Some 200 million consumers agree: Amazon Prime’s annual fee pays for itself. The shipping deals alone may justify the cost of your membership — but the savings don’t stop there. You can maximize your investment in Amazon Prime, and keep your wallet happy, by using more of your membership benefits.
To stoke your motivation, here’s a look at eight Amazon Prime hacks that can save you nearly $1,500 a year.
Shipping essentials: $288
No doubt you’re using your Amazon shipping perks already. In truth, your Prime membership may have planted unreasonable expectations for other e-commerce websites. Admit it — you’ve shopped elsewhere only to leave items in the cart because you refuse to pay for shipping.
The thing is, have you added up how much Prime free shipping saves you each year? The dollar amount might surprise you. Say you place three Prime orders monthly. Assuming an $8 shipping charge for each, your Prime membership spares you $288 annually.
Streaming entertainment: $85
Prime Video offers a full library of movies and shows to stream — so you can cancel your Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV+. I know what you’re thinking: I can’t live without my Netflix!
I get it. I pay for more than one streaming service because it’s easy to get bored with one catalog of shows. Here’s my advice. You don’t have to cancel all of them, but if you’re paying for Prime, cancel one other streaming subscription. I dropped Netflix. Netflix’s cheapest subscription is $6.99 monthly, so the cancellation saves me $85 or more annually.
Food delivery: $120/year
Your Amazon Prime membership entitles you to a free GrubHub+ membership. That service normally costs $9.99 monthly. With a GrubHub+ membership, you pay no delivery fees on standard, qualified orders. You also qualify for lower service fees and 5% credit back on pick-up orders.
Amazon says its Prime members save an average of $300 annually on delivery fees. That number makes sense if you’re ordering meal delivery once a week and side-stepping an $8 driver fee each time.
Read next: Amazon Prime, Walmart+, or Target Circle 360: Which Shopping Membership Is Best?
In-garage delivery: $500+/year
Avoid stolen or weather-damaged packages by setting up Amazon Key, another perk of your Prime membership. With Amazon Key, Amazon drivers deliver your packages safely inside your garage.
The technology connects with your automatic garage door opener. The driver scans your packages to open the door. You do not have to give out your garage code or open the door manually.
The savings associated with using Amazon Key can vary widely. But, if you’ve ever had a package stolen or damaged by rain, this Amazon Prime perk will deliver priceless peace of mind.
Photo storage: $35/year
Is Apple hounding you to pay for storage because you have too many pictures on your iPhone? Amazon Photos provides unlimited storage for high-resolution photos, free with your Prime membership. The drawback is that you only get 5GB of free video storage.
Even so, the unlimited photo storage beats Apple’s storage offering, which costs $0.99 for 50GB or $2.99 for 200GB.
Exclusive member deals: $100/year
As a Prime member, you also have exclusive access to Prime Day sales. The original Prime Day sale happens in the summer. Amazon has been adding another annual sale in the fall, to kick off the holiday shopping season.
If you’re organized, you can save $100 or more annually at these events. Being organized involves shopping the items you want before the sale. Drop them into your cart and wait to see if the price drops on sale day. Amazon tech, such as Kindles, generally have nice discounts during Prime sale events.
Prime reading: $264/year
Your Prime membership also includes access to a long list of ebooks, magazines, audiobooks, and comics, free. You can download up to 10 titles at a time. Once you hit that limit, you can return titles to download more.
The average price of a Kindle ebook is $11, according to thebookbuff.com. Assuming you read two books monthly, this Amazon Prime hack is worth $264 annually.
Try before you buy: $100/year
Many Budget Fashionistas are plagued by the habit of purchasing clothes that never get worn. Silver ankle boots, crop tops, too-tight sweaters…these pieces can look great online and not so great IRL.
Prime Wardrobe minimizes those buyer-regret moments by letting you try clothes before you buy them. Use it. You avoid the hassle of making returns — or worse, forgetting to make returns. You’ll also refine your skill at buying clothes online because you’ll know better what works for your body.
Prime is more than shipping
The free shipping you get with Amazon Prime is valuable if you’re a frequent online shopper. But there is far more value to unlock with your Prime membership. Use all the perks available to you, from meal delivery to photo storage. Even better, keep track of what you’re saving and use part of the proceeds to fund your clothing budget. That’s a win/win.
