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Since I'm planning on traveling when my lease is up, I've been buying things I will need. I have been able to order things when they are on sale as opposed to stacking orders until I reach that magical free shipping, thus missing out on the sale.
I also just ordered the cat food my cat likes without driving all over town looking for it.
I'm sure I'm going to find many other things. I haven't even explored the movies yet.
No matter if it's Amazon, Costco or whatever...if you don't see the value in it simply don't sign up.
Why do so many people care that others make different choices?
Why is it any of your business?
Well, I like the discussion if it helps me get stuff that I am paying for... for free. That's a better value.
For example, Cloudy Dayz indicated that I can get my TV shows for free. That's a huge benefit to me (if true). However, she's only shown me how to pay more for the shows.
That's the most value to you. Some people value time over money. You're projecting your views of caring about money more than people and time onto others. Different people value different things.
1. Cheap and frugal people both love to save money, but frugal people will not do so at the expense of others.
2. Frugality is about assessing the bigger picture and having the patience to cash in on the simple savings strategies.
3. Cheapness uses price as a bottom line; frugality uses value as a bottom line.
4.Cheap people are driven by saving money regardless of the cost; frugal people are driven by maximizing total value, including the value of their time.
5. Being cheap is about spending less; being frugal is about prioritizing your spending so that you can have more of the things you really care about.
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Your description above focuses on being cheap, not frugal.
However, in action, you're actually wasteful. You've provided ways to spend 4-5 times as much money while you think you're getting it free.
Now you are just rationalizing. You are not actually saving any time with 2 day delivery. You order and get your Amazon shipment in 2 days. I order and get mine in 2 weeks. You are not saving 12 days of time over me. We are both spending the exact same time on it. From shopping and selecting the items to clicking buy, to opening the package once it arrives. It's not like either of us clicks buy, and then just stares at the clock continuously until we hear the package is dropped on our doorstep. At least I hope you don't do that.
As I said before, by combining my orders and receiving one big package every two to four weeks I save time. Not so much on the ordering, but by not having to walk to the parcel locker everyday, and not having to deal with opening packages and throwing away all the packaging every single day.
A truly frugal person would plan ahead and order their cat litter a month in advance. If it takes three weeks to arrive, that is no problem. It will still be there a week before the cat needs it, at a savings of $119 or more. That is frugal.
Well, I like the discussion if it helps me get stuff that I am paying for... for free. That's a better value.
For example, Cloudy Dayz indicated that I can get my TV shows for free. That's a huge benefit to me (if true). However, she's only shown me how to pay more for the shows.
I'm not pretending to be an expert on getting TV shows for free. TV shows are not important to me. But even if I did watch TV, I would probably get an antenna and watch free TV. But I do know how to save $119 a year shipping on Amazon.
Now you are just rationalizing. You are not actually saving any time with 2 day delivery. You order and get your Amazon shipment in 2 days. I order and get mine in 2 weeks. You are not saving 12 days of time over me. We are both spending the exact same time on it. From shopping and selecting the items to clicking buy, to opening the package once it arrives. It's not like either of us clicks buy, and then just stares at the clock continuously until we hear the package is dropped on our doorstep. At least I hope you don't do that.
As I said before, by combining my orders and receiving one big package every two to four weeks I save time. Not so much on the ordering, but by not having to walk to the parcel locker everyday, and not having to deal with opening packages and throwing away all the packaging every single day.
A truly frugal person would plan ahead and order their cat litter a month in advance. If it takes three weeks to arrive, that is no problem. It will still be there a week before the cat needs it, at a savings of $119 or more. That is frugal.
This is completely flawed. The person with 2 day delivery did, indeed, save 12 days. I think this is a fundamental mindset difference between people who focus on productivity and people who focus on just saving money. That's 12 days earlier I get to benefit from having what I just purchased.
You are also ignoring that Amazon prices fluctuate day to day. Who want to purchase when the coupons/sale prices are valid... which in the case of Amazon, lasts hours at times. The only way to save on the product is to make an immediate purchase.
You also ignore everything that is bundled with Amazon Prime that others value. Amazon music, Amazon video... unlimited cloud storage for photos. Just because these things aren't of value to you, doesn't mean they are not of value to others. We also save 10%-15% at whole foods because of Amazon prime and also get free delivery from there.
