New Series: Staying Sane While Being A Stay at Home Mom (and selling online)

I find myself going a little crazy this time of year. I get overwhelmed and things feel hectic, the to do list seems like it will never get done. I know that in the next 4-5 months I will make the bulk of my profit for the year and I want to do it well. But it's hard sometimes.  I need to double the amount of things I get sent into Amazon and listed on ebay. Yet somehow I need to still manage to keep up on the housework and spend quality time with my family, especially with my husbands recent health concerns.

I'd like to start a new series about what I've found that makes things easier for me. I hopehat it will make things a little easier for another mom out there, whether working outside the house, a stay at home mom or a work at home mom. I'll post a tip every week of things that I find are working for me.

I realize that some things might not be the best for everyone. I live in a very rural area and it's about 45 minutes to 1 hour to the town where I do my shopping. "Going to town" is an all day event, where we pack a lunch and stay for the day. If you live closer to town, my tip for today might not make sense for you. If you have a great tip on how you make it all work, please share in the comments.


My tip for the week:
You're on the internet everyday anyway, why not make the most of it.

I order everything online that I possibly can. I can usually get it to my house before my next town day, often for less or the same amount it would cost to drive. I also don't have to drag one or both kids in and out of stores, and the days I do go to town, there is more time for things like going to the library, sourcing (more room in the car too.) Ordering things online also means less errands to run so  I'm not as rushed to get everything done in time to pick up my son from school.

Some things I have ordered in the last two weeks online:

• items to sell on Amazon- ordered a case or more instead of driving store to store to find more
• banker boxes- 140 of them to be exact, so I can organize and store more inventory (they qualified for free shipping, so I had them delivered. This way I won't have to lug them and the little one out to the car.) 
• shipping boxes for Amazon, I ordered them online for store pickup and had my hubby pick them up while he was in town
• library books for baby girl's homeschool preschool program and also some books to read about my hubby's condition, quick in and out with the library self checkout
• Groceries- I usually use Amazon Prime Pantry. I already have a prime account for our tv, (instead of cable) and I had gotten a bunch of $5 credits for prime pantry with things I have been ordering anyway.  I belong to several facebook groups that will alert you when there is a good deal on something. I do have a stockpile in our basement, so I order multiples while they are a good price. You can fill a very large box that will ship for a flat $5 (or free if you have a promo code) no matter how much it weighs
• Grocery and other items I have ordered recently: potato and corn chips .99-1.50 for a large bag (we donate these a lot for our church functions) beans, taco shells, vitamins, drinks, soup, soap,  shaving cream, drink mix, juice, shampoo, conditioner, and many more. You can also subscribe and save, so each month or whatever time limit you set, Amazon will automatically send you the items you need. We use this for toilet paper, baby wipes, pull-ups, vitamins, essential oils and supplements. Now that my stepdaughter is expecting in January, I have been having Amazon automatically send her some subscribe and save items as well.
• Prescriptions- I have them on automatic refill from Walgreens and they ship them to us. Before I was having to go to town 2-3 times a week to pick up my kiddos asthma/allergy meds,  I have an extra backup of each med so if they get lost or delayed in the mail, I still have some. 
• I buy a lot of my business supplies (packing tape etc) from one local store, but they sometimes don't have the amount I need (I try to stock up once a month) so now I just order a case online and them pick it up in store
• I've also seen restaurants are starting to have apps where you can order online and pick up in the store or thru the drive thru. We don't eat out very often, but I think occasionally it would be nice to order our food, drive thru and have dinner ready when we get home. (especially if I forgot to put something in the crockpot before we left)