OK, so this really isn’t parenting-related, but it’s still something I decided I should share because most of the people I’ve talked to about this haven’t been aware of this particular feature on Amazon. As an Amazon lover — I actually do a lot of my shopping there since I live in the boonies — I feel compelled to pass this on to fellow Amazon shoppers. If you’ve already figured out this trick for yourself, kudos.

If you find something that you really want, put it in your Amazon cart and save it for later. The cart will always be there and every time you log in and check it, items with price changes will show up at the top of the page. There have been things that I’ve been dying to have, so I saved them in my cart and, with a little patience, was able to get them later for a steal.

For instance, I really wanted Corelle dishes because my stoneware ones were getting chipped and smashed (thanks, kids). I picked a pattern and put it in my cart. Months later, the price was down to something like $25 for a 4-place setting, plus Amazon was doing a promotion where you could buy one and get another one half off. Normally these dishes were around $40 at least, so I was thrilled to get 2 sets for around the same price.

That’s just one example. I could count many others. The key here is patience: If it’s not something you need immediately, save it because it will almost surely end up being a much better buy later.

Of course this means logging in every once in awhile to check, ideally every day, but that only takes a few seconds of your time. My saved cart has around 200 items in it. Yeah, that’s a lot, but I’ve also been adding things to it since 2004. It’s fun to check in and see if anything has become ridiculously low in price. Sometimes there are things you just can’t pass up, like a whole season of a popular TV show for $13.

Tags: Amazon, Amazon.com, cart, dishes, family, parenting, shopping