This weekend, I was on Facebook talking to a friend, Denise McGaha in Dallas, who was sharing that she’d just finished doing her week’s shopping, with the exception of fresh produce and meats, via Amazon Prime’s new Prime Pantry service on her IPad – while in bed!  That led me to thinking about you, Mitzi’s readers, who might not know of this service yet or might find it useful to help out your elderly parents, your college age children who don’t live with you or just yourself – if you’re like most of us who juggle a million things at once.

What is the basic Amazon Prime service? Amazon Prime is an Amazon service that costs $99/year and it enables you to log in to http://amazon.com/prime, buy whatever you need, and have it shipped free via 2 day air, or, if something is needed within one day, to pay an upgrade of 3.99 to have it shipped overnight.

Amazon’s PRIME PANTRY service works a bit differently. You select what you need to fill a 4 ft. square box { I love how the on screen box icon tells you how full your box is getting as you shop -so smart! } and you pay 5.99 + the cost of the items in it,  vs. the normal 3.99 with Amazon Prime, to ship it.

Delivery is 1-4 business days versus 2 day air, but still…what a huge time savings and just think of all those heavy items you never have to lug from the car to your doorstep again! However, elderly parents would have to have someone available to help them lift and possibly unpack the box –but a nice doorman, church friend or a neighbor who might help out 1x a week, could be the answer to that, right?

Imagine how useful this might be for an elderly parent, a sick family member or friend who can’t get out, a stressed out caregiver, a temporarily jobless friend, or even a local homeless shelter that you would like to gift with this idea 1x/mth?

I heart this idea and Amazon makes it easy to buy a gift card, here.

Not only that, but Amazon’s PRIME service allows you [ + up to 4 members of your family living in the same household ] to download and live stream favorite TV programs, movies and music, too.

In addition, each month you can download one book of your choice from their KINDLE library and read it without a return due date! For a reader like me, and maybe for someone you know, too, this benefit alone would make it worthwhile, as the regular cost of a KINDLE download is over the monthly price of an Amazon PRIME membership.

From what I can see, being an Amazon PRIME member makes #BoomerSmarts sense { and cents! } to me. Does it to you, too? Do you use Amazon Prime already to save you time? 

Let us know your experience in the comments and thanks,  Denise McGaha, of *Designing With A Deadline* Fame, for this useful tip!

Leslie Carothers

for

Mitzi Beach, ASID, NCIDQ, CAPS


~~~~~~~PS! ~~~~~~~

If you’re a design professional and live in Dallas or the surrounding areas, Mitzi will be presenting her 4 credit hour [ HSW ] IDCEC approved CEU course for interior design professionals, ” Boomers Are Big Business* at the Dallas Design Center on Tuesday, Oct. 14th, as part of Haven Rock Productions’ * INSPIRE 2014 * event, October 14th through the 16th.

If you need HSW CEU’s, you’re invited to sign up for a special discounted price of 100.00 – 25.00/per credit hour – the only time Mitzi will offer this 4 hour CEU course at this price again.

After you complete it, you will receive her CERTIFIED LOCAL EXPERT #BoomerSmarts badge to use, if you would like, on your own website or blog.

Online registration opens Tuesday, August 26th on http://havenrockproductions.com !