Subscribe and Save

Almost two years ago I discovered a great service provided by Amazon called Subscribe & Save. The program offers products by the case that you subscribe to buy on a regular basis. You choose when you would like to receive the product again and you are signed up for an auto-ship of it. You get 15% off the regular price and free shipping (as long as the order meets their $25 minimum). You can skip a shipment at any time or reorder sooner if you need it.

There are many products that we have bought from this service that ended up cheaper than the local Whole Foods (even with the 10% case discount). You have to check the prices carefully, though, because prices do change and not every item is cheaper than the store. Examples of things we have bought include:

– New Morning Graham Crackers (a healthy graham cracker we eat lots of)
– many 7th Generation cleaning and household products
– Good Seasons Italian Dressing packets
– Tom’s of Maine toothpastes
– Nature’s Gate conditioner

Some of these products have recently become available at Target and Walmart for cheaper, so you will have to compare for yourself before making a purchase.

Our most recent purchase was 7th Generation Dishwasher Powder. It costs $7.99 for 75 oz. at Whole Foods. For a case of 8 with the case discount, it costs $57.53. The same amount would be $5.39 at Target or $43.12/case. On Amazon the cost per case = $36.95. That is a savings of $6.17. This might not seem like much, but it all adds up! Plus, when we first starting using this service, Target did not carry this product and we saved $20 – $24 for each case!

Other times recently we have saved as much as $14 on a case of graham crackers and $10 on 7th generation All-purpose Cleaner.

If you would like to try this out, determine what products you use a lot of or would like to stock up on. Record the price from your local store. Then check out Amazon’s price. Be sure to factor in the case discount if you would buy it at Whole Foods. Make sure you are also comparing the same sizes or total amount. Sometimes the sizes available at a store are smaller.