Lazy Man and Money

Happy Deal Day!

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[Note: Many people call this Amazon Prime Day, but other retailers are having deals as well. Just because Amazon sets the day doesn’t mean they get to have all the attention. I’ll be updating this article throughout the day. I find it is better to publish quickly, so you don’t miss the deals before they sell out.]

Amazon Prime Day 2021

Last week, I was on vacation. I thought I’d be able to continue writing, but “Surprise!” the tiny bed-and-breakfast place on Block Island didn’t have wifi working as it had in previous years. It’s great to be back behind a keyboard with a working internet connection.

It’s also great timing for it, because it’s the annual Amazon Prime Day deal madness. As usual other retailers have stepped up to compete, so definitely give Target and Walmart a look and maybe Best Buy as well. Deals are happening fast and furious, so I’ll get right to them.

My Target Purchases

By 5:30AM (I just happened to wake up early), I placed my first three orders on Target. I shop at Target about once a year, because there are none local to me and I don’t see too many good deals. Buying this early means there’s something special. That is:

  • KitchenAid Professional Stand Mixer – $299 – (Normally: $419) – My wife mentioned the other day that she would like one and to look for a deal. I knew people love these, but I didn’t know about pricing. It seems that Amazon’s are always $499, never a discount to be had. The model they have there is slightly better with a bigger bowl (6qt) and a motor (600 watts vs. 525 watts), but for $200 off, this is a rare, rare find for the KitchenAid Professional series.

    My kids are getting into cooking, so it will be a gift for the whole family… except for maybe my stomach if they make 9 dozen cookies (the max capacity of this thing).

  • Magic Tree House Boxed Set: Books 1-4 – $4 – (Normally: $15) – We might already have these books as my mother has given us some in this series. However, for $4, I’ll buy first and look later. We can always add this to a birthday gift or donate. There’s a chance that this sparks the kids’ interest in reading the series over summer.
  • LEGO Creator Sunset Track Racer – $11.47 – (Normally $16-$20) – This is a basic Lego car, perfect for my 7-year-old. It’s ~200 pieces and can be built three different ways (one is a boat!) so that’s good for the price. I was a little on the fence, but this is the time I buy and squirrel away gifts for Christmas and birthdays.

Note: Unlike many websites that earn a commission if you buy anything, I don’t earn anything from the Target links above. It’s so rare that I recommend anything from there that I haven’t looked to set up a publisher account. When you get to the Amazon recommendations below, I may earn a commission on those.

Amazon Prime Day Recommendations

I should note that these are for Prime members, because, that’s the name of the day. That’s a lot of people out there. If you aren’t a Prime member, you may want to skip this section.

As usual, this is the best time to buy any of Amazon’s own devices. I’m a fan of the Fire HD 10″ tablet (Review), which is a steal at it’s $80 price. If you own a previous Amazon device there’s a trade-in program that might be worth looking into.

  • Purchase $40 Amazon Gift Card & Receive $10 Credit – I sent a gift card to myself, so this is a free $10 credit to use in a couple of days.

  • Fire HD Plus 10″ – $110 – (Normally $180) – I wrote about the regular version above, but this version packs an extra GB of memory and wireless charging. I’m not sure if it’s worth the extra $30 over the regular version, but the wireless charging and a stand might make it a good digital photo frame.
  • Showtime/Starz/Paramount+ for $0.99 – (Normally around $10) – You only get 2 months of this $0.99 promotion price, but it’s enough to binge a series or two. During the start of the pandemic my wife and I streamed The Affair on Showtime and it was good.

I know there are a lot more Amazon deals to be had, but after years of buying them, maybe I just don’t need as much “stuff” anymore. I haven’t listed any WalMart deals yet, because I’ve found that website hard to navigate and figure what is truly a good deal.

Get a Year of Paramount Plus for $30 (50% off) – Last Chance!

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Paramount PlusI don’t usually share too many deals, probably less than five a year. It’s rare that I feel that a deal is worth sharing and it won’t be sold out before you get a chance to read it. (I apologize to my mail subscribers, but this may be delivered too late. I’m working on making the subscriptions work faster.)

If you saw the Super Bowl, you may have noticed that there’s yet another new streaming service, Paramount Plus. It’s a rebrand of the CBS All Access with some new content. I hadn’t been very interested because I don’t watch a lot of CBS, but I noticed there’s some Nickelodeon content for the kids. They are excited about a new SpongeBob movie on the service.

The last thing I need is another streaming service bill to add to Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime (which we use mostly for the free shipping). We’re looking to get rid of some streaming services to possibly add HBO Max in the future. However, we got Disney+ on a 3-year deal ($140 for three years – $3.88/mo) and Hulu on a 1-year deal ($2/mo.).

