I’ve been using Amazon Prime for a few years now. I’m not sure how I survived without it! Most items on Amazon Prime have free 2-day shipping, and for me, 2-day shipping is usually faster than I can make it to the store.
During my teaching week, my Monday through Thursday schedule is jam packed. If I think of something we need, I usually don’t have time to run to the store until the weekend. And, these days, with kids in tow, shopping isn’t that awesome anyways. Amazon Prime, for the win!
Even with the annual membership fee for Amazon, I’m pretty sure that it’s a money saver. I don’t make any impulse purchases like I would in a store, and usually Amazon’s prices are pretty competitive to in-store prices. I use Amazon weekly for all kinds of music and business related purchases as well as household purchases.
A lot of the piano books that I use regularly with my students are on Amazon, such as the Piano Adventures series. I usually keep a small stockpile of extra books around. As a student is nearing the end of a level, and I check to make sure I have the next level. If I’m running low on that particular level, I’ll go ahead and scan the barcode with the Amazon app on my phone and order a few more. It just takes a few seconds, and my stockpile is replenished by the time the student returns the following week.
Another item I order frequently order on Amazon is printer ink. I try to buy ahead, but it seems like more often than not, my printer surprises me and announces that it needs more ink a lot sooner than I expect. I can almost always squeak by for 2 days with tiny amounts of ink until the new cartridges arrive.
Just this week, Amazon came to the rescue with a pretty big item that is going to be a game-changer in my studio.
My 16-month old has become a lot more adventurous lately. He loves pulling all of my books and music off the shelves and out of all of my nicely organized baskets. He is super quick and often times, he sneaks into my studio and starts making messes before I even know he’s in there. Because my studio has a 10-foot opening to the rest of my house, I can’t close a door or block the entrance.
I’ve felt so scattered in lessons lately because the books in my baskets tended to stay in the order that they needed to appear throughout the week. Now that they’ve been stirred around a few times, I’ve spent too much time in lessons fumbling through the stacks and trying to find things. On Tuesday, I heard him crawl into the studio and by the time I got in there approximately 30 seconds later, he had dumped my water bottle out and was splashing around in it.
I immediately did a quick search on Amazon and found a baby gate that can cover up to 12 feet. It got great reviews and seems really sturdy. I went ahead and ordered it on Tuesday, it arrived today and my problem will be solved tomorrow.
The gate will really come in handy during my preschool music classes as well. Currently, I put up a baby gate to block the entrance to my living room, but my studio is open to my kitchen and dining room. Kids stay pretty well contained in the studio during the class, but occasionally, they start to wander.
Amazon Prime has come in handy for so many different things – office supplies, books, teaching aids, student prizes. For our household, we buy laundry detergent, toiletries, groceries, shoes, clothes, gifts, baby gear – pretty much everything!
If you’re thinking about signing up for Amazon Prime, you can try it out for free for a month!
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