UPDATED **SIFO** PT 1 of SO Many Things About Amazon (that you probably did not know)

UPDATE: 

As of June 10th, when I checked, the link to the Amazon Directory no longer works. The best way to find your way around the site now is to go to the very bottom of any page and check those links. It looks like this:

The link for afro-natural or "textured hair" is here.

I will try to locate any of the other missing pages and add the links as I can in future updates.

***NOTE: Sorry that some of the photos are small. You can enlarge the view using  CTRL and the  + key on your browser or just click on the photo and see what happens.:***

This post started out just being about the Amazon Outlet, some deals and the coupon pages. But... I decided to go deeper. Instead of one simple post, this turned into such a monster that I just had to break it up into parts. So...

 This part is going to just cover a couple of my favorite things about Amazon. Later, I will get deeper into the site directory and highlight some really interesting parts. Or at least the parts I find most interesting. For now, let's get to the potentially money-saving sections...

Outlet, Coupons & Deals

I didn't think about this when I wrote the SIFO post on finding your Amazon stats. I was reading this story recently about the spat between PayPal and Amazon when I realized a lot of people might not even know about t the Amazon Outlet. (I just love an outlet. I once almost got lost in New Mexico trying to find one I'd heard about. I was on my way to drive the Alcan and was almost a couple of days late because of my distraction. Never did find that outlet.)

enlarge the photo to see the other deals, steals & woot-woots at top of page with blue arrow

To be honest, I don't go cruising through the Amazon Outlet just to window-shop. Doing that would make it too easy for me to talk myself into random purchases. What I do use it for is to check for deals on something I am already planning to buy. It's already hard enough to go on Amazon, get what I want, and get out before I start thinking I really just might need whatever gadget Buzzfeed is pushing. I once almost bought a clip-on couch table. I never sit on my couch long enough to need a place to rest beverages or the remote.

Still, I think everyone should know about the Outlet. I will tell you a couple of things about it before you check it out though.

1. It is a lot like Amazon's Deals (see photo below) that most people only notice during the holiday shopping season. You can get tricked into going back into the Outlet for a price that was shown as "starting at". While there, you might start looking around again. It's a little like a brick and mortar store rearranging their aisles so you have to wander around noticing a lot of other stuff while looking for your regular items.
2. There are some good deals to be had, but you should still do a regular search on the whole site. Also, it's smart to search for items - not only in the Outlet but also sitewide - by using the department filter to keep wandering-eyes-temptations low.
3. I don't care what Amazon says, the Honey/browser extension has been great for auto-applying coupon codes on a lot of sites I visit. I almost always save at least 10 or 20 % on vape devices and supplies because of Honey. (And, yes, like every other app or site in the world, Honey probably does collect your data. Go in and select to opt-out of that or see what the other options are for controlling the use of your info.)

I use Amazon a lot and I am not deceived. They are in the business of selling stuff - and not necessarily helping you find the lowest price on their site. Have you ever tried to do a search and start filtering by price or ratings? Notice how some things with great prices and ratings don't show up? Yeah. I see what you're doing there, Amazon... 

Take a note that there is a page for Amazon Coupons also. You probably have seen these pop up next to an item on the product page or when checking out. It will be something like 5- or 10% off and instructs you to "clip the coupon" so that you see the discount before paying. Using this coupon page, you can clip before you send the item into your cart. You can sort and filter by coupons you have used before or by certain department sections. Notice that across the top of the Coupons page, there are links to other enticing "deals". Just don't go click-crazy. Bezos already has a private jet so let's not buy him more.

I really am amazed at how many people don't know about these links. I mentioned the Outlet to a neighbor before writing this post and she was totally blown away. This is one of my very few neighbors who shops online for everything the same way I do. I thought she was going to put me in her will when I told her about all the other links on Amazon. I am not sure why these things are kind of hidden - or at least, aren't easy to spot if you don't know about them. I can't remember but I think that I found out about them when I learned about the yearly "Lightning Deals" a few years back.

Anway.

Once again, all these price-saving links are ways to get you to look at stuff you might not need to be tempted with. I use this the same way I use the Outlet: check only for items I was already intending to buy. You have been warned.

One last tip about the Outlet: make sure to price check things there against Walmart and your local shops. Amazon is very often not the cheapest. This is especially true for food items.

In the next post (Part 2) I will go over part of the Amazon Directory which is just one big, budget-killer rabbit hole. Oh, it's gonna get deep...

