It’s Amazon prime day and there’s a lot of buzz about amazing deals. Here’ s unpopular advice for Amazon Prime Day: you’ve already spent plenty on Amazon this year. You don’t need to buy anything for Prime Day!
Afterall, you can get any item 100% off when you don’t buy it!
Instead of spending more money on Prime Day, I challenge you to find out how much have you spent on Amazon this year?
I’ll show you exactly how to find out how much you’ve spent, how much Prime members spend annually on average, and share my numbers for the year too. Spoiler alert, I practice what I preach: I don’t impulse buy and rarely shop Amazon. You’ll also see if the average Prime member invested (versus spent money) how much of a nest egg they’d have over a lifetime.
If you’re in debt and never have money, this will be an eye-opening exercise.
Too often I hear people say, “I don’t have money to invest for retirement now.” Or there’s no way I can pay more on my debt monthly.
In most cases, you do have the money! Instead of building your financial future it’s going to random impulse buys on Amazon for things you don’t even remember you purchased or wind up in the back of a closet.
And I hate to break it to you, but you’re not getting a good deal!
A Bloomberg article showed prices look like they’re marked down, but the list price was inflated and you’re paying the same regular prices. In some cases, you end up paying MORE than the standard list price. The study tracked 15,000 items and prices were throughout the year.
How Much Have You Spent on Amazon This Year?
You can view exactly how much you’ve spent on Amazon this year with a few simple steps.
- Login to your profile and go to “Account & Lists,” select “Account”
- Scroll down to the bottom where it says “Manage your Data,” and then select “Request your data.”
- Select Data Category: “Your Orders,” and “Submit.”
- You’ll see a notification asking you to confirm this request via your email. Click the link in your email to confirm.
- Wait for the data: there is a warning it will be processed and can take some time.
What is the average people spend on Amazon?
On average Prime members spend $1,320 a year ($110 monthly). This doesn’t include $139 a year for the subscription. Non-Prime members spend a fraction of the cost: $38 a month or $456 annually.
My Amazon purchases for this year.
The majority of what I spent on Amazon was for my business. I purchased a microphone for $134.47 and a tripod for $54.11, or $188.58 total. For my personal purchases I had three orders mostly for RV and car repairs. I bought a toilet valve, propane hose pigtail, and windshield wiper. Then I did purchase a couple of books. In total my personal purchases for the year were $54 on Amazon.
What if you invested instead?
If the average Prime member invested $110 monthly instead of their purchases over 40 years assuming 8% interest, they’d have a nest egg of $341,954.
If you’ve been eyeing Prime deals, first try this exercise out to see how much you’ve spent so far this year!
❤️ Carly
P.S. Everyone could use more awareness of their Amazon impulse buys. Know of friends, family or coworkers who geek out over personal finances? Share this with them?
