There are huge cities. There are large, medium and small cities and then there are the towns were we always seem to find ourselves living. I’m not complaining . . every now and then I wish I could run to town and buy a pound of raw shea butter or a pound of scamorza cheese but that’s not the way it works out here in most of rural America. It’s hard for some folks to even comprehend what it’s like to have to plan ahead and order the things you need but can’t buy locally. Another option that is available is to live with what you can buy locally and forget about the things you can’t get. Since I love cooking and I love trying new things, there’s quite a bit that we mail order and I’m so thankful for Amazon.
This is a non-paid advertisement . . of sorts . . for Amazon. We do have a great health food store but so often, I’m out shopping on weekends with Vince and he doesn’t want to go to the health food store with me or I just plain don’t want to leave the house and I can order today and in two days, my order arrives. With an Amazon Prime membership, items are delivered in 2 days and they have just about everything.
Love it or hate it, Amazon makes a world of difference at our house. I hear folks saying “Shop Local!” all the time and I do try to support local merchants when there are things I need that they have but I’m very thankful for Amazon and their Prime account that gets things here quickly.
We have a lot of things on “Subscribe and Save”. The way Subscribe & Save works, you usually get a discount for subscribe & save and your items are placed on a recurring schedule. Ours arrive around the 6th of the month. You can have them delivered every 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, etc. If you have 5 things being delivered in any given month, you earn an additional 15% discount.
In September, 2012, I ordered Pumpkin Seeds from Amazon – 4 – 24 oz. bags. I vacuum sealed the bags I wasn’t using and put those in the freezer. The “use by” date on those is towards the end of 2014 but I’m on my last bag so I just ordered more, since I found a great recipe for a pumpkin seed snack, which I will share.
You can cancel any item any time, just so it isn’t already in the shipping lineup.
We have things like maple syrup (which I may or may not cancel since we’re on the diet), tapioca flour, almonds, almond flour, coconut oil, toilet paper, and now, pumpkin seeds, and a few other things.
That was just to tell you that if you can’t find things, try Amazon! 🙂
Pat Miodonski says
judy, Can you share that recipe for a pumpkin snack. Sure would love it. Thanks for all the good comments about Amazon. Pat
Linda in NE says
I’m already a dedicated Amazon.com shopper & resident of a very small town with not much variety in goods. Matter of fact I did all my Christmas shopping online this year…not all at Amazon. Most places had some sort of free or lowered shipping deal and I didn’t have to spend two hours on the road and many more hours plodding through stores. UPS & FedX brought everything right to my door. Couldn’t have been easier.
Sherrill says
I STILL wanna know where V got that smokin’ hot deal on that little camera. Guess he wants it to remain HIS secret, huh? LOL Sometimes even in the big city you can’t get what you want/need. My big ‘vice’ is diet vanilla Pepsi which I used to be able to get in Dallas/Ft Worth but no more. No where in TEXAS can you get the stuff and I thought they’d quit making it til my friend found it in Nebraska! I have family up in OK & we were up there for something and I decided to check there–I found it!! WHY for crying out loud can’t we get it in TX? Anyway, I found a little local grocery store in Davis, OK (about an hr and a half from here) that will order as much as I want and I make the drive up & get it. Now I’m a ‘drug runner’ for two of my fellow addicts who found I was able to get it and I always check with them before placing my order. I personally order 25 12 pks at a time and whatever they need. Sick….I know! HA
Donna Williams says
I’d rather live in a ruralish area than a city – been there done that, not fun for me anyway. I am happy order online, or make the occasional trip to Little Rock which is only an hour away and not at all as big or troublesome as the Atlanta area where we lived for a very long 7 years. I plan well when I go and make stops enough to warrant the trip. Yay for internet ordering!
Gwen says
I live on the rural edge of a big city that has grown in the opposite direction from me. This is just fine until time to shop. I find myself looking for things online if the are not basic items. The 45 minute or more drive across town in crazy traffic has lost its’ appeal as I have gotten older. This kind of shopping is a blessing!
Sandy says
I wouldn’t know raw shea butter or scamorza cheese if I saw them! I shop local and rarely order anything online. I’d end up spending gobs of money if I did. All that gorgeous fabric available online is extremely tempting, but if I can’t feel it I don’t buy it!
Prima Donna says
I live in the city, but I am not a shopper. I do shop local for about half my fabrics. I prefer to shop online and I order lots from Amazon. My daughter,grandchildren and great-grandchild live 2,000 miles away. I can use my Prime shipping and send packages to them free. No packing or going to the post office. What could be better?
Karen says
love shopping on line – but I haven’t done grocery’s though – I’m a simply cook – I order a lot of everything else on line though – including fabric – what you feel in the stores is the same stuff you buy on line -especially from your more popular on line quilt shops.
Quilter Bea says
Just curious, what do you use raw shea butter for — cooking or hand cream. I didn’t know you could buy that in bulk. I learn something everyday from you, Judy. Thank you for sharing.
Pat Hathaway says
I grew up in a town of 327 people. My grand father would joke that is was 326 when I went to stay overnight with them in the “big” city. We had to drive 20 miles one direction or 11 miles the other direction if we wanted to buy anything but the basic groceries.
