The "Amazon Prime Pantry" great experiment.

"My name is Loleeta and I am addicted to Target..."  There really should be a support group for people like me.  Not the Target in the big city that's full and dirty, but our Target.  Nice, clean, friendly, lovely atmosphere with soft music, and full of really. fun. stuff.  "I'll just go in for toothpaste REALLY QUICK".... An hour and $100 later.... ARGH!  How does this happen?

There have been several news articles lately about how shopping online for household items can save a person money as it restricts impulse spending.  We've been trying to cut our spending back, wayyy back, so in the interest of the family budget I am very (ok extremely) skeptically trying the "Great Experiment".

For one whole month I am not stepping a foot into Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and the like.  For one whole month we will purchase perishables at the grocery store and bountifulbaskets.org and the rest of our household needs will be purchased through Amazon Prime Pantry.  The reason I chose them was: because they deliver here.

The fun part was announcing it to THE FAMILY.  My oldest boy's mouth dropped open as he gasped in a bit of a panic "No TARGET?! How will we survive?"  My feelings exactly.

The first order was placed on Saturday.  With a notebook I went through the house from kitchen to back bathroom listing items that we use on a regular and necessary basis.  I then sat with my list in front of my laptop and searched the inventory on Amazon Prime Pantry.  They do not have a lot of options yet, let me state that right now.  However, I did find most of what we use:  Tide Free and Clear (has to be that kind for their skin), organic tomato sauce, the cereal Dave eats, granola bars free of hydrogenated corn syrup, etc.  Kept reminding myself to order ahead.  You get an estimate with each item how much of the box it will fill.  Toilet paper fills 22% of the box while a jar of tomato paste fills 1%, etc.  When your box is full you check out.  Items can then be added to the ongoing next box or kept on your list for future purchase.  The nice thing is you can quickly re-order next time.  It was a blessing (hate to admit it) to calmly be able to read ingredient labels in the quiet and comfort of my own home.  Added a bag of Blue Corn Organic CHIPS! to the box.  Really?!  How are they going to ship that?!  But, the price was excellent so in the box it went.

PRICES?  Hmmm... Here is where everyone who shops at a dent-and-bent or lives in South Carolina should stop reading, especially my mother. They do not have the generic brand option, but I did find that most of the prices name brand to name brand were comparable or better then I am used to. They even automatically applied a few coupons that were available.  The total of my box came to $98.10 with shipping.  I was a little surprised as I had a few high priced items such as a giant bottle of laundry detergent in there, but then realized:  NO TAX!  Here that is a big, big deal.

Four days later THE BOX shows up.  Note:  The chips were opened and smashed just like I thought.  Epic fail.  Note to myself:  Check sizes next time.  HUGE box of cereal (score!), teeny tiny bag of crackers, enough pasta sauce to feed an army of teenagers.

Do you think I'll make it a month without Target?  Not sure.  Do I think I will save money?  Probably.  One thing for sure:  it will be good for me.  (And the oldest son.)


Bonus:  You get a giant size box for the kid of the house to hide in!

PS:  Since writing in about the smashed chips 20 minutes ago, they've already issued my $2.69 refund!

Time...

Red wing blackbirds are singing out my window.  LOVE! the sound of the world settling down for the evening, birds, the neighborhood kids down at the park,  my sons giggling in their brand new bunk bed, Elyana turning the pages of her never ending books, etc.  This evening I randomly picked up the "joint" journal Dave and I started when we were married that has long lane neglected.  Then I looked at my rather forlorn one where the last entry was way before Kaiden was born.  How do people journal?  Or find time for 2 hour exercise regimens?  Or do these extensive scrapbooks?  I really wonder this!  I can barely find time to breath!  


Someone once said that you have as much time as the President of the USA, and he manages to run a country.  What are you doing with your day?  Maybe it's that we have time to do what is important to us.  Whether that be reading books with your kids, taking photos, looking at Pintrest, reading your Bible, making a fabulous supper, or a phone call to a friend.  Yesterday I took the time to call my very dear cousin and talk about our joint journey with lovely strong willed children.  Every time I take 10 minutes to pick up the phone or even 10 seconds to send a text I wonder why we don't do it more often.   


I am telling my children 20 times a day; people are more important then things. If things get in the way of people, then we get rid of the things.  (Hence the toys in time out)  It's a core strong value of mine.  God created people and then people created "stuff".


(On another note, Dave leaves for Kosovo on Monday for 15 days.  The sentence "15 days" is getting longer as we get closer to his departure date.  Really, really jealous. This year is our 10th year anniversary in November and we had both thought that God would lead us overseas.  Turns out He didn't (yet), and that makes me sad.)


But I will be thankful this evening for my time at home with a house full of children, a phone full of friend's phone numbers, my kind of dirty carpets that are driving me mad, the red wing blackbirds outside my window, and the 10 minutes to pour out my very scattered yet many thoughts onto a computer screen.  Come back next time, there may be more sense to the madness.  


The more I think of it however, the more thankful I am.  And the older and wrinklier I get the more I realize that maybe I don't have "time" to journal, but I do have time for a bird's song and a cousin's phone call.  I have time for my daughter's ballet, and my son's gymnastics show.  I have time for coffee with my husband, a chat with a friend, testing out gluten free baking for another dear friend's daughter, and long swings at the park.  There may not be much left for posterity to read when I am gone, but maybe it's best that way.  I really don't have good penmanship come to think of it.  Maybe people will remember me and maybe they won't. But in the end I hope they remember the little bit of God's love I tried to give.


Because after all, it is people and not things we get to take with us.  And for that I am thankful.  And at that I must go tuck my boys into bed (again).

Traveling Light

Traveling Light by loleeta-pollard featuring zircon jewelry

pink & silver

pink & silver by loleeta-pollard featuring stretch jeans