I was insanely busy all summer, to the point that even running small errands became too much. I became extremely thankful that our internet connection meant that I could delegate some of my small tasks, even without a household staff! Here's a few things that made the past few months less crazy for me:
1. Post office pick up: I'm always amazed at how few people know about this service. The postal carrier will pick up any packages at your home (with some size limits) for free. You have to pay the postage beforehand, printed out on your printer. I tend to use flat rate boxes when I exercise this option since I don't own a postal scale. (You can order flat rate boxes to be delivered to your home for free on the site as well!) The site is kind of a pain at times, but it saves me time and gas, and I can use it 24 hours a day!
2. Store Pick Up: I use Walgreens for most of my prescriptions, and take advantage of their online refills. With the click of a button I can have my medication refilled so it will be ready when I go to pick it up. If you're *really* short on time, Walgreens will even mail it to you for FREE (standard shipping) or faster for a fee. Many other pharmacies have this service as well.
If you have insurance, call them to see if they offer mail order prescriptions. They can save you time and money. With some medications, I can get a 90 day supply for a 60 day price, and they send it to me to boot!
Sam's Club has an online order section as well- fill it out, pay online and your groceries will be waiting for you in customer service.
Do you know of any other stores have this?
3. Library Holds: I don't have time to browse at the library much these days, but that does not mean I'm not reading! I "browse" online and then I use my library's hold feature. They e-mail me when items are ready to pick up. I usually go pick up about once a week.
This is not entirely free- my library charges .25 cents per hold. Since I read so much, I asked if there was a way around that, and there was! A Friends of the Library membership was my ticket to free holds, and at $25 a year, it's a bargain for me. Ask if there's a workaround- they're not always well advertised.
4. All Recipes Ingredients Search: Do you have a big pile of random ingredients and no idea what to cook? Don't dial for a pizza, plug those ingredients into the ingredients search! This feature has been the only thing between me and Burger Barn some nights.
5.Online Bill Pay: We pay a lot of our bills online. It saves us the stamp and we know that it's there and not lost in the mail. We also have several of our bills on auto pay, meaning we don't even have to remember to pay it at all! (Be sure you use an account that has a decent amount of money in it!) I was reluctant to do auto pay, but they all send a statement well before the bill is due, so we can dispute charges if needed. (FWIW, that's never happened to us...yet!)
6. Amazon Subscriptions: If you use large quantities of things every month, two months, six months, etc... you may consider having them delivered via Amazon subscription. You save 15% by using the service. Never run out of diapers, coffee, or toilet paper again! It's easy to cancel when you no longer want or need the service.
How do you save time and money without leaving the house?
1 comment:
I have been using the online search and hold system at our library for over a year now, and I love it! Thankfully ours is free of charge too. I find what I want, place a hold, they call me when it is ready and I go in once a week and pick up my books. It is a great service, and so easy to use!
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