The Big White Farmhouse

Back in April, I canceled the Amazon Prime subscription I have had for over ten years.  I don’t think I could come up with a more first world problem, but I’ll be honest and admit that I was a little nervous!  When we’d mention our plan to friends, they would gasp and whisper, Oh, I could never do that.  Their comments gave me pause: would I miss the convenience?  Would my kids miss the streaming service?  Would I miss the little perks included?  Three months later, I can happily answer with an emphatic NO.

I always like to read books where people do something extreme and then share what they learned.  Cancelling a store subscription is most definitely not extreme, but in today’s world, it is unpopular!  Here are a few of my thoughts:

THERE ARE OTHER AWESOME BUSINESSES OUT THERE

Like it or not, my knee-jerk reaction to buying anything online was always Amazon.  I believed that they were the only company to ship quickly and that trying to find what I needed elsewhere was just too much work.  Three months in and I can confidently tell you that those excuses have all been proven false.  An example: my family likes the electrolyte tablets from the company, Nuun.  I used to pop a box into my cart on Amazon without a second thought, but this time I asked the groundbreaking question: Do they ship from their own website?  Yes, yes they do.  This search took all of two minutes!  Once on their website, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were having a sale (#frugalaccomplishment) and I received my order within two days.

OUR KIDS DO NOT NEED FREE REIN TO ALL.THE.SHOWS

One of our issues with streaming shows, even within the “Kids” area, was that my children would inevitably stumble on something questionable.  Sometime last year, my then three-year-old clicked on a (seemingly innocent) animated monster truck show about counting.  Within minutes, I heard the creepy voice of one of the characters and came into the living room to see a demon truck telling the others how bad he was.  I mean, what?!  It was a wakeup call.

With the removal of Prime, we are without cable and any streaming services (not even Netflix!), but my kids don’t seem to feel deprived.  Here’s what we’re doing instead: I’ve been joking with Mark that we’re bringing our kids back to the ’90s.  The kids made a big wishlist and then every payday, I purchase a brand new DVD from the list.  It’s always a big surprise!  And here’s the ’90s childhood part: we watch the heck out of that movie for the next two weeks!  I like that they are losing the constant need for something brand new, the obsession with instant gratification.  Less choices also means less of a desire to stare at the screen all day too.

WE’RE SAVING MONEY

I wouldn’t consider myself an impulse shopper, but I always felt like it was just too easy to buy a little bit here and there on Amazon.  Those purchases add up!  Without Prime, you have to spend a minimum of $25 to qualify for free shipping, so it’s made me more intentional about what I’m actually buying.

In summary, we aren’t anti-Amazon and have actually used their website a few times since.  (Ironically for books, which was the Amazon’s OG product line.)  But there is life outside of Prime and I don’t miss it one bit!