Online shopping has become a regular thing in our household. Not only is it more convenient but many times you can actually save money by shopping online. I became hooked on online shopping a few years ago when I signed up for a Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial and got most of my Christmas shopping done without every having to leave my home. It was great. No crowds, no searching for parking spots, and most importantly I got some of the best deals available. With the holidays right around the corner I wanted to share with you guys why I think Amazon Prime is something that everyone should be taking advantage of. There are so many perks that come with having a Prime membership including the best advantage, free 2-day shipping. Trust me when I say that with this little perk alone, you will pay for that prime membership in full.
10 Reasons Why You Should Sign Up For Amazon Prime
Free 2-Day Shipping
This was the whole reason that I wanted to try out Amazon Prime. I was sick of paying for shipping and then having to wait a week for my stuff to get here. I felt like with free 2-day shipping I would be getting a much better deal and I was right. I love being able to get my stuff fast and the great thing with Prime is that even if you need it the same day or even the 1-day shipping you get a tremendous discount on shipping.
Stream Free Movies
My kids especially love this little perk. As an Amazon Prime member you get access to unlimited streaming of movies and TV episodes. There are thousands of Prime titles available and these are available at no extra cost. Many of these shows you can’t find anywhere else unless you buy them at the store. And you will even find a lot of new release movies.
Prime Photos
How many photos do you have on your computer right now? Are they backed up? A few years ago I got a virus on my computer when had every single one of my photos on it. I paid a fortune to try and get some of them back which I was unable to. But now I can back my photos up any time with the secure unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive. This is a free service that goes along with your Prime Membership.
Listen to Your Favorite Songs and Artists for Free
Who doesn’t love to listen to music especially when you can hear your favorite songs for free. With Prime music you get unlimited, ad-free access to hundreds of Prime Playlists and more than a million songs for members. This alone has saved me TONS of cash. It costs around $1.29 on average to download a song, but with Prime music you can add the song to your music library and listen to it anytime for free. Now I will warn you that these songs are only available to you as long as you have Prime. Once you cancel prime your music goes along with it. I let my Prime membership go recently for about a month and was devastated to lose all my music. But once I signed back up for Amazon prime my song library was right there waiting for me.
Rent Kindle eBooks
Any Amazon Prime member who owns a Kindle eReader, Fire tablet, or Fire Phone can rent eBooks for free from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. There are no due dates and the books can be shared across your devices. The only drawback is that you can only rent one ebook per calendar month and you have to return the ebook before you can rent another.
In addition to the Rental as a Prime member you are also eligible for the Kindle First Program which allows you to download one free eBook per month. The Kindle First program gives Kindle First members the opportunity to download one of six editors’ picks a month before the official publication date, either for free or at a reduced price.
Prime Pantry
I don’t use Prime Pantry a lot but I know a lot of people who swear by it. With Prime you get access to Prime Pantry, where you can purchase and ship low priced grocery, household, and pet care items for a flat delivery fee of $5.99 to addresses in the contiguous U.S. for each Prime Pantry box. You can actually fit a lot of stuff in a Prime Pantry Box. If you purchase a lot of your groceries and household items online you can really save a bundle with this little perk.
Deals and Discounts from Amazon Mom
Discounts include 20% off diapers through Subscribe & Save and 15% off eligible products from your baby registry. I have never really taken advantage of this one until I got pregnant with Baby #3. But it’s already saving me money on diapers. Yesterday I got a huge 276 pack of Huggies Diapers for only $21.96! That’s over half of what Walmart charges. I will definitely be taking advantage of this savings over the next few years.
Prime Early Access
Get 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals on Amazon.com and new events on MyHabit.com. This is huge especially during the holidays when you can get some amazing lightening deals that often sell out super fast.
Membership Sharing
I didn’t realize that you could do this but you can share your amazon membership with another adult living with you. Two adults living in the same household can create an Amazon Household to share certain Amazon Prime benefits. So not only can you get the benefits of Prime but so can your spouse or signifiant other.
How To Get Amazon Prime For Free
In addition to the Free 30 Day Trial of Amazon Prime college students who have a valid .edu email address can register as part of the Amazon Student program which gives you 6 months of free trial Amazon Prime. After the 6 month trial ends you then have the option to upgrade to a full Prime membership for 50% off.
Is Amazon Prime Worth The Money?
As you can tell from my enthusiasm above, I am a huge fan of Amazon Prime and so my answer would be YES. It’s been a lifesaver for me over the past few years and I can’t image not having it. I think at $99 per year you are getting a great deal with the free shipping with the other perks included. I did actually cancel my membership this year for about a month and immediately missed everything about it and so I renewed. If you have never tried and and wonder if it’s worth the money I encourage you to sign up for a Free 30 Day Trial of Amazon Prime and see if it’s something that you would benefit from.
Disclosure: Amazon affiliate links are used in this post.