The latest deal for Paramount Plus is in line with those deals. If you sign up for CBS All Access (today is the last day) and use the promo code PARAMOUNTPLUS, you’ll get a year of Paramount Plus (it will switch over tomorrow) for $30. That’s ad-supported, but still a price of $2.50 a month. I figure that the SpongeBob movie in the theaters would generally cost the family at least $30, so it’s almost like getting everything else free.

I signed up myself for it last night and the process was very easy. Now, I can finally watch the last season of The Big Bang Theory that I missed… except that I can’t. It turns out that the CBS show was not on CBS All Access (perhaps CBS Some Access would have been better). The good news is that when we move on from Netflix and get HBO Max, it’ll be waiting there for me to binge.

The Best Amazon Prime Day Deals I Found

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Amazon Prime Day

Updated for Day 2

You’ve seen every news outlet under the sun write about Amazon Prime Day today. There are some truly great deals. Also Amazon pays a nice commission to organizations referring sales. This website is no different, except that I make a lot less money (maybe enough for a couple of pizzas) as I do a lot less volume.

I’ve been sharing Amazon deals for 14 years now, a lot longer than most of those organizations and I’m not going to stop now.

If you don’t like Amazon deals, I slipped in a laptop from Best Buy. I couldn’t resist. It was too good of a deal not to include.

Keep in mind that these deals are for Amazon Prime members. I know that many readers aren’t Prime members. However, with more than 150 million worldwide subscribers, I know that a lot of you are.

I had hoped to get this out earlier in the day, but fate didn’t agree with that plan. Because of that, some of these may be sold out, or no longer the deal that they were earlier. Fortunately, Amazon Prime Day is now Amazon Prime Days – I have only seen one deal of the dozens I’ve looked at today disappear (and I didn’t include it here).

Best Amazon Prime Day Deals

Electronics and Tech

The very best deal in my opinion is the Amazon Fire 10 HD. A couple of years back, I paid $100 each for two older versions of these tablets. It saved our sanity during distance learning.


BEST BUY – Lenovo – IdeaPad 3 15″ Laptop ($300) – This is the one Best Buy item on the list. It is nearly impossible to find the follow for under $300: Intel i-level chip with 8GB of memory, 256 SSD, and a great 1920×1080 high definition screen. Alas, here it is. This should be all the computer almost anyone would need.

Drone – Mavic Air 2 Fly More Combo (~$800-ish) – For those with an Amazon Prime Credit Card (I’m guessing most Prime members reading this), there’s a 25% cash back offer on this top-of-the-line drone with extras and protection plan. We just got our first drone a week ago… a $20 model for my 8 year-old. We aren’t ready for this. We can wait a couple of years and probably get this as old technology at half-price or less.

Drone – DJI Mavic Mini Combo ($400) – Save $100 on this smaller drone with fewer bells and whistles than the Mavic Air above. We may be ready for this next Christmas.

General

$10 Free Gift Card (with $40 Gift Card Purchase) – I consider Amazon gift cards to be as good as cash. I bought a $40 gift card and sent it to myself. To get the bonus $10 use code GC20PRIME at checkout and you should get a message about a $10 credit coming to you in a couple of days.

Household

Finish Dishwashing Tablets (94 count) – ~$10.00 – There’s a 25% deal for Prime Day and I scored another 15% for Subscribe and Save since I have 5 other items.

Men

Braun Electric Razor for Men, Series 7 7880CC ($139) – I paid $187 for this back in March and it was well worth it. Be smarter than I was and get it for nearly $50 less.

Kids Toys (Educational/Stem)

Snap Ships (Most $7) – You can think of these as “advanced spaceship Legos.” My kids played with these for days this summer. My 6-year-old even combined two sets to make a new super spaceship. These are all around $6-7 a set – a decent value for a few days of fun. The exception is Gladius which is an exception, which has four times the piece of a typical set. Some of these have already sold out, so act quickly.

We personally own two of the Lances, but I bought all of these for Christmas/Birthday gifts: Lance, Locust, Sawfly, Scythe, Gladius

Osmo Genius Kit and Family Night ($97) – I wrote about a review of just the Genius Kit here. This is a little more money, but you get the Family Night bundle too. There are a lot of activities here, so don’t get scared off by the $100 price.

Engino Discovering STEM Simple Machines Mechanisms That Multiply Force ($43) – The reviews for this are very good, but not as stellar as some products I would recommend. However, it lists for $95 and sells for $65 typically. At $43, I think reviewers may give it an extra star for value. I was sold by the video that showed the extensive manual. I’ve mentioned it before, buy 6-year old seems to be a future engineer. I bought this and stored it away for Christmas next year (it will be better suited then and we have enough this year).

National Geographic Construction Model Kit ($21) – This is another model kit, but it’s 3 medieval-type machines that really shoot. As you can see, my focus is on building with a fun pay off at the end.

