To be completely honest, I started reading this thinking... it's easy to try to curb Amazon purchases if you don't have kids! Then I got to the part where you said you have kids hahah. I've had Prime since college... but never felt as dependent on and "panic-shoppy" with Amazon as I started feeling after having a baby... It's definitely gotten better since the most clueless, troubleshooting-filled newborn days, but I still feel dependent on Amazon and I'm sure it would be good to keep that in check. Been loving the "save for later" button in the cart... helps me mull over things for some time at least. Thanks for an encouraging post!
Solidarity! I think (am hoping) that as my kids get older it'll be easier to relinquish amazon's grip. The save for later button has been SO helpful for me on all platforms — save it to pinterest until you forget about it/no longer crave it, etc.
my partner & i cancelled amazon prime and i have limited my orders for a couple years now. ex we use it for: replacement piece for vacuum, omeprazole tablets. never clothing, books, food, gifts, etc. for me it's super doable but we have the privileges of a lot of time in our schedules and financial room to sometimes pay more locally. fully support amazon disconnecton for all who can make that change !
I like the constraints you and your partner have created for yourselves — makes sense to me! Leaving Amazon is totally a privilege, you're right. It's a good perspective to consider :)
Thanks for sharing this mundane but so enlightening experience. I am in a deep reflection on buying as the only response to any problem so this really strikes me. I am thankful to Healthy Rich for pointing me here and looking forward to see how this year unfolds!
When I started trying to be mindful of the scrolling, I noticed that I was doing a lot of it during cracks in my work time - I work from home and am generally pretty focused, but if my computer was taking time to process opening a large document or a webpage was taking time to load, or if my brain needed a break for a minute, I would reach for my phone and scroll. Sometimes I could curb it to a few minutes, but often I would get distracted and lose 15-20 minutes without even feeling it, which did not feel good. So I started keeping a basic elementary school set of watercolors on my desk and picking up a paintbrush instead of my phone. I am a terrible painter, so I have no ambitions of ever showing these "works" to anyone, but it really did help curb the habit of reaching for my phone, and it's much easier for me to come back to the task at hand after a few strokes.
So in your journey, it might be helpful to try to notice patterns like that - I don't think there will be one single replacement for scrolling time, because we reach for our phones in so many different types of situations. Even if you were inclined to knit, you wouldn't pull out your knitting while waiting in line at the grocery store, so I think it might be useful to try to place awareness on when it happens, and then try to group the instances into buckets, and then try to work on replacements in small chunks. Good luck!
To be completely honest, I started reading this thinking... it's easy to try to curb Amazon purchases if you don't have kids! Then I got to the part where you said you have kids hahah. I've had Prime since college... but never felt as dependent on and "panic-shoppy" with Amazon as I started feeling after having a baby... It's definitely gotten better since the most clueless, troubleshooting-filled newborn days, but I still feel dependent on Amazon and I'm sure it would be good to keep that in check. Been loving the "save for later" button in the cart... helps me mull over things for some time at least. Thanks for an encouraging post!
Solidarity! I think (am hoping) that as my kids get older it'll be easier to relinquish amazon's grip. The save for later button has been SO helpful for me on all platforms — save it to pinterest until you forget about it/no longer crave it, etc.
I am going to join you in experiment #1. Thank you for the inspo!
Oh I'm excited to hear how it goes for you (and me) !
All great ideas! Thanks for sharing! You should check out Making Things by Erin Boyle and Rose Pearlman for your next hobby!
Thanks for the rec, I surely will!
my partner & i cancelled amazon prime and i have limited my orders for a couple years now. ex we use it for: replacement piece for vacuum, omeprazole tablets. never clothing, books, food, gifts, etc. for me it's super doable but we have the privileges of a lot of time in our schedules and financial room to sometimes pay more locally. fully support amazon disconnecton for all who can make that change !
I like the constraints you and your partner have created for yourselves — makes sense to me! Leaving Amazon is totally a privilege, you're right. It's a good perspective to consider :)
Thanks for sharing this mundane but so enlightening experience. I am in a deep reflection on buying as the only response to any problem so this really strikes me. I am thankful to Healthy Rich for pointing me here and looking forward to see how this year unfolds!
When I started trying to be mindful of the scrolling, I noticed that I was doing a lot of it during cracks in my work time - I work from home and am generally pretty focused, but if my computer was taking time to process opening a large document or a webpage was taking time to load, or if my brain needed a break for a minute, I would reach for my phone and scroll. Sometimes I could curb it to a few minutes, but often I would get distracted and lose 15-20 minutes without even feeling it, which did not feel good. So I started keeping a basic elementary school set of watercolors on my desk and picking up a paintbrush instead of my phone. I am a terrible painter, so I have no ambitions of ever showing these "works" to anyone, but it really did help curb the habit of reaching for my phone, and it's much easier for me to come back to the task at hand after a few strokes.
So in your journey, it might be helpful to try to notice patterns like that - I don't think there will be one single replacement for scrolling time, because we reach for our phones in so many different types of situations. Even if you were inclined to knit, you wouldn't pull out your knitting while waiting in line at the grocery store, so I think it might be useful to try to place awareness on when it happens, and then try to group the instances into buckets, and then try to work on replacements in small chunks. Good luck!