Checking out Alice.com

A few weeks ago, I heard about Alice.com, the online shopping site for home essentials.  I signed up and checked them out, but didn’t order anything.  But I thought the idea of the site was interesting.  In brief, Alice is a site where you can order household supplies – paper products and cleaning products, things to stock in your pantry and medicine cabinet, office supplies, baby supplies, and more.  Products ship for free, and Alice claims to have great prices as well (I haven’t done a direct comparison, but at first glance, the prices do seem good.  My first thought was “Hey, this would be great for parents or big families.”  Packing the kids into the car just to go buy diapers and toilet paper is a hassle.  But I wasn’t sure it was something I needed.  I live close enough to a store to be able to just go buy what I need when I need it.

Then, over the weekend, I went on a mad hunt for WIN Detergent.  WIN is a detergent designed to get sweat and odor out of workout clothes, and with all the running I do, trust me, this is something that I need.  (I’m just hoping that it works!)  I tried the stores within my normal range of travel – a grocery store, a CVS, and Target.  No luck.  Driving elsewhere was just going to cost money, so I decided to place an order at Alice.  Shipping is free, after all.

While browsing, I decided to see if there was anything else that I needed, or if anything I use regularly was on sale.  I was amazed at everything Alice sells!  They even have soaps from my beloved Biggs and Featherbelle (a local company I first discovered at a craft fair and now recommend to everyone).  I just decided to give Alice a shot, and bought everything that was on my shopping list.

One fun thing about Alice is that when you buy something (or just put it into your list of products for later purchase), you tell the site how often you buy this item.  Don’t worry, you’re not subscribing to shipments, rather Alice will e-mail you to find out if you need to order again (but the site does seem to be working on an auto-ship program).  This is a great way to make sure you don’t run out of toilet paper or contact solution (the latter being one of my annoying habits).

Alice also tracks your spending and breaks down your spending habits by room and by coupon and creates a fun little pie chart.  You know me – I like graphs and charts, so while this might not be incredibly useful, it’s fun and interesting.

I think I’ll be using Alice again for sure, mostly for the convenience factor.  When I shop, I often walk to and from the store, which limits my purchases.  For that reason, I usually buy things like paper towels in one or two roll packages, rather than the more financially reasonable 4 or 8 roll packages.  It’s also easier for me to budget when I shop online.  Plus I like getting mail.

While this site isn’t for everyone, I definitely recommend checking it out.  Even if you just look at what’s on sale, you might find some great deals that work for you.  And hey, if you’re looking to sign up, use this referral link, and you’ll get a $10 credit in your account after you spend $50.  (Full disclosure – I do get something for that, but if you’re uncomfortable using a referral link, I totally understand, and you should still check them out!)