Take a look at the article the previous poster linked to. What you may consider frugal is based on what you value. You look cheap to me rather than frugal. Frugality varies from person to person.
I'm not pretending to be an expert on getting TV shows for free. TV shows are not important to me. But even if I did watch TV, I would probably get an antenna and watch free TV. But I do know how to save $119 a year shipping on Amazon.
But you are pretending... and you are giving advice for people to spend more and calling it "free":
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz
But if you want to pay $119 a year to get cat litter delivered in 2 days, and watch movies and TV shows that can probably be seen for free elsewhere, fine. Whatever floats your boat.
You even suggested that I pay $50/month so I don't have to pay $119/year on Amazon prime. Pennywise; pound foolish:
Since I'm planning on traveling when my lease is up, I've been buying things I will need. I have been able to order things when they are on sale as opposed to stacking orders until I reach that magical free shipping, thus missing out on the sale.
I also just ordered the cat food my cat likes without driving all over town looking for it.
I'm sure I'm going to find many other things. I haven't even explored the movies yet.
Good. I'm glad to hear it. I really enjoy having Prime. Since I'm no longer young and not terribly spry, I'm thankful that there is a service like this that saves time and my back... and my shoulder and sometimes my knee. LOL
Cloudy has had the amazon prime hemorrhage for some time now so it has nothing to do specifically with the frugal forum. A post search of prime/amazon in surely to return a ton of post for the user
This is completely flawed. The person with 2 day delivery did, indeed, save 12 days. I think this is a fundamental mindset difference between people who focus on productivity and people who focus on just saving money. That's 12 days earlier I get to benefit from having what I just purchased.
You are also ignoring that Amazon prices fluctuate day to day. Who want to purchase when the coupons/sale prices are valid... which in the case of Amazon, lasts hours at times. The only way to save on the product is to make an immediate purchase.
You also ignore everything that is bundled with Amazon Prime that others value. Amazon music, Amazon video... unlimited cloud storage for photos. Just because these things aren't of value to you, doesn't mean they are not of value to others. We also save 10%-15% at whole foods because of Amazon prime and also get free delivery from there.
Take a look at the article the previous poster linked to. What you may consider frugal is based on what you value. You look cheap to me rather than frugal. Frugality varies from person to person.
You make a good point about Amazon prices fluctuating day to day, but I can deal with that. Right now I have 18 items in my cart. Some of them have been there for months. Exactly two of the items have changed price. One from $14.12 to $14.53. Honestly the 41 cent price difference wouldn't make any difference to me. I would buy it anyway. But it doesn't matter, because I already bought the exact same item several weeks ago on eBay for $9.99. I just haven't removed it from the cart yet. The other item has increased from $38.96 to $49.15. That's a deal killer. I'm not going to buy it at that price. I will keep it in the cart for future consideration. If the price drops back down below $38 I will probably buy it some time next year. If not, then too bad for the seller. They won't make a sale.
The rest of your post is just rehashing what has already been discussed. But to go over it again. Amazon music, I don't need. I have over 25,000 MP3s on my computers. If I find something else I want I will just buy a cheap used CD, if I can't download it for free. Cloud storage for photos. Whatever. I don't know what I need that for. My photos are on the SD card, as well as backed up on two computer hard drives. If I want to upload them, I can think of at least 10 different totally free websites I could upload them to. That is just more worthless Amazon fluff to give the illusion of value. As for Whole Paycheck Foods, that is not a place a frugal person should be shopping even with a 10% or 15% discount. BTW, which is it, 10% or 15%? That sounds kind of vague.
All your posts are doing for me is confirming that Amazon Prime has absolutely zero value. Nothing that you can't get free elsewhere. Except maybe some TV shows, and I still suspect I could get those free too, If I was really interested.
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I don't know what I need that for. My photos are on the SD card, as well as backed up on two computer hard drives. If I want to upload them, I can think of at least 10 different totally free websites I could upload them to. That is just more worthless Amazon fluff to give the illusion of value. As for Whole Paycheck Foods, that is not a place a frugal person should be shopping even with a 10% or 15% discount. BTW, which is it, 10% or 15%? That sounds kind of vague.
