32 Comments
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Laurel's avatar

Thanks for this post! My grandpa always used to say “the best coupon is not spending any money at all!” :)

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Laura Fenton's avatar

Grandpa was a smart guy!

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Deborah Wisleder's avatar

I'm definitely not buying anything during Prime Days. In fact, I canceled my Prime membership almost a year ago. Jeff Bezos doesn't need any more of my money.

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Laura Fenton's avatar

Not a penny more! I finally quit buying Kindle books this year (though I still use my Kindle for library books).

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Brooke Craig's avatar

I only buy ebooks if they’re written by authors I know locally from my Sisters-in-Crime writing group. But I’ve started learning about getting the books in the Bookshop.org app or BookFunnel when I can. I still don’t know how I’m going to go about self-publishing my own work 🙄.

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Mary E. Martin's avatar

My sentiments exactly Deborah! I deleted my whole Amazon account entirely more than a year ago and now shop directly on brand sites as well as Etsy and SHOP. They have good discounts too. Jeff will never get any more of my hard-earned dollars.

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Brooke Craig's avatar

Agree! I canceled mine several months ago as well and haven’t missed it.

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Ryan Rose Weaver (she/hers)'s avatar

We just moved, so I'm literally going room to room making a list of what we need in the new space. But as luck would have it, the Brimfield Flea is this week. So, I'm hoping to get most of what I need used, and if I can't find it there, then we might just do without for a bit and see how it goes. Hard pass on Prime Day either way.

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Laura Fenton's avatar

BRIMFIELD! I am so jealous. What a fun way to shop for your new home. Wishing you luck with your move and encouraging you to enjoy some empty space and study what you really need as you settle in. Fresh start!

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Ryan Rose Weaver (she/hers)'s avatar

Thank you! We’re not far from it now, if you ever need a base camp for your own Brimfield-ventures. And, agreed, it also feels really good to look at a wall and say, “I’m okay with just letting this be white space.”

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MKN's avatar

Cut ties with Amazon three years ago and never looked back! So much unnecessary spending. I feel zero pressure to join in on Prime Day. Loved this post!

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Sarah's avatar

Thank you for this, Laura. After working in publishing and watching Amazon eviscerate the book biz, I've never had the stomach to shop there. I hope that more people continue to wake up to the mindless consumerism relentlessly sold to us by this unbridled monopoly.

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Laura Fenton's avatar

Yes, book people were early to the anti-Amazon party. Unbridled monopoly is a great turn of phrase I may borrow in the future: thank you for that.

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Taylor Nelsen's avatar

I also had no idea it was Prime Day. Email unsubscribing and filtering straight to trash does wonders!

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Liz's avatar

Who can resist a 100% discount? Certainly not me! (I have been looking for a window a/c that is quiet and efficient but I am telling myself you have to have Prime, which I don’t, in order to shop the sale, whether it is true or not.)

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Laura Fenton's avatar

I don't actually know: I think it's on sale whether you have Prime or not? But for the AC, I can recommend the Midea. We bought one and it is so quiet that it has us considering upgrading our other window unit.

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Louisa Swain's avatar

Thank you for this! Just what I needed to read to recenter myself and resist!

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Laura Fenton's avatar

The desired impact--thanks for chiming in, Louisa.

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Erin Loughran's avatar

Thanks for the reinforcement. Your article earlier this year was very helpful in cutting my Amazon ties.

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Laura Fenton's avatar

I'm so happy to hear that, Erin ❤️

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Liz's avatar

I have never purchased anything during Prime Days - it feels ick. Even the website itself is visual clutter!!! I hate using Amazon but had to for a couple of things earlier this week. It's not much but I wanted to order (water filter for fridge and some books that I need this week to bring to some friends out of the country on Saturday) before Prime Day started so it sort of doesn't feel like participating? Sort of. The antidote to this of course is getting rid of things we have that we don't need so working on that instead :)

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Jenna Helwig's avatar

Thank you for fortifying my resolve!

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Laura Fenton's avatar

Any time, friend.

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Susan's avatar

I have no desire to order anything during Prime week. In fact, I’m actively avoiding all the articles and emails claiming to have the best prime deals- ick! So I was delighted to see that Bookshop.org is having Anti-Prime free shipping this week. I’ve had my eye on a book to pre-order that comes out this fall. I ordered it and designated my local bookstore. Small acts of resistance feel good. Thank you for this post ❤️

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Dudley Zopp's avatar

I’ve never had a Prime membership and have no intention of shopping at Amazon unless I absolutely cannot find what I need elsewhere, starting with locally.

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Laura Fenton's avatar

Love to hear that!

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Dudley Zopp's avatar

Thank you for bringing attention to the reasons we should stay away from Prime!

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Annie Allen's avatar

Always a good reminder that the thing we don't buy is the best savings.

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Laura Fenton's avatar

Such a simple thing that is so easy to forget!

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Pbr's avatar

While I use Amazon for some things, items can not be found within an hours drive. I don’t find the sales that enticing. My food budget is pulling from other areas and I don’t like what I am seeing economy wise. So I just skip it. Nothing comes home with me during the sale, it just seems very off these days.

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Jenn Pebbles's avatar

Literally killing the Earth

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