With my order history open, I scroll back through the purchases I’ve made over the last year or two and open items in new tabs using Ctrl+Click to review the prices on things, like household staples or good gifts, that I’d consider purchasing again.
What Types of Things Should You Look At?
Here are the criteria I use for sifting through my order history:
Is this a consumable I will be buying in the future anyway? Soap, vitamins, and other personal care products, as well as things like air filters and such, fall into this category. Is it something I purchased in the past that isn’t quite a consumable but does wear out and will need replacement in the relatively near future? Do I need more of these things, such as smart plugs, humidifiers, or other household tools? Would it make a good gift?
Prime sales tend to focus on flashy big-ticket things, so it’s easy to get caught up in looking at discounts on laptops, smart home displays and speakers, and so on. But with every Prime sale, I find a shocking number of mundane everyday things at a discount that I would have bought anyway.
The Little Savings Add Up Quickly
During the 2022 Prime Early Access sale, for example, I bought filters for my whole house water filter, several bottles of a B-complex multivitamin I love, some indoor and outdoor smart plugs that match the platform I’m already using, and some bulk jugs of handsoap (seriously, pair these things with an under sink hose hookup and skip constantly refilling little bottles).
All told, among those purchases and others I made, when I totaled up how much I would have spent simply waiting a few days past the Prime sale to buy the exact same things I would have likely purchased anyway, I saved over a hundred dollars just restocking my household with necessities and snagging a few extra things, like those smart plugs, I would have bought anyway.
