I want to begin by apologizing for not updating the blog recently; April and I have been busy moving to a new flat that will allow us to live closer to my office. It is precisely this move, though, that has given rise to today’s blog post. During our move, we took almost an entire suitcase of household supplies to our new home—things like toothpaste, shampoo, toilet tissue, shaving cream, and paper towels.

The problem with these goods is that even if you have a good stock of them—and apparently we did!—they will quickly run out. You will soon have to make yet another trip to the store. I do not like shopping, and I especially do not like buying things that I will have to buy again in just a few weeks. All of this time spent running errands is not only not fun, but it can also hinder you from doing more important work.

The inside of an Amazon warehouse. Photo taken from a YouTube documentary on Amazon’s infrastructure.

My search to become a more productive person led me to a new release entitled Become Your Own Personal Assistant by Dana Byers. Dana has an entire chapter describing how you can use Amazon to prevent yourself from having to make frequent trips to the store to buy life’s necessities. The short version is this: Amazon has a service entitled Subscribe and Save. You enter all of the items that you buy on a regular basis—everything from toilet paper to baby diapers—and then Amazon sends them to your home according to a schedule of your own making.

April and I are trying Subscribe and Save for the first time this month. Not only does it look like it will rescue us from making regular trips to the store, it will also save us money! The more you order from Amazon, the more discounts you receive. Simply by ordering five items we are saving 15% on everything, and that is on top of Amazon’s already low price! Also, the service is so customizable that I cannot conceive of us running out of something between shipments.

So, our neighbors are about to see our flat inundated with boxes of toilet paper, baby goods, shampoo, and toothpaste. But, the sense of being on top of things—you no longer have to make a quick run to the store because you just realized that you ran out of shaving cream—and the time we will save (not to mention the money) are worth it.