I hope you enjoy this post explaining Amazon’s Subscribe and Save feature and how we utilize it to make our busy live’s easier. It’s not sponsored but there are affiliate links used.
The Amazon posts are becoming pretty frequent around here but I can tell you guys are loving them just as much as me. 
My love for Amazon needs no introduction. I’ve done a post on the Prime Wardrobe service, some of my favorite Amazon fashion pieces from last summer, and I recap our random purchases monthly. The latest Amazon service we are using and loving is Subscribe and Save. I’m honestly not sure what took me so long to embrace this feature but now I’m obsessed. It really has helped me stay on top of those random household items that make us going running to the store. “How running to the store for k-cups” turns in to “I just spent $150 at Target” is one of life’s greatest mystery’s. #whoputthisstuffinmycart
Having a second baby pretty much not only turned my brain to mush and really highlighted how desperately I needed to figure out a better system for keeping essential items “in stock” to make our live’s run more smoothly. Having to run across town to PetSmart at 8pm because we don’t have dog food or even worse having to drag two children to Target multiple times a week because I forgot something is just not the best for my sanity. So here are the things I consider before subscribing to an item:
1. What are the things that cause us to make an extra trip to the store if we run out? (I’m not sure about your house but k-cups are an absolute essential around here. Also things like deodorant or certain make up items.)
2. What are things that I should be doing regularly but have trouble keeping track of? (Stuff to clean the Keurig, dish scrubbers, toothbrushes)
3. What are things we always have on hand? (I buy Goldfish crackers every. single. week. if not more!)
4. Will subscribing to this item save us money? (Yes, I literally went through the price per item cost on almost all of this stuff to make sure we couldn’t get it cheaper at Sam’s Club or Aldi. Apple sauce pouches? Still cheaper at Aldi so they stay off the list!)
Subscribe & save is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, only better! You are basically telling Amazon that you are going to buy these certain items on a regular basis so they reward you with 5% savings if you subscribe to four or less items a month or 15% savings if you subscribe to 5 or more. Add in free Prime shipping and you can really have some great savings!
Say you want to S&S to k-cups. You can do one of two things: 1) Type “Subscribe and Save k-cups” or the specific brand + the words “subscribe and save” in Amazon’s search feature or 2) You can go directly to the Subscribe & Save store to look for your item. Not every item or listing is S&S eligible which is why you have to do one of those two things! Here’s what it looks like:
Once you’ve found your S&S eligible item you subscribe using the button shown below. You can see that I could purchase this 32 pack of k-cups one time for $21.48 but since I have S&S to more than five items for next month, I’ve unlocked the 15% savings and will only pay $18.26. You can also change your quantity and frequency on this page. We get two of these boxes of k-cups every month. #coffeeaddicts
After you select your quantity and frequency and hit “Subscribe now” you will see this next page. (I had to pick a different k-cup because it would let me get to this page with something I was already subscribed to). Note your arrives by date. July 12 is more than a month away from today so make sure you keep that in mind. If you need k-cups this week you will have to complete a separate Prime purchase. If you need it a couple weeks from now, you can go change your arrives by date in your store! This is just what mine is set to.
The last thing I had to figure out here by trial and error is that after completing the S&S process you will get two emails. One confirming your subscription and another just regular “we got your order” email. Even though you got these emails you won’t be charged until your items actually ship on the date of your choice.
You can always edit or skip deliveries based on your needs. Each month Amazon will send you an email reminding you to review your S&S items. At that point I just hop on my account, view my items that are scheduled to be delivered, and make any changes needed. Below you can see everything that is scheduled to be delivered on June 12. A week or so before (when I get that email) I’ll hop on and cancel anything we don’t need. You just hover over the item to edit.
Below, I’m going to share a list of all of our S&S items and (about) how often we get them. I’ve been slowly incorporating this system into our life for the last few months so we aren’t subscribed to everything quite yet (for example I haven’t needed toilet paper because I had one of those huge packs from Sam’s Club). The day I priced everything out I just made a Wish List and added everything I would eventually be subscribing to to that list. Now I go there to add things as we need them! You will notice there are certain things not on that list. Obviously, I wear deodorant. They just don’t happen to have the kind that I like on S&S. Also, all three of us use different toothpaste. How annoying of us.
Health & Beauty Items:
Lash Primer (every 2 months)
Eyeliner (every 2 months)
Mascara (every month)
Alaway Eye Drops (every 3 months)
Toothpaste for me, toothpaste for Camden (every 3 months)
Deodorant for Nathan (every 5 months)
Bubble Bath (every 3 months)
Color My Bath Drops (every 3 months)
Razors for me (every 3 months)
Baby Wash (every 3 months)
Q-Tips (every 4 months)
Dry Shampoo (every 3 months)
Hairspray (every 2 months)
Household Items:
Dish scrub brush (every 2 months)
Dog food (every month)
Keurig Descaling Solution (every 3 months)
Dog Bones (every month)
Dishwasher Cleaner (every 3 months)
Laundry Detergent (every 3 months)
Toilet Paper (every 6 months)
Pantry Items:
Protein Powder (every month)
Goldfish Crackers (every month)
Elderberry Vitamin (every month)
Kids Multi Vitamin (every 3 months)
K-Cups (2 boxes every month)
Chocolate Chip Larabars (every month)
Mac & Cheese (every 3 months)
Peanut Butter Crackers (every 6 months)
I hope this helps you decide if S&S could help you better manage your household! If you have any questions, please feel free to drop a comment or email.
The post HOW WE USE AMAZON SUBSCRIBE & SAVE (A COMPLETE GUIDE TO AMAZON SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE) appeared first on rachel emily.