Do you ever shop for natural living products online? When I first began my natural living journey, I was at a loss for where to shop! At the time, we had one small, locally-owned health store in our community.
But, sadly, they were and still are way outside of our budget!
Thankfully, I discovered some great places to shop for natural living products online.
These online retailers save me both time and money! Today’s post will introduce you to 4 of these places to shop for natural living products online!
If you know me at all, you know that I don’t like to shop.
Truly, when I was growing up, my mom and sister would go shopping and I would ride along and sit on a bench and read.
But life calls, and we simply cannot get by with no shopping at all. And although I frequently confess to being technologically-challenged, I am over-the-moon excited about the online shopping options available to us today.
Eco-friendly, non-toxic, natural living products, in particular, are often difficult to find in brick-and-mortar stores, especially if you live in a small, rural community.
Even if you do live in the suburbs or near a big city that offers stores that carry your favorite natural living products, I’ve found that I usually have to visit more than one store to take care of my entire list.
Instead, I now prefer to shop for natural living products online. This saves me both time and money:
1. I save time because I don’t have to get dressed, get the girls dressed, buckle them into their carseats and drive all over town to take care of our household needs.
2. I save money because I do not waste gas driving to the variety of stores it takes to check off my shopping list.
3. I also save money because, let’s be honest, when I am shopping in person I’m often drawn to the clearance bins and specials for things we don’t necessarily need. When those things end up in my shopping cart, I am not saving money no matter how cheap they are. Unless I truly needed them, I’m just spending more money than I intended to spend.
4. It saves me money because most of the time online retailers offer my favorite products for a much lower price than brick-and-mortar stores!
5. Some (but not all) of these online retailers also offer subscription services. Subscription services can be tricky, but if you can work them to your benefit and set them up to arrive when you want them to, this can also help you with budgeting because you know exactly how much your items will cost each time your order is processed.
Without further ado, check out these:
4 places to shop for natural living products online
1. Vitacost.com
This online store has been a long-time favorite of mine.
Traditionally, I have purchased most of our supplements, vitamins, etc. from here. In fact, most of my natural medicine cabinet and winter supplements regimen come from here!
Vitacost has a huge selection, including shelf-stable gluten-free and health{ier} food items, and they also offer beauty, toiletry and baby items.
Although I do sometimes purchase these things from Vitacost, I have found that the supplements are usually the best deal, with the Vitacost brand items being the cheapest.
Vitacost offers a subscription service for your favorite items–called “Set and Save”– but this is a feature I honestly don’t use. I find their system a little trickier to cancel, so I’ve opted to just remind myself to order when I need things. Instead of the subscription, I use my “List” feature to save things I want to order, and I love that they save old orders in my account.
Since I typically order the same items now, when I am placing an order I will just go look back at my previously-ordered items and quickly make a new order from there.
Shipping
Vitacost sends out regular emails with coupon codes and specials, and they almost always offer free shipping if you’re buying at least $25 worth of Vitacost brand items.
Shipping is always free for orders of $49 or more. If you do have to pay for shipping, it’s just a $5 flat rate (so it makes more sense to get as much as you can in that order).
Referral Program
Vitacost offers a nice referral program: For every friend you refer to Vitacost, you get $5 off a future order, and they get $5 off their first order as well. So it’s truly a win-win!
You can combine $5 off coupons for up to $100 off. So, if you’re on a tight budget it’s often worthwhile to wait and combine these for a free order! You cannot get free shipping on orders you are paying for with the coupons, but I typically just pay for the $5 flat rate shipping.
You can sign up via my referral link to get your $5 off!
I usually post my Vitacost orders on Facebook and Instagram, so you can get an idea of what I order there.
2. Amazon.com
We typically purchase an Amazon Prime membership every year, but I will be honest in that I haven’t used Amazon a whole, whole lot for groceries or other household products. Some of my friends rave about their Subscribe & Save grocery service, though!
Shipping
I think the really nice thing about Amazon Prime is that you can get free and fast shipping. They also offer just about anything you could even want or need, from toilet paper to dairy-free milks!
Like Vitacost, I like that Amazon stores past orders, so I can easily remember what I like to order through them. It is worth it to price check Vitacost vs. Amazon because sometimes one will be cheaper than the other.
3. Azure Standard
Azure is a natural living foods co-op (although they offer some household products as well).
I have personally never ordered through Azure Standard, but I have heard others rave about it for years! They have recently come to my area, so I am hoping to place my first order soon!
We finally got an Azure Standard co-op in our town this year, and I absolutely LOVE it!
I place an order every month! I order mostly food items that I cannot get locally, like organic meats and organic frozen veggies, Earth’s Best soy-free non-dairy butter substitute, kombucha, Bubbies pickles, and rice milk.
The nice thing about Azure is that they offer fresh produce, which none of the other online options offer. However, the downside is that you have to go pick up the orders at a drop location.
Our drop location is just ten minutes from our house, in a Kohls parking lot. It’s super convenient and I love not having to drive to faraway grocery stores to get the items I order online from Azure!
Shipping
If you are in an area with a fuel surcharge, you will also have an 8.5% shipping charge added to your invoice once the truck is loaded. You can approximate your grand total by multiplying your total product amount in your cart by 1.085.
New Grove members can get a FREE Mrs. Meyers hand soap, FREE Mrs. Meyers dish soap, FREE Full Circle Dish Brush, a $5 store credit, and FREE shipping! Click here to learn more!
I am so excited about this next one! I just recently discovered ePantryGrove Collaborative, and I am already loving them.
Grove Collaborative (formerly called ePantry) is a subscription service, but you can space your orders out however length of time you wish (one month, two months, six months, etc.), and you can cancel at any time!
Grove offers both natural and some conventional products, but their natural living selection is what makes me the most excited.
When you first visit the site, you are prompted to take a 2-minute survey that will allow you to “build your pantry” with your favorite products. This removes some of the headache of shopping for me. I personally despise browsing through endless brands because I feel like it’s a waste of time. When there is a brand I like to use, I like to have easy access to it.
If you want to browse their entire selection, you simply click on “browse products.” You can search by category or brand name.
As far as their cancellation policy, this is what Grove says:
“Grove is meant to be a recurring service, and this is 100% customizable by you. We will suggest shipment dates and products, and we send out a reminder email one week and again one day before a scheduled shipment. If you like our suggestions, feel free to leave them as is! Grove usually recommends an every-other month schedule. On the other hand, you can order once every six months if that works better for you (for example)! Explore the features on our site that allow you to do this, or email support@epantry.com for a full list of customizing features. There are no lock-in commitments or set shipments! They can cancel anytime by emailing us or calling in- except usually people don’t, as they love getting the products at a great price delivered to their door.”
Referral Program
Grove also has an amazing referral program. If you spread the word about Grove, every person you refer will get a $10 credit on their first order! Even better, you will also receive a $10 credit after they check out. It’s a win-win!
Shipping
Your very first order via Grove ships for FREE!! After that, they offer a $2.99 flat shipping fee per order, or if you sign up for a VIP program, you get a full year of free shipping.
They also offer a VIP program, which gives you a year of free shipping, 4 full-sized free items, sample products and the VIP customer hotline. I am a VIP!
I LOVE that all but one (Azure) of these gives me the freedom to shop and receive the products I love without ever leaving my house. Shopping for natural living products online saves me both time and money.
Have you ever shopped for natural living products online? What are your suggestions for places to shop for natural living products online?
Original article and pictures take thehumbledhomemaker.com site
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