As you might know (now you do) I recently moved back in with my septuagenarian parents. We worked out a home improvement budget over the year that includes not just repairs and home maintenance things, but also things for the home that improve our quality of life. (Don’t have Amazon Prime? Click here and get a 30-day free trial.) That said, here are six Amazon Prime Day Deals we took advantage of that have rocked our world (at least a little bit!).
6. Floor Mat
We live in an old farmhouse built in 1859 with built-in shelves, cabinets, and counters. There simply is no way to put in a dishwasher unit without first destroying the handiwork put into the structure by my great great grandfather and great grandfather, so standing at the kitchen sink doing the dishes is a regular chore here. In order to reduce the back and foot strain of standing on a hard surface, we picked up an awesome floor mat that is long enough that two people can occupy it at once. Even after Prime Day the cost is still 23% off (as of 7/27/22) at Comfort Standing Foam Mat for Kitchen.
5. Discounted Paper Products and Cleaning Supplies
The one thing every home will need, eventually, is more rolls of toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins. Prime Day is a great opportunity to stock up on non-perishable home supplies. As I already mentioned hand-washing dishes, we also picked up a supply of discounted dish detergent. Even after Prime Day, many of these products are discounted or you can find a similar product with a deep discount or coupon. At first, my mom wondered what we would do with all this dish detergent until I pointed out her already existing back-stock of 2 additional dish soap bottles.
4. Refurbished Amazon Fire Tablet
Next, we checked out the Amazon Tech products on sale and found the Certified Refurbished Fire HD 10 Tablet (10.1″ 1080p full HD display, 32 GB) – Black available at a 50% discount (it still is as of today). I originally purchased this so I could save significant cash when purchasing books for my continuing education classes on Kindle (three books and you save more than the $60 we paid for the tablet) — but have discovered that the tablet is a great way to watch movies on Netflix and participate in Zoom calls. It’s an older build with not a lot of processing power, so you can’t be doing more than 2 or 3 things at once or there’s significant lag, but it’s more than paid for itself.
I used to be one of those people who preferred to read a print book over digital, but the cost savings of the Kindle Unlimited program won me over. And for the discounted cost, this device is less expensive than a similarly sized digital frame, so worst case scenario you watch Netflix, scroll photos, and play music with it. I can also listen to all my Audible audio books with the built-in player!
3. Easy-Assemble (Bathroom) Shelves
My dad has been having some mobility issues and his bathroom is tiny. There just isn’t room there for even extra rolls of toilet paper, let alone toiletries, extra towels, or a place to put his clothes when he showers. He even uses a home handicapped accessible toilet seat with arms that has no lid he can close and use as a shelf. So, we picked up a corner wire shelving rack for small spaces that is working perfectly, assembled in about 15 minutes, and only cost about $40.
We’re considering picking up additional ones for our other bathroom and closet space, and possibly the larger version for our kitchen appliances.
2. SodaStream Bundle
Okay… no discount on this one but the long-term cost savings seems to be worth it. We’re all a big fan of sparkling water. We’re also tired of buying $1 bottles of seltzer water and, no offense to Michael Buble, but Bubly cans are expensive (90 cents each). The SodaStream Liter Bottle drops that down to about 15 cents per bottle, the equivalent of almost 3 cans of Bubly. We picked up this SodaStream Fizzi One Touch Bundle that includes Bubbly Drops flavors, but frequently mix our own flavors using assorted juices.
1. Amazon Echo Dots
Of course, Amazon’s best ability to discount products for Prime Day is with its own products, so we snatched up a handful of Amazon Echo Dots at significant discounts of about 75% off. (They’re still 25% off even after Prime Day). These are important devices, not just because they’re pretty cool and do all sorts of Star Trek Alexa commands, but because they can pair together as an intercom system, baby monitor, and emergency system. They also allow mom (who doesn’t like the FireTV remote) to simply tell Alexa to tune into her favorite television shows, check the weather, etc.
So, there you have my top six Amazon deals to make life easier (and maybe a little better). What would you add to the list? Let me know in the comments! 👇👇👇
