I don’t like to go to malls or grocery stores or department stores. Whenever I go, I have specific things that I need to buy and I’m usually in and out. These days, we go to the mall to utilize their indoor play area for MBP, especially on winters, but I don’t buy anything.
Shopping is still a line item on our expenses and most of the time, I don’t even know what it is. Most of these shopping items came from Amazon (and Costco, lately). I decided to look at my Amazon order history and surprised how it showed the stages in my life.
Note that my husband and I have separate Amazon account and this post only reflect mine.
My life through my Amazon Purchases
2015 was the year we bought a house and got dog, a month after moving. I ordered 43 items, 3 were returned and 7 were gifts. I kept 33 items and 48% of the items were dog related. We have a pretty spoiled fur baby.
2016 was the year we got married. I ordered 48 items, 5 were returned, 8 were gifts. I kept 35 items and 37% of the items were wedding related. The rest were pretty random.
2017 was the year MBP was born. I ordered 85 items (OUCH!), 4 were returned, 12 were gifts. I kept 69 items and 71% of the items were baby related. I can’t even remember why I ordered some. There were some items that I never used, but for some reason never returned. At least I learned that there was no magical pillow that will help you nurse better or any sleep sack that will make your baby sleep through the night.
2018 was our last full year before early retirement. This means that we are both working while my mom takes care of MBP. I ordered 51 items, 6 were returned and 5 were gifts. I kept 40 items and 58% of the items were baby/toddler related. I’m still learning how to get items from the consignment stores. Things like toddler shoes (that were used for less than 3 months, because MBP just grew so fast) were ordered.
2019 orders went down. We retired and I got pregnant, but surprisingly there was only 1 pregnancy related item that were ordered. I ordered 32 items, 2 were returned and 8 were gifts. I kept 22 items, 32% of that were toddler related. The rest were just random.
There are 4 apparent trends I saw while searching through our browser history
I purchased majority of Christmas gifts and Birthday gifts at Amazon. Christmas Gifts were sometimes shipped directly to the recipient, which made it more convenient.
I will buy consumables like lotion and dog food. This shows how much I dislike driving and going to a local store. I’d like to think that Amazon prices were cheaper too.
I will buy non-sense items and it showed quite a bit when we got a dog and when MBP was born. This includes dog toys that got chewed on in 20 seconds or random items that advertised to help me nurse or pump for MBP.
I buy things on Prime Day, just because. We have 3 echo’s in total, I bought 4 t-shirt (it’s on sale). I was able to use it for work, but the quality is awful, that 2 of them already have holes.
What I bought showed what I prioritized
Similar to our budget, what I bought showed what I prioritized. The first thing I did when we got our fur baby was go to Petco and bought $100+ of dog items like bowl, bed, toys, etc, etc. Little did I know that I can get all of these for a fraction of the price at thrift store. Similarly when MBP was born. Almost everything that we think we need are purchased online with very little thought on a more frugal option. And that’s ok. By going through this history, I cannot lie on my priorities in life. I cannot say that I prioritize travel, when I our spending don’t even include that. Perhaps when the kids are a little older.
Your turn! Anything in your purchase history that revealed something?