By the time you read this, Prime Day will be over, but that doesn’t mean this post won’t be helpful – after all, many of the other sales are still happening. I was overwhelmed by all the Prime Day (and complementary sale) content out there. You open your Amazon app and see a million products with no idea where to begin. Then you open up your email and are inundated with all the “best of” lists. It was too much. Also, I have always been a sucker for a sale. I’ll buy things I don’t need just because I want the high of the discount. It’s no good to spend too much money…but it’s also not great to miss out on some truly great deals (which is what happened last year when I simply slammed my laptop shut). This year I employed a strategy that I highly recommend:
- Shop My List: Throughout the year, I “heart” or “Add to List” anything I come across that I like but don’t need (at least don’t need right now). I’ll spot a cute vase filled with flowers on someone’s Instagram or spot a toy I think Finn would like for his birthday months from now – all those things get saved. Once Prime Day hit, I opened up my list and clicked through anything I’d saved to see if they were discounted. Everything with a reduced price was added to cart since they’re all things I clearly already liked.
- Shop My Own Orders: Sure, plenty of Amazon purchases are one-time things, but I also use it for staples like household cleaning products and diapers. On Prime Day, I checked out everything I’d ordered in the past year and re-purchased anything discounted that I know I’ll order again (even if I hadn’t run out just yet).
- Leverage Competing Sales: One of the best things about Prime Day is that it kicks off what is now known as Black Friday in July. With so much money being spent, other retailers (particularly competing big box stores) will launch sales of their own to get in on the action. Like regular Black Friday, this is ideal for big ticket items – if you’re in the market for a new tv, couch, or vacuum cleaner, now is the time to look around and compare pricing. A few years ago, this is how I nabbed a coffee table – in an effort to get some of those dollars, Target and Wayfair discounted their furniture prices and I was benefited.
- Nordstrom Anniversary Strategy: This sale happens around the same time as Prime day, and I’m generally pretty anti. It’s always the same stuff (cardis, booties, blah blah blah) so it feels boring. Also, it’s always fall fashion that goes on sale by the time you wear it anyway. That said, there are a few things that make it worthwhile so you should have a strategy here too:
- Focus on bigger items like luggage. (They included Beis in the sale this year!)
- Toggle the “Anniversary Sale” button at the top of your search so you’re only seeing those items that are discounted for a limited time only. Note: lots of other items will be on sale. Those are great too! But those items will stay discounted after the sale whereas the others will go back up in price. Just something to keep in mind when it comes to value.
- Check back frequently. This sale is opened in tiers, with influencers and frequent shoppers getting first dibs. That means by the time plebes like me gain access, everything is sold out. BUT! All those people who bought their items in the first or second wave will start returning them. Simply check your wish list and if an item is replenished, snag it. And trust – they will return. All those influencers who shop the sale just buy stuff for the Instagram try-on/haul so they can make money off the affiliate links when their followers click to buy. They promptly return the majority of the items you see.
- Stop While I’m Ahead: That’s it. Once I went through the above steps, I stopped shopping.
What I Walked away with…
- Amazon Prime Day:
- Makeup Remover: Pulled this gentle cleanser from my previously ordered list. I was running low anyway – might as well get it on sale!
- Stain Remover: I wrote about this magical spray in my Best Purchases of 2022. Again, I’m going to be buying it anyway so I should do it when I can get an extra good price.
- Wooden Cleaning Set: Finn has been into cleaning toys like this and I was planning to get some for his birthday/the holidays. I love the color scheme of these and don’t mind if they sit in my closet for the next 4.5 months.
- Serving Bowl: All it took was one outdoor hang in our courtyard this summer for me to remember that I’d really like lightweight/indestructible serveware to lug down there. This was a “nice to have” so it was only worth it as a Prime Day thing. (This was probably my most “impulsive” purchase, but the price was great and the quality even better.)
- Steak Knives: We’ve been talking about needing something stronger for meat but is that really a need? Not really…especially not when I only wanted to buy “cute” ones. That meant I’d only spring for the aesthetically pleasing steak knives if I could get a deal.
- Luminex Whitening Strips: I think I only follow about 2 influencers – ones who really resonate with me and who are transparent with zero BS. One of them had been recommending these white strips for a while (even when she had no skin in the game) so I saved them to my list and added to cart months later on Prime Day.
- Wooden Blender Toy: We don’t get a lot of toys for Finn and tend to follow the Montessori method (plus books) when it comes to toys. It was time to change out his playthings so I picked one of the adorable foodie-centric ones on sale. He’s been loving it!
- Travel Steamer: Most aesthetically pleasing steamer that came with great reviews. I don’t like ironing and I’m too old for wrinkles so this is definitely something we needed but could wait til buying on sale.
- Nordstrom Anniversary Sale (still happening!):
- On Running Shoes: When I bought my last pair of running shoes, I tried on a pair of On brand and loved them. That said, they were significantly more expensive than the Saucony pair that also worked so I got those instead. Those shoes are now fully worn out so I’m in the market for a new pair and jumped on the On Cloudmonsters when they were included – at this price I could justify them.
- Wayf Pants: Not sure if they’ll will fit, but this brand typically works for me and I need more office-appropriate pants now that I’m going in more frequently.
- NASA Jacket: I got a letterman-style NASA jacket for Finn because it was half price and just too adorable for the boy who has a space themed room and whom I refer to as Albert Otto Astronaut-o. Couldn’t pass it up.
- Other: I really exercised restraint and followed my strategy so the only other things I bought were bras and underwear from aerie. I reeeeally needed to replace most of the items in that drawer and they had 10 undies for $38 and bras on sale. They’re already my favorite so this was a win win. They’re constantly running sales so it was more like these other sales just reminded me to shop for these necessary items and to make sure to only do so when they were on sale.
Peaches to Apples 