CIRO Solar Robot Kit 2 Pack ($23) – There was a single pack available for $18, but I opted for the 2-pack because we have two kids… and because we could always give one away as a birthday gift. The reviews are good and it seems to support age 8+ as well as more complex builds for 10+. The big attraction here is the solar power to make the creations move. It’s not like they’ll learn anything different than if they put a battery in it, but motorized models are cool.

Final Thoughts

So far I’ve been able to steer away from the big items that cost hundreds of dollars. Instead I have picked up a bunch of smaller items, things that we’d get for Christmas or birthdays anyway.

In the process I’ve added a lot of digital credits by choosing slower shipping. I don’t need to rush since it will still be very, very early for Christmas.

Sold-out Graveyard

Here are some of the deals that have expired. Maybe my mini-review is still helpful or you can use the price to look again in 6 weeks for Black Friday.

Snap Circuits Bric Structures – $20.09 – This is best described as a combination of Legos and electronics. I paid $25 on a deal last April. My six year old loves it. The age on the box is 8-15, so we played it together at first. After 20 minutes with an adult, I think it can be okay for younger kids.

Deal: Amazon Fire HD 10 and Show Mode Dock ($70)

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This is a very quick post today, because I think it is going to sell out. I don’t mention deals very often here, but 3-4 times a year, I make an exception.

I’ve long been a fan of the Amazon Fire HD 10. I was able to get a pair for a little less than $100 (one would have been $100) and they’ve been perfect for my kids. I don’t know how I would have survived the hell of distance learning without them. I certainly didn’t have a plan to buy laptops for a 6 and 7 year old – even iPads would have set me back nearly $1000.

I have one for myself and it’s great for anything that I would do with my phone, but with a bigger screen.

Today’s deal is for an Amazon Fire HD 10 and Show Mode Dock for $70. (You may have to be a Prime member to get the deal.) There are a couple of things to note. First, it’s the previous generation, which is the version I bought a couple of years ago. The latest ones are a little faster, but not much else is different. Secondly, it’s refurbished. In my experience, Amazon’s refurbished products are very good. Finally, the Show Mode Dock generally runs around $50 or $60 by itself.

I’ve wanted a Show Mode Dock for a long time, but I could never justify paying half the cost of the device to add wireless charging at an angle as a photo frame. My 2011 HP/Palm Touchpad could do that and the dock was very cheap. Amazon has lowered the price to $38, but that’s still too much for a $100 tablet in my opinion.

I have to be honest, I’m jealous that some reader out there is going to be able to get the tablet and the dock for $70. I can’t justify buying another Amazon Fire HD 10 so this deal doesn’t make sense for me.

I’d move quick on this one. It probably won’t be around for long.

(As with all products I mention on Amazon, I may earn a small commission if you take advantage of this by clicking on a link in this blog post.)

Fathers, Get the Best Electric Razor Deal that I Missed

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I only write about deal 3 or 4 times a year. I only want to share the best of the best deals and this certainly qualifies.

A few months ago, my electric razor died. It was a Norelco three circle blade one that did its job for 5 years. Overall, it was a great value for $50.

I did some research and it seems like all the reviews pointed to electric razors that were around $200. That seemed like a lot for a frugal person like me. There was another razor in the $50 range that got some decent editorial reviews, but all the Amazon reviews seemed to say it was trash. I felt like I might be throwing $50 away.

In end, I got some sage advice on Twitter than said, “If you are going to be using it for a number of years, the expensive one is the better value.” It’s true. Sometimes it is worth paying more for the top quality.

Plus to paraphrase Danny Glover’s character in Lethal Weapon, “I’m too old for this suboptimal product.” Hmmm, maybe it was something other than “suboptimal product.”

I delayed the purchase for awhile and it started to cause me stress. With COVID-19 bringing me down and a birthday, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the $200 electric razor.

Today in my inbox, I got an email alert that it’s now available for $149. I would have waited, but it doesn’t seem like it ever goes on sale. It simply doesn’t have to, because the reviews are too good. It turns out that it actually went on sale a couple of weeks ago, in preparation for Father’s Day I’m sure.

Here’s the product:


For those who have ad blockers turned on their browsers, it’s a Braun Series 7 with Cleaning and Charging Station. I paid $200, you can buy it now for $149. That’s like Apple giving a 25% discount on its best iPads… it’s unheard of.

I’ve been very happy with my Braun Series 7. I used to only use an electric before stepping in the shower and following up with a real razor. Now if I don’t shave for a couple of days, I can just use this and move on. With one touch of a button, the razor is cleaned in its charging station and ready to go.

If this is the kind of thing you are interested in, I’d buy it right away, because it may go away now that Father’s Day is here.

What do you think, maybe give yourself a Father’s Day present today?

Note: The links on this page may earn me a commission on Amazon if you choose to buy this. However, I honestly love the Braun Series 7 (and you can see from the reviews that everyone else does too) and this is an exceptional deal.