Okay. So, the first real practical step is this:
Deciding what you cannot do without.
Stay with me here, we’re not talking torture.
You will look at your subscriptions and regular purchases, and you will see things you get purely because it’s convenient. “Do I need to order this? Hey, why not?! YOLO!” But at the end of the day, you don’t need it. Do you need four kinds of fancy swiss chocolates in the house just in case that one particular friend who never visits should show up and want to eat chocolate with you? Or do you just need your one or two favorite candy items that you and your regular guests all enjoy, that you can pick up at the grocery store?
There’s a lot of things that fell off my lists when I started cleaning out Amazon. I told myself I would find another source when I needed one…and now we’re at two months and I still don’t need them. Signs point to how I might need them once or twice/year, or maybe not at all. I still have 2-3 items on my Amazon subscriptions, filters for my air cleaner, furnace, etc. I need to look those up when they become relevant.
The second real practical step is to shop. Yes, seriously. Look at the things you do actually need, look at the brand names, and see if those brands have their own websites. Spoiler alert: 95% of them do! Can you buy the item directly from that website? Probably. Do they have their own subscription service to make everything nice and easy and convenient?? Many of them do. Many of them actually have very similar discount programs to Amazon.
HintHint!
Do you want to shift from an Amazon subscription to another website? Put it on your calendar! Cancel that subscription, and put it on your calendar to order it when you’re ready to start a new subscription cycle with a new retailer, they almost all start with an initial purchase that then renews.
Everyone needs different stuff, my big ones are supplements and unusual food items, you can find the sources I found on my page for Alternatives but obviously, you should find your own “most important stuff”!
And that’s enough for now.
