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5 Ways to Save on an Amazon Prime Membership

December 21, 2020 By MelissaB 1 Comment

save on an Amazon Prime membership

An Amazon Prime membership offers a number of perks such as free Amazon shipping, free movies and music, a discount at Whole Foods, and many more.  However, some people balk  at the $119 annual membership fee, which is understandable.  If you’d like to have an Amazon Prime membership but want to save money, there are a number of possibilities.

Split an Amazon Prime Membership

If there’s another adult family member that you’d like to split Amazon Prime with, you can.  And no, this isn’t like sneaking another family member into a hotel without telling the hotel staff.  Amazon has a whole page dedicated to how to split a membership, which they call Amazon Household.

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Say your mother-in-law lives with you.  You’ll share a membership, each putting in a payment method to pay your portion, and you will have separate accounts.  If you can do this, you’ll automatically pay just half–$59.50 instead of the full price of $119.

Get a Student Discount

If you’re a college student with an .edu email address, you can get a discounted Amazon Prime membership by signing up for an Amazon Prime Student account.  The first 6 months are free, and then you’re charged $6.49 per month (equaling $79 per year, a $40 a year savings from traditional Prime)

EBT & Medicaid Discount

If you receive EBT benefits or Medicaid, you’re eligible for a special Amazon Prime membership for just $5.99/month.  You’ll need to verify that you actually receive benefits, and every 12 months, you’ll need to verify that you’re still eligible for this type of membership.  You are allowed this special rate for 48 months.

Credit Card with Prime as a Perk

save on Amazon Prime membership

Some credit cards offer an Amazon Prime membership, or a discount on the membership, as a perk.  For instance, the Uber Visa Card by Barclay offers $50 off an Amazon Prime membership after you spend $5,000 on the card each year.  This will take the Prime membership down to $69.

Likewise, the Amazon Business Prime American Express Card offers a $125 Amazon.com gift card when you’re approved for the card.

Amazon Prime Discount

Amazon Prime rarely offers discounts, but once a year, you can usually find them.  They may offer the deal in July during Amazon Prime Day, or when they have new shows to debut, or their shows, like Mozart in the Jungle, win awards.  You’ll just need to keep a close eye on Amazon to snag the discount when it’s available.

If none of these discounts applies to you or you just don’t want to spend the money, keep in mind, you’ll get free shipping from Amazon if your order is over $25, and you can always get a 30-day free trial membership should you want to binge watch a show or order a number of items, say around Christmas time.

Do you currently have an Amazon Prime membership?  If so, do you use one of the above strategies or another one to avoid paying full price?  Do you think Amazon Prime is worth paying the full price?

Read More

Is It Worth Paying for an Amazon Prime Membership?

5 Ways to Save on Utilities and Amazon

Free Alternatives to Things You Currently Pay For

 

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Frugality, Saving Tagged With: amazon, Amazon Prime membership, discounts, subscriptions

Looking for More Ways to Save? Try Asking for Discounts

April 15, 2013 By MelissaB 13 Comments

There are plenty of ways to save on a daily basis–clipping coupons, resisting the urge to buy something, packing your lunch instead of eating out, etc.  There are many ways to live a more frugal life, and chances are, you incorporate the ways that are easy.  You know, the ones that don’t cause you to change your lifestyle much.  Things like giving up cable and getting streaming through your Xbox instead.  That’s fairly easy and doesn’t change your lifestyle.

Another easy way to save that doesn’t change your lifestyle is to ask for discounts.  Have you tried it?

Asking is surprisingly easy, and even more surprising is how often you actually get the discount.  You just have to get up the nerve to ask the first time; once someone says yes, you’ll gain confidence, and it’ll be easier to ask next time.

Ask for the DiscountWant proof that asking is as easy as I say?

Credit Card Fees

A few years ago, I made an online payment to my credit card on the day it was due, which was a Saturday.  The web stated that any payment made on the weekend wouldn’t post until the next business day.  Yep, my on time payment was counted late, and I was charged a $25 late fee.

I called the company and asked them to remove the late charge.  They did immediately.  Why?  Two reasons.  First, I asked.  Second, I never make late payments, so they rewarded my good payment history by removing the late payment.  I’ve had this happen to me 3 times in about 10 years of credit card usage.  Each time I called and they removed the charge.

Credit Card Interest

We’re paying down debt, and one thing that slowed our progress was our credit card APR of 13.99%.  I called to ask to have the rate reduced.  I had to talk to a supervisor, but she lowered our rate to 9.99%, and she gave me enough reward points to cover the cost of our annual fee.  I saved a few hundred dollars right there in about 10 minutes, just by asking.  (But when I got an offer to move my balance to a 0% APR card a few months later, you better believe I did it.)

Grocery Store Purchases

Asking for discounts isn’t limited to credit cards.  If I see something at the grocery store that is at the sell by date, I’ll ask someone in that department to discount it.  I’m only successful here about 50% of the time, but still, that’s half the time that I save more than I would if I hadn’t asked!

Garage Sales & Craigslist

I love shopping garage sales in the summertime.  If things are already priced dirt cheap, I don’t haggle, but if the price is too expensive, I have no problem asking for a lower price.  Most of the time people will say yes because they just want to get rid of their stuff.

Likewise, people on Craigslist expect you to ask for a lower price than they have listed.  Just don’t get ridiculous with the amount you ask.  That can be insulting for the seller and usually won’t lead to a deal.

These are just a few examples of how I’ve saved by asking for a discount.  However, any time I think asking might lead to a discount, I ask.

What was your most successful discount you got just by asking?

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: credit cards, free money, Frugality, Saving, ShareMe Tagged With: asking for discounts, credit cards, discount, discounts, shopping

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