Subscribe & Save.

Taking a break from bike-riding to play in the leaves.

Now that we are both unemployed, I've become much more aware of what we spend at the grocery store. Having been an almost completely broke nursing student living in overly expensive Santa Monica ten years ago, I quickly learned how to shop smart and check prices to save what little money I had. One of my favorite things to check when comparing products was the price-per-ounce or price-per-item. You have to strain your eyes to read the tiny print at the bottom of the label but it will quickly tell you which item is the best value for your money. Even now, with a squirmy and oftentimes squealing toddler in my cart, I make the time to check the price label to ensure I'm getting the best deal.

So imagine my intrigue when I heard a story on NPR about Amazon.com's big push to sell more grocery-type items through their subscribe-and-save program. I already buy Alice's nighttime disposable gDiapers on an every 4-month subscription but hadn't thought to add other frequently used household items. But after hearing the story of Amazon's ability to beat prices of brick-and-mortar stores AND deliver it to your door without paying for shipping, I decided to give it a go.

And now I'm hooked.

We bought a 12-pack of environmentally-friendly toilet paper over the weekend for $10.99 at the grocery store. With the price fresh in my head, I checked to see how much it would cost by buying it through subscribe-and-save. And guess what?! $6.37 for the exact same product. Sure, I had to buy four 12-packs but at almost half off, it's worth giving up some of our precious storage space for a few rolls of toilet paper (and you can choose to receive less product but the savings isn't nearly as big).

There is a catch, though. To get the best deal you must sign up for at least five subscribe-and-save items to be delivered in the same month to receive the additional 20% off your order. But no big deal. I just moved Alice's diaper delivery up by a month (knocking the price-per-diaper down to 0.30 cents!) and then signed up for a few more things we tend to go through quickly like coconut oil, quinoa, Kashi cereal ($3.39 per box!), LARABARS (0.84 cents each!), and my nighttime face cream.

Like I said... I'm hooked.

Do you subscribe-and-save any of your groceries on Amazon.com? Just a warning: It's very addicting!

I wish I could get inside that little head sometimes.