This post isn’t for everyone, and if you are in New York, it’s not for you. If you enjoy going to the mall to wander around and shop, then check this post out instead.

Alright, let’s get to it then, now that we’ve excluded just about everyone. Amazon Prime is a service that Amazon provides that allows Free 2 day shipping for everything sold by Amazon. It costs about $80 per year and UPS delivers your items. For some of you, that might sound like a high price to pay for shipping.

You might be right if you buy 3 things online, but if you make more purchases, it could really be worth it. Here is the way you can save money using it. Anything that you buy online, you don’t have to pay taxes on (NY excluded, and probably more to come). If you’re like me, you don’t want to buy something and wait a week for it, so buying things online becomes more expensive if you have to pay for faster shipping.

Here is an example of how I saved money. It was a Wednesday, and I needed an air compressor for a renovation project I was starting that weekend. I shopped around online to see where I could buy one for a decent price and I found the one I wanted at Lowes. It was $160 so I was planning on making the trip that afternoon. I needed it by Saturday, so I didn’t want to buy I online and pay for 2 day shipping, and then I found it on Amazon. It was also $160 so I did a little research and saw that I could have it arrive on Friday if I signed up for Amazon Prime. I signed up and made the purchase, and it was sitting on my step when I came home for lunch on that Friday.

I saved money, by not having to pay taxes on the item, and I saved the time and money it would have cost me to drive to Lowes to get it. I figured that the taxes would have been $11.20, it would have cost a few dollars in gas, and it would have taken me an hour to get it to my house. Seeing that I view an hour of my free time at about $25 or so, this purchase paid for about half of the cost of the annual fee for the service. If I make just two more of these types of purchases within a year, I will have saved money. Since I make all types of purchases online, and always find things to be cheaper there, I will have no problem making it worth it.

You can save even more money if you don’t mind waiting for their normal free shipping too. For me, it’s all about timing. A week is just too long once I have made up my mind to purchase something.

Go on, give it a try next time; Amazon will give you a free 15 day trial of the Prime service, so you have nothing to lose.  www.amazon.com

Wouldn’t it be great to have a near endless supply of fresh vegetables at your fingertips all summer long. It’d be easy, quick and inexpensive to get started. Your investment wouldn’t be more than $30 and you need is a shovel and some usable land or some pots and a sunlit area to put them. Dig up a small area and head down to your local nursery or home improvement store and buy some plants and maybe topsoil. You may also want to buy some Miracle Grow; that stuff is awesome!

Some good choices are tomatoes, salad greens, zucchini, basil, or peppers. You could choose anything you like, but do some research to see if what you choose will grow in your area and when the best time to plant your choices. Ask the staff what will grow the best in your garden; be sure to let them know how much sunlight it gets. They usually will not stock plants that don’t grow well locally, so this might limit your choices, but maximize your results.

Put them in the ground and water them as necessary, and then enjoy them. If your crops take off, you may have extras to share. Your coworkers or neighbors always love getting them. You could send me some too.

Fresh locally grown produce always tastes better than the stuff you can buy at your local grocery store. Another benefit of spending an hour doing this is you will eat healthier having all of these vegetables around.

Two years ago we harvested at least a hundred perfect tomatoes from 4 plants. We also picked 30 zucchini. If we had bought that many, it would have cost well over $300, but these were basically free. Not to mention that almost all of the produce in your supermarket is trucked in from hundreds of miles away, and this is bad for the environment. You can do your part to help.

I almost find it therapeutic tending to my garden. All I really have to do is water occasionally, pick off a few dead leaves, and pick the vegetables when they are ready. It doesn’t take a green thumb or anything like that. If you want to get started, check this site out.