I am a huge ‘shop local’ fan. I absolutely love all of the shops in Beaver and other small towns nearby and wouldn’t trade them for the world. However, sometimes with three kids and The Mister gone for days with work, I rely on the interwebs to bring me my goods.
What do I look for in online shopping? A big selection, decent prices and free shipping. It pains me to pay for someone to bring something to my house that I can probably drive five miles to pick up myself.
The Power of Amazon Prime
Based on what the news reported this year, of all online holiday purchases, 39% of those were made on Amazon. So that would mean to me that most of you already know about the amazing Amazon Prime. My apologies for preaching on something you could preach on yourself! This is going to be fantastic info though, so please, keep on reading.
Amazon Prime. Free two day shipping. Ok, that really doesn’t need much more to be said about it! Two days! That’s less time than it would take for you to get in and out of Monaca Wal Mart on a Saturday afternoon! Almost, at least.
Amazon Prime is great for a whole bunch above and beyond the free two day shipping (although, that’s a huge benefit). We have ordered everything from furniture, to baby supplies, to food… We even got a 6 foot bean bag chair called the Fuf on Amazon. That thing was squished into a 3 feet by 3 feet box. It was amazing! But, this article isn’t about the Fuf…
In addition to the shipping, there are a ton of other benefits that Amazon offers. They have cloud storage! There is an Amazon Cloud app for your phone and it will backup all of your stuff. Pictures, videos, notes, music…all of it. There is no additional charge for this storage and there is no storage limit. iTunes does offer some free storage, but it is not unlimited. If you take pictures and videos like we do on our phones, this is priceless.
Another benefit – Amazon Music. Much like the pay services you may have heard of (like Pandora or Spotify), but again, this is included free in your membership. Tons of free music to stream and radio options as well. Then there is Amazon for movies and TV. Streaming TV and movies is included in your membership, too!
They do sell something called the Fire TV Stick that works much like those other streaming TV services. It connects right up to your TV, and you have the entire library of free movies and shows at your fingertips. You do not need it though, as it will work right from your Smart TV or PC.
Even above and beyond those benefits, there are Amazon Pantry, Amazon Mom, Amazon Student. Each of these offers huge perks to Prime members. Student allows you to download or buy cheap textbooks; Amazon Mom, diapers and baby goods; Pantry, well, that’s foodstuffs! I could keep going on, but I will stop here so that I still have time to talk about (drum roll)… wine!
Wine Library
Winelibrary.com is where the Beaverhausens go for wine. Again, I certainly do like to shop local and hit up the liquor store in Rochester when I can, but the kids, I mean, there are certain places it is frowned upon to bring a baby and a tornado, er, a toddler. The liquor store is kind of high on that list.
The website though, it’s pretty much all you need. When you get to the homepage, check out the drop down under ‘quick start.’ There are a bunch of different highlights here, but the one we always check first is the free shipping area. Free shipping?? Yes.
Also be sure to check out the 90+Point wine listing. This option will list out the wines with the highest rating (i.e. 90+). The website uses a lot of different contributors for this, so if you are a wine enthusiast and only like their ratings, well, you are in luck. If you are like us and don’t know a wine rating from a hole in your head, this option really helps pick a good wine. Knowledge is power!
Along the tabs on the homepage are other ways to narrow down the selection by country, grape (i.e. chardonnay, merlot, cabernet, etc), price, and even just color. If you know you only like white or rose, you can narrow by that as well. Very user friendly for both the wine connoisseur and the wine novice. (I was going to say ‘idiot’, but that seemed harsh. You know what I’m saying though. People like us that buy based on the neat looking label.)
Before the holidays, I happened to find a great deal on a Montepulciano that was rated a 92. I ordered it with free shipping and insurance (for the whopping cost of $0.15), and it was here before Christmas. We were able to enjoy it with our Christmas dinner and it was delicious!
If you are feeling really saucy and want to kick it up a few notches, winelibrary.com even has liquor. Again, the selection ranges from base to luxury. Bottles of Hennessy for $3,000, or Fleishman Gin for $8. Hey, your party, your choice right? If you are ordering that Hennessy though, let me know and we will be over 😉 The Beaverhausens are a fun time!
Between Amazon and WineLibrary, your winter hibernation is complete. Who needs to ‘Netflix and chill’ when you can ‘Amazon Prime and red wine’?!
Both of these websites are also contributing to YBC, so when you order from them, go through us! It doesn’t cost you a thing, but it keeps YBC free and the awesome articles coming. Thanks for your support!
