scholarships.)
Bea and Harriet have gone there for years now, and even Mamie camped last summer. If you value smart, kind, creative, diverse (in every way) camp counselors and artists, a wonderful parent community, and an infusion of new ideas and games and skills into your family life, you can’t do better than Clapping Hands Farm.
Amazon won’t do any of that stuff—it won’t grow and deliver healthy food, give you a massage or a good haircut, tune up your car, or take care of and teach your kids while you work. Unlike the thrift store, it won’t deliver tens of thousands of dollars to your school’s PTA. It’ll just abuse its workers, contribute to the Trump agenda, tear up your driveway, and make trash to take to the landfill. And who needs that?
Another way to use your economic power: join the boycott of Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and other companies that rolled back DEI policies at the insistence of President Trump.
Today, we’ll be cheering on the Wolfpack Women’s basketball team (another great investment—tickets to women’s sports! Then we’ll be honoring Wyatt Outlaw, Graham NC’s first Black town commissioner, as well as a labor leader and community organizer who was assassinated by the Klan on February 26, 1870.
How are you spending your Sunday, Frog Troublers? Did you get some time in the snow or sun this week? Or maybe both? Lots of love from us.
Thank you for today’s post. I eliminated my Prime membership a couple months back. It’s liberating! Spending part of the day reading The Barn by Wright Thompson. Heading out for a walk in a bit. Then, writing and sending post cards and thank you notes to friends and family.
Fwiw, I have now had now had *two* free-trial months on Amazon. I didn't think I would get a second one, but apparently, they don't care. I have switched over to eBay (please don't tell me they're evil too!) for essential items I can't get any other way. Thanks for fighting the good fight!!