It’s been five months since we decided to stop using Amazon. Here’s an update on how it’s going and our plan moving forward.
In January of this year, we made the decision to stop using Amazon. We had become so comfortable ordering things on Amazon and were having packages delivered to our house multiple times a week. If the Amazon truck was driving down our road it was almost sure to stop at our house. You can read about our journey to deleting the Amazon app in this post. Today I am going to give a five-month update about how it’s going and what our future plans are for using Amazon.
We are now in May of 2024, marking the fifth month of the year and five months since we deleted the Amazon app and last ordered anything on Amazon. It was a shocking discovery when I added up the total of all of our Amazon purchases in 2023 and it blew my mind when I realized just how much (you can check out the full blog post about Amazon to see the full number, but hint: it was thousands) money we were wasting.
This time last year, we had already spent $2,160.00 on Amazon on a plethora of items. Some necessities, some not. So, I take it as a massive win that this year we are already “up” that same amount of money just by deleting the Amazon app.
I am not tracking my purchases at other places, but I have not replaced our Amazon use with any other store, which has helped immensely. I have realized how much of Amazon is impulse. I often click links of items I like that are listed on Amazon and realize that, if I still had the Amazon app, I would have purchased it just out of curiosity or because it was a low enough cost that it felt like it didn’t matter if I needed it or not. Because I do not have the app, I just click out of the link now and am not even remotely tempted to purchase whatever it is. In addition, any important or necessary purchase would come back into my mind at a different time and I purchase the item when I go to another store such as the grocery store.
Moving Forward
Spending five months without making impulsive purchases and wasting money, I have no desire to go back to using the Amazon app. Impulsive spending is not only happening on the Amazon app, but I have realized that the convenience is too easy for me and I end up wasting a lot of money with the app available to me. I am excited to continue our journey of mindful purchasing and look forward to saving thousands of dollars by the end of the year.
