I’m sharing how shifting away from Amazon and deleting the app is saving us thousands of dollars this year.
If you stayed at my house at any point in the past few years, you would have seen an Amazon truck pull up and deliver something once or even twice. Amazon became my go-to shopping tool, and I was constantly ordering something. If you asked me if I needed everything I was ordering, I would have emphatically told you, “Yes! Of course! I would have gotten this at Target anyway, so it just saved me the drive”. I was convinced that Amazon was saving me time and money by allowing me to purchase things with the simple click of a button. What I didn’t realize was just how much money I was spending… or should I say, wasting.
The Curse of Convenience
Amazon has perfected the art of convenience shopping. It is so easy to buy something on Amazon that it almost feels like you didn’t really buy it at all. There’s no driving to a store, no swiping a credit card, and no unloading the car of all the purchases.
In one simple click, I can buy something and it shows up at my door in a day or two. The tricky part of this is that, for so many things on Amazon, the prices are often very low. It’s rarely a large-cost purchase, so (for me, at least) it ends up being a $10 purchase here, a $7 purchase there, then maybe a $13 purchase. Instead of one trip where I’ve now spent $30, I never felt like I was spending a lot at all! I was justifying my purchases by saying, “What! It’s only $10! Of course I could afford ten dollars, it’s so cheap!” Little did I realize, all those small purchases were adding up and before I knew it I was spending thousands of dollars on unnecessary items.
In addition, I would end up purchasing things that I otherwise would never buy. When I go into a store, I pick up the items I’m looking at and really consider, “Where will I put this?” This thought process is often what makes me decide what is necessary and what is not. I find that when I ask this question, I generally end up not buying the item because I realize I do not need it. This process is completely removed when I’m buying on Amazon. On Amazon, I see something and I usually end up thinking that I’ll just get it and decide what to do with it when it gets here. This usually results in not having a place for the item and me getting frustrated that I now have a cluttered space.
The Mess of Mindless Purchasing
For me and my family, we have always gravitated toward a more minimal atmosphere in our house. We try to be intentional with our decorating and we do not do well in cluttered or messy spaces.
Even with this in mind, my ability to purchase things so easily on Amazon was too difficult to steer away from. I was constantly being swept up in the marketing of different items and the ease of purchasing them on Amazon. It took me a while to realize just how easily I was being influenced, but once I realized, it was like the clouds had lifted. All of a sudden, I realized how much money I was wasting because I was getting told I needed a new gadget or a new lounge set every other day.
I had an epiphany in early January this year when I realized that I was overwhelmed by all of the items I had acquired over the past year. Whether it was a new tripod (when I already have three), a new water bottle, or whatever else, it was just too much. The craziest part? This was all happening while I was thinking I was still in my mindset of minimalism and mindful purchasing! It crept up quickly and quietly and before I could see what was happening. But here I am on the other side, and I am so grateful.
Numbers Don’t Lie
When I realized just how much I was buying, I decided to go through every single purchase I made on Amazon last year and add up all the money I had spent. The numbers were truly shocking. If you are also considering an Amazon detox, I suggest you do this as well. It is time-consuming and tedious, but it is so worth it to get a full picture of how much money is being wasted by taking part in the convenience of Amazon. Below is how much I spent on Amazon in 2023, broken down by month.
My Amazon Spending BY MONTH
January: $686.87
February: $321.39
March: $469.70
April: $682.04
May: $341.85
June: $404.57
July: $481.49
August: $40.90
September: $210.95
October: $251.93
November: $567.30
December: $969.75
TOTAL SPENT IN 2023: $5,428.74
Of course, some of the items I purchased on Amazon have been necessities and the convenience for those items was fantastic at the time. But I realized that anything we truly need I have no problem going out to a store to get. Deleting the Amazon app has been one of, if not the, greatest decision I have made in a long time, and each day the Amazon truck drives by my house without stopping I get a little feeling of pride. I get the satisfaction of knowing that I am doing my part to remove myself from the endless consumerism and needless spending, all the while saving my family money that will be better spent elsewhere.
