If there is one thing I absolutely LOVE it is having every imaginable thing delivered right to my door. When I say everything, I mean it. If there is an app that will do my laundry, run my errands, clean my house- I have used it.
This all started last year when I broke my ankle and had to have surgery. This meant crutches and a cast for 3 months. Definitely annoying and as a single mom there was no one else to run all of the errands so I had to figure it out! Lucky for me we live in an age where virtually everything can be delivered right to your door! Here is my review of some of my favorite time saving services.
That is when I discovered yummy.com which is a grocery delivery service in Los Angeles. If you are near one of their markets they will deliver to you within 30 minutes. Amazing! Of course they have a somewhat limited selection of items and with delivery fees and tipping the delivery guy it gets expensive FAST. So at this point I pretty much only use yummy when it is 9pm, my daughter is asleep and I decide that I “need” wine or gelato or something similarly healthy:)
Yummy.com
So then I discovered Google Express. YOU GUYS… Google Express has CHANGED MY LIFE! Not even being dramatic (ok maybe a little;). But seriously it is pretty great. If you have it in your area you should check it out for sure! They deliver from a bunch of different stores but the ones I use the most are Target and Costco. But they also have REI, Ulta, Toys R Us, Whole Foods, Staples and lots more. Need a tent delivered? They can do that?! Need a last minute present for a baby shower?! They can do that! Have a date and realized you have no makeup?! They can do that! You get the picture…
Google Express stores available to me in Los Angeles
The Costco by my house in Marina del Rey is a total nightmare. Costco + In-N-Out in one parking lot = disaster. So I was thrilled to find a service that will deliver my bulk Smart Water right to my door without any stress:) Then there is Target… everyone knows what happens when you actually go to Target. You have 3 things on your list and end up walking out spending like $300. So I actually think using Google Express saves me money. Now there is one major downside to Google Express and that is they do not deliver cold or frozen items as of right now. I did receive an email from them saying there were going to start this service soon in Los Angeles, so I am crossing my fingers that starts soon! The cost for Google Express is $95 a year, and you get 6 months for free when you first sign up. Every delivery is free as long as you spend $15 at each store. They have a few delivery windows each day you can choose from.
Google Express
Since Google Express can’t bring me cold or frozen groceries I had to find someone else to do that- so I started using Instacart which I saw at the Whole Foods by my house. They deliver from a few different places too, but I only use them for Whole Foods. You get your first delivery free and after that the delivery cost depends on how much you buy, if you spend over $35 it is $3.99. You do get to select your level of tip before you check out and the pricing of the items is the same as in-store. Instacart has shoppers that help put your order together and text you when something is out of stock and ask if you want a replacement item and things like that which is a nice personal touch.
Instacart
That pretty much covers my groceries. But you can get more than just groceries through apps! One of my other guilty pleasures that I used all the time when my ankle was broken is Washio. Washio picks up your laundry and dry cleaning and drops is back off all folded and clean. It is amazing. Not cheap, but amazing. Now that my ankle is back to new I feel too guilty to use Washio very often. So I only do it if I am having a particularly crazy week. I’m not positive but it seems like they have been tweaking their prices lately so you’ll have to check, but between my daughter and I we usually have about 4 loads of laundry each week and I want to say it was around $40 or something like that. There are delivery fees and you tip their Delivery Ninjas as they call them, so it is expensive. In contrast it would cost me $5 to do the same amount if I used the washer and dryer outside my patio which is a quarter-operated unit. So definitely a luxury.
And then finally someone has to clean the house and I would really rather it not be me! So I have used the now defunct Homejoy and then I switched to Handy after getting a free cleaning from one of their brand ambassadors as a local food truck night in Marina del Rey. I had a cleaning woman with Handy I really liked, but she left and then I did too. Lately I have been trying some new ones, I might give Tidy a shot next. I am not that picky of a customer with cleaning people, as long as someone else is doing it and doing a pretty good job I am happy. But I haven’t quite found the perfect match.
Then there are a host of other food delivery apps out there that will bring you breakfast, lunch or dinner like Uber Eats, GrubHub and Munchery. I don’t use these very often because as you can see up above I get a lot of groceries delivered! I also get Blue Apron and Plated delivered which I covered on a previous blog. But every once and awhile we decide to get dinner delivered.
Munchery is the most unique. They are chef prepared meals that are partially ready but you need to heat them up and finish them once they are delivered. I like that they have unique offerings by cool chefs, you could totally make a dinner party super easy by going this route.
So by now you are probably thinking “THIS WOMAN IS CRAZY!” or “THIS WOMAN IS LAZY!” but honestly this gives me so much time back with my daughter. I would get so frustrated when I had to spend my free time with my daughter going from store to store. On the weekends there are so many other things I would rather do with her then drive from Costco to Target to Whole Foods and so on. So for me this is the perfect solution and I really think every Mom should give it a try! Spend your time enjoying life and doing things that make you happy! Let someone else deliver the necessities:)
Do you use any delivery services? If so which ones and how has it made your life better?