When we were buying our first house I was pregnant, and Hubz wanted to live in the country. I had been working in a hospital emergency room and seen so many injured and ill children the thought of being more than 15-20 minutes away from medical care was too much for me. Now that we are retired I still want to be fairly close to help and city services.
We live in a city that is less than 50,000 but it feels really small. I have back problems and it is very difficult to just run to the store for something so I do almost all my shopping on-line for things that Hubz can’t get at Walmart. It is so much easier to compare prices and get the best deal on things that way.
I was upset with Amazon when they increased the free shipping requirement to $35, and I am not interested in paying for Amazon Prime, but I’m adjusting to the increase and just put things in my Wish List until I have $35 worth of qualifying stuff to order. I have over 2000 books in my Kindle archives and most of them were free! My favorite word.
JudyL says
We use our Prime so much that I don’t even hesitate to pay for it. There are so many times when I want to make a recipe and don’t have an ingredient and can order it and have it here in 2 days without having to wait for a $35 order or end up ordering things I don’t really need just to reach the free shipping limit. I love Prime.
Jo says
I love Amazon Prime. Its just so easy to order and get it in two days without leaving the house. And subscribe and save is great, i get my Sparkling Ice water delivered each month. Its cheaper than the store and i don’t have to lift those heavy 12 packs. If i can’t find it on Amazon, i probably don’t need it.
Joan says
Amen! I love to shop local and do so whenever possible, but in rural Alaska, our selections are severly limited! I don’t know what I would do without Amazon, especially since they offer free shipping, something very few do up here. Many vendors even charge us international shipping rates. Really? The last time I checked we were still a part of the US! Amazon is now my first internet stop. I just wish two day delivery was really two day, but that is the fault of the USPS and not Amazon.
Terri says
I love Amazon too! I used them alot while building our house. Petco always seems to be out of the pill pockets that I need so they come in handy for that. Never thought of checking out toilet paper! And for Alpha-Bits cereal. He loves it and can’t find it around here anywhere!! I did stock up tho while I was at my Mom’s, United and HEB both had it.
ohhhhh HEB……… now I’ve got to go see if them have Blue Bell.
Thanks Judy…… 🙂
Terri says
darn! just a book of their history. 🙁
Bev in Colo says
One day during the Christmas holiday, I watched a tv show (maybe 60 minutes?) discussing the fact that Amazon fills and deliver a package so much faster than anyone else. The show host wants to know why USPS, UPS and others aren’t utilizing this also. Fascinating! It showed how the order was filled and processed, thru delivery. Then discussed new plans they are trying out just now. Would be so fantastic particularly for folks living in the country for delivering everything from regular mail and even groceries. (Although they showed deliveries being made in the suburbs and towns too.) They are trying out “Drones” for the delivery service. It comes right to your front door. If you get a chance to see this show again, or hear talk about it, do check it out. Several test sites going on now, think the one I caught on screen was happening in New Jersey area. I would want to know when to expect the delivery though, so strangers, pets or other animals wouldn’t pick it up before I could get my hands on it (thinking food items and expensive things.) Some of the deliveries shown were using USPS one- and two-day delivery envelopes. I missed the part about what food delivery items involved at this time, although they discussed grocery stores using this too. Lots of possibilities!
Janna says
I love Amazon and use my Prime membership all the time! Was having a Christmas party and needed capers–our crummy local grocery store had decided to stop carrying capers–ordered on Amazon and had the capers on Friday before the party on Saturday. I don’t think I could live where I do without Amazon!
Ava says
Hi Judy – I love Amazon too and I was wondering if you have an affiliate account. My daughter used to have one on her blog and I would order through her affiliate button, but then Missouri passed some tax something and now she can’t be an affiliate. If you have an affiliate account, I’d be glad to order through it – and others might also. You did just do a nice little piece of advertizing for Amazon. Ha Ha
Gale says
I also live in a tiny little town in the middle of the desert and could not live without Amazon. I order everything I can from them. Why lug those heavy things home that you can have brought to your door by UPS? About prime membership- did you know that you can share it with 3 other family members, even if they live somewhere else. I share with my sister and my son and we each pay 1/3 of the cost each year. Now that makes it really worthwhile.
Also, I order much more fabric online than I buy in quilt stores. I know the fabric lines and manufacturers so I know how they feel and look. I wait for really good sales and that is when I stock up on basic. During Christmas sales I bought lots of good basics that are still on the shelves of my local quilt store for $11.99 a yard, only I paid $4.00 and $4.50 for them ordering online.
Susan says
I’ve been amazed at the things you can find on Amazon. In a funny way, it feels like living in the science fiction future I always read about! I haven’t succumbed to subscribe and save yet, but I’ve thought about it!
Brandy M says
I LOVE Amazon! I usually think that, if you can’t get it on Amazon, it must not exist… Ok, so I KNOW that’s not completely true, but I can usually find anything & everything I want or need on there. I currently have some crystal Christmas ornaments and some rum extract in my cart. It’s just waiting for me to click the “Proceed to Checkout” button & it’ll be here in a week or so. I don’t really order enough to do the Prime, but I would if I ordered more regularly!
I do love to “shop local” with small family-run shops & stuff, but that’s just not always possible and you can’t find what you want or need. Like I said before, if you can’t find it on Amazon…..
🙂