What's the deal with #Afflink?

I alluded to the writing of this post on Facebook, so I wanted to make sure it was written.

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliates Program, and if you haven't already seen my first post after signing up, you can read it here. It was pretty poorly written, but it was my first experience with being an Amazon Affiliate, so I wanted to make sure I covered the required/default disclaimer. 

I also wanted to be as transparent as possible when I share products with affiliate links on Facebook, so I've been using the #afflink. Well, that backfired on me. I never explained what I meant, and I've had several people private message me or ask on a comment what I meant by #afflink. 

#Afflink is especially common on Twitter, where character count is limited, but it's a shortened way to tag affiliate links on social media. Based on a few tutorials I read, it seems to be a way to limit the full disclaimer on short posts, especially Twitter, but it also occurs on Facebook, Instagram, and, occasionally, YouTube descriptions. 

I don't ALWAYS share my affiliate link, when I share products on social media, so I have tried to distinguish between the ones I may earn a commission on, and other posts and/or products by adding the hashtag. Whether it's a post I earn a commission on or not, I only share posts I am genuinely interested in. Usually, I try to keep my affiliate posts for things I've actually used and liked; however, that's not always the case. 

I would always appreciate purchases through one of my links. It doesn't cost anything extra for you, but every purchase provides a little supplemental income to save for a minivan and finish paying off Mario's student loans.

Each time you click an affiliate link, that click is good for 24 hours. If you would like to keep supporting us, we simply ask that you refer back to this or other #afflink posts to ensure the link is active each time you make a purchase.

Thanks for whatever support you're willing to provide for us. You can shop all of Amazon.com,  Amazon Prime Music,  Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Kindle Reader and  Audible,  and even Amazon Gift Cards and Amazon Trade-ins. I also just discovered that Amazon offers Amazon Cell Phones & Service Plans.


Disclosure: I was not compensated for this review, and all thoughs are my unbiased, honest opinion, but this post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission on purchases. For more information, see my Disclosures page

Personal Statement: This post contains affiliate links; however, I have received no compensation for my review. Everything here is my honest opinion of a product we purchased.

"Alexa" the Amazon Echo

Here's our "Alexa" unit as part of our Family

I wasn't going to share this, because I thought it was tacky, but of all the Amazon purchases we've made in the last year, I think the Amazon Echo, "Alexa" has been my favorite. When we purchased it, back in November or December (It was Mario's big Christmas present to himself) I thought it was a frivolous waste of money, and quite honestly, it was a frivolous purchase.

HOWEVER! It has made grocery shopping SO much easier. I am notorious for making a list (even whole menu plans) and leaving the list at home when shopping, and "Alexa" has made it so that I actually take the list with me, since it syncs to an app on my phone. I've tried other shopping apps--and even the Reminders app that comes standard on iOS devices--but for whatever reason, I don't input the item to the list right when I think of it. Because the Echo is voice activated, I simply say, "Alexa, add ______ to the shopping list," and she adds it right then and there. The app syncs nearly instantaneously, and wallah! Forgotten grocery items are nearly non-existent! Plus, since I know my grocery list is a lot more accurate, I'm confident that I've listed everything I actually need;  I am a lot less prone to impulse buys, which equates to $$$ that stays in our pockets. (I haven't done the math, but I would guess that the money saved from fewer impulse buys either completely or nearly paid for the Echo.)

The other big feature of "Alexa" that I use, is the voice activated bluetooth speaker. She (yes, we have personified the Echo in our home) is linked to Amazon Prime Music (here's a 30-day Free Trial,) which has a lot of free music for Amazon Prime members. (Did you know that students get 6mo Prime Student free with a .edu email account, and then half off on Amazon Prime after that? Check out Prime Student) Mario started saving a lot of his favorite music on when we were first married, plus all the free music already in the cloud, there's very little that's not available through "Alexa." I never really had music going until after we purchased "Alexa," but now I can say, "Alexa, play 'Eye of the Tiger'" anytime Big Sister asks.

There are lots of other skills and features (here's the Alexa Skills Guide) that Mario uses (especially the ability to add events to his Google Calendar,) but other than the shopping list and music, the only other skills I regularly use are the voice activated timer and weather, and occasionally I'll use the 7 Minute workout skill. For a little while, we had the Amazon Shop feature enabled, so we could just have "Alexa, order _____ from Amazon," but after Big Sister almost ordered a second Echo unit, we disabled that feature.

Overall, I would recommend the Amazon Echo to anyone who likes voice activated devices or who are a bit scatterbrained, like me. It is a little expensive, so I can't wholeheartedly say "Everyone needs one!" It's definitely a want, but now that we have it, it would be hard to go back as it really has made grocery shopping much more effective. So, if you like to listen to music regularly (or you would like to more easily) and/or you would like a little help with remembering your shopping list, then I think the Echo is definitely something that would benefit you.



Disclosure: I was not compensated for this review, and all thoughts are my unbiased, honest opinion, but this post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission on purchases. For more information, see my Disclosures page

Personal Statement: This post contains affiliate links; however, I have received no compensation for my review. Everything here is my honest opinion of a product we purchased.