Amazon Prime Day-July 16th-17th

[dez1978]

Whenever I add things to my wishlists, I use the section to "add comment" to put in the current price. That way I know if things are REALLY a deal. I also use camelcamelcamel site though it isn't always super accurate.

I purchased some birthday and Christmas things for my son today but that's pretty much it so far.

Was just going to recommend that site.

 

[HeatherC]

Free is not even a good deal for crocs

They are when you camp for two weeks! Great for beach and showers and rainstorms. Can dry them in seconds too. Only time we use them actually.

 

[HeatherC]

That’s what we keep coming back to that’s keeping me from pulling the trigger. We’re probably better off with a traditional generator. Gas was really hard to come by for much of last week due to the widespread outages, so I’m leaning towards something that takes gasoline, propane, or natural gas. Ideally, we’d like a way to hook it to the gas line and the breaker box. The consideration…especially after adding in fuel costs, regular oil/filter changes during high usage periods, and routine maintenance…how many days would we need to be without power before we break even with something on this scale compared to just getting a hotel room as needed. Obviously there are non-monetary considerations as well.

I really appreciate the information and insights because it’s a big decision.

Totally understand where you are coming from. We decided to get the larger generator several years ago after we lost power for 10 days after a storm in August. We are also on a well and septic so that meant no water or toilet either. Since then it has seen us through so many storms. We had one we called snowmageddon which was a terrible ice storm where there was no power for over 5 days with temps in the teens. Luckily, this powered our heat, well pump, etc.. so we had no damage at all.

I do think they are becoming almost necessities nowadays with the way these storms are becoming more frequent and stronger and the grids are just not able to handle it and repairs are so slow. But they are a huge expense and it is definitely a big decision to make. I wish you well in whatever you decide!

 

[dez1978]

I have like 4 pairs of crocs in my cart. Apparently the only kinds of shoes middle schoolers are wearing these days are crocs, dudes or whatever cleats/sports specific shoes are required. It's like the universal uniform of middle schoolers everywhere. Hoodie, with the hood up, (this is important), shorts, crew socks and crocs. doesn't matter is its 5 degrees or 105. They wear the same thing. My 13 year old will tell me he needs a hoodie today bc he's cold (it's 95) and will argue to wear it during football practice, but when it's 20 he doesn't need pants or a coat because "He's built different"

 

[LuvOrlando]

So far I see no “can’t live without it” items on sale.

I don't think that happens to me anymore, it seems 2020 taught me to be like my Depression Era grandparents and mostly shrug at stuff now which is soooooo different from the feverish Black Friday quests that used to be such a big thing. I just don't get excited over stuff anymore, the thrill is gone.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

we will never break even with the cost vs. getting a hotel but i can tell you that if it's an area wide outage that being in a local hotel is no picnic-their generators are operating but not a meant for an extended load so dimmed lights/possible locked off washer/dryers and scary slow opening/closing elevator doors that have you running for the stairs. we did it with 2 kids for a week at one point-made that financial investment much more appealing (we are also on well water so without electricity we have no running water-if power goes out on us in the summer it's a fire risk, in the winter we risk all our pipes and our well pump freezing so it's an investment against potential property damage/loss).

With this most recent storm and a few others, our lodging was far enough away that we were outside of the storm impact zone. My biggest worries were looters. The pipes freezing is definitely a vote in favor of getting some kind of generator. I worry about that even if we don’t lose power. I really feel like we dodged a bullet with the 2021 winter storm. We’re definitely not used to that here and I’m sure we would have had issues if we were without power for much longer than we were. We’re not on well water, but I’ve heard people who are often go the Generac standby route.

I’m glad you mentioned the cold, because the pipe damage potential is real food for thought.

 

[design_mom]

Someone gave me this tip and I love it: load your cart with stuff you want for Prime Day and take a screenshot with all the prices. That way when prime day hits you'll quickly be able to see if you're saving anything or not. Prime is notorious for artificially inflating the MSRP on Prime Day and "discounting" down to the same price it was before.

We did this with a few things we were keeping an eye on. One was a gift for my brother in law whose birthday is later this month. The item was on "prime day deal" for the exact price it was the day before. The other item was $1.27 less than it was when we looked at it before (a savings of about 5%). Not impressed, Amazon.

 

[NYCgrrl]

just don't get excited over stuff anymore, the thrill is gone.

I, too, had the make do mindset instilled in me at a young age but lost my way a bit during early adulthood. Soon after my kiddos had flown the coop I came to realize that my life didn’t need to be a constant what’s the latest/greatest carousel and began concentrating my energies and funds in other directions; very freeing .