Peace
--Free

Once again, instead of music, I thought I would share this. It's old but interesting and I am still poking fun at Buzzfeed, though I do love their lists of products on Flipboard Mag - this one for example

I give them so much respect (or maybe not) for trying this stuff

because all of it is a big old NOPE for me

**SIFO** Tubi TV (and Project Free TV)

If you are looking for a free alternative to Paid YouTube (or the annoyingly ad-filled free version) or Hulu, or Netflix, etc., then you have to check out Tubi TV.

Tubi is free and, while there are ads, they don't interrupt viewings nearly as often as with other free sites. On top of that, I have to admit, the library is really extensive. I am a documentary freak so that's the rabbit-hole I went down (and I'm still surfing that wave), but there are some nice offerings in all categories. (I hope they don't mind if I share a peek):

There is so much about this that I like You can save items to a queue and that queue is very easy to add and delete from You can even delete things from your viewing history ~shrug~ if you want

I really couldn't find any negatives to this for a free app One of the things I loved about YouTube back in the day was the variety of choices, but now the choices are slimming down and the ads have become insanely intrusive I mainly use YouTube now for instructional videos and for background music Tubi which by the way also has some music offerings (in the way of albums even), is more for finding movies and documentaries that you might have missed somewhere else

Tubi has a category of "Only Free on Tubi" and another humorously labeled "Not On Netflix"! Love it
You can also get phone/tablet apps of Tubi for on the go The one thing that Netflix might have over Tubi at this point is that it's easier to download some titles from Netflix for offline viewing That's handy for when you are stuck on a long flight or some other commute I did see some random article a while back explaining how to jump through hoops downloading and installing some sketchy software in order to download from Tubi Nah, I'm good.

So, yeah. Tubi is worth a checkout
Peace
--Free


P.S.: After I wrote and scheduled this post, I found another free television resource here called Project Free TV. I have not used it yet. When I have checked it out, I will try to do a SIFO/Review of it.

**SIFO** Find Some Of Your Amazon Stats

This is Stuff I Found Out a long while back and forgot to ever mention here. You might not want to know but probably should know how much you have spent on Amazon. Here is how you figure it out.

You can
buy this on Amazon! LOL

• Sign into Amazon (you can only do this for a member account you have access to)
• Go to Accounts & Lists (at the top of the page, right under the little "Hello" notice)
• Click on Your Account
• Under the list of Ordering & Shopping Preferences, the 6th choice is to Download Order Reports

On this page, you can choose which type of report you want:

• Items 
• Orders and Shipments
• Refunds
• Returns

As for the date parameters, there are some Quick Set Options, or you can choose a range starting back as far as the start of your membership. You can download it to view it in MS Excel or Google Drive (and I can't help with that because I have always used Excel). Also, Amazon will send you a link to download in case you forget. The email will also provide a link back to the Reports page - just so you don't have to remember the above steps. Bookmark that.

He might not need more, but...

If you are faint of heart, you can just scan the prices you paid for each item on the list. If you really do want to see the totals, you can use the Excel formulas to do the math. If you are like me and suck at Excel, the easiest way is to use the automatic formula buttons in the program:

Like I said, you may or may not want to know, but it sure is helpful. I go in and look at my report whenever I need to see what I'm spending on household goods (or on things I shouldn't be!). I will also use the report to compare the prices of things on my shopping against Walmart, HyVee, etc. This is helpful for saving on household items you purchase on a regular basis. 

(By the way, if my brain is behaving, I will really grind down looking for savings by using the Price Cruncher app for comparing things. Super helpful, especially at the store or when shopping online between 3 or 4 different stores. There are other similar apps but this one is free and works fine, IMO.)

Back to the Amazon reports...

Once you request a report, it will stay listed on your Reports page. I try to give my reports specific names (for example: "Checking Against Monthly Budget" or "Household Buys for ## to ##". This helps when you go back to look at a report you created a year ago.

By the way, I am working on thinning out my already paper-thin budget. One way I'm doing that is being better organized about timing household purchases. Because my memory is crap, I have set up a written schedule for re-ordering things like tissue, soap, floor cleaner, etc. Just organizing my bathroom pantry helps with that. And checking these Amazon spending reports is very motivating. And every now and then I look at this and get mad enough to go without only but the barest basics...

So that's the deal with that. I hope that this helps you.

Peace

--Free

Instead of music, I thought I'd post a different kind of video. Interesting, no matter what you believe, and something to think about.