The only Prime Day deals I bought this year were these cost-of-living bargains

The only Prime Day deals I bought this year were these cost-of-living bargains

(Image credit: Future / Amazon)

You've probably seen loads of Prime Day deals this year that seem a bit silly - sure, a new-low price on an iPad is nice, but if it still has a four-figure sum then what's the point? Likewise, massive discounts on devices you don't really need in your life can feel a little redundant.

That's why, for 2022's Prime Day deals, I've been reluctant to spend money on anything - who has the money to drop on random gadgets designed to fulfill tasks that we can complete without them? 

No, better to save my money for the essentials, like food and toiletries, instead of sending it to Amazon. At least, that's what I thought, but I've come to realize that I can do both.

• Here is our main list of Amazon Prime Day deals

As it turns out, Amazon does indeed sell loads of products that you actually need to get by. As a friend pointed out to me, not only can you buy things like shower gel or toilet paper from the online store, but you can buy them in large bulk packs at a discount.

However, during Prime Day, these bulk packs - which already offer a discount when you buy them - have seen lots of Prime Day deals too. I'm seeing 40% or 50% off really useful everyday items, making the prices much lower than if I went to my local store to pick them up. 

So, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, there are some smart ways to save money in the long run. No, I don't mean on robot vacuums or monstrous coffee machines or expensive video game machines - no, I mean on bog roll and shower gel.

Store cupboard restock

One example of something that I bought straight away was toilet paper - if you search for it in bulk, you can easily find it for super-low prices. Obviously the more you buy, the cheaper it gets per roll, but even buying two 9-packs helped me save money. Just make sure you've got the space to store it all!

For the price of a pint, I've now got enough bog roll to last out the apocalypse. Or paper up the entirety of Windsor Castle.

Search for bulk toilet roll Prime Day deals: US (opens in new tab) | UK (opens in new tab)

Another thing I made sure to add to my list was shower gel - if you're like me, you usually just buy a new bottle of this when the last one runs dry. But Amazon offers loads of 4- and 6-packs on popular brands, generally with slightly lower prices than if you bought the same number on their own. 

Add a Prime Day deal on top of that, and you've got yourself plenty of washes for a tiny price. I even used the savings to buy some fancier shower gel for date night.

Search for bulk shower gel Prime Day deals: US (opens in new tab) | UK (opens in new tab)

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Something a friend made sure I added to my list was coffee - both instant and real coffee can be bought in bulk to save cash, and there are quite a few deals on these (though more so in the UK than US, strangely). 

These aren't the only bulk-buy items on Amazon - they're not the only ones that were even on my shopping list - but unfortunately, I'm not made of money. So here are some tips I'd give for finding your own equivalent deals.

Search for bulk coffee Prime Day deals: US (opens in new tab) | UK (opens in new tab)

How to buy essentials on Amazon

1. Make sure to search 'bulk' alongside your product - this way you're making sure to get the multi-packs that already have some savings. So 'shower gel bulk' will find you better discounts.
2. Remember to stick to brands you know - when searching for bulk products, it's easy to find some from random cheap brands you may not have heard of before. Sure, even lower prices may sound tempting, but you don't want to buy huge quantities of something if you don't know what quality it'll be.
3. Only buy things you have storage space for - there's no point buying 200 boxes of toilet paper if you don't have your own warehouse to store it in, so stay modest with your spending.
4. Avoid products that require their own gadgets (unless you actually own them) - sure, coffee pods sound tasty, but when you factor in the price for a coffee machine that runs them, you're ending up wasting money overall. And there's no need to save plenty of cash on dishwasher tablets if you hand-wash all your dishes.

The deals I bought on Prime Day

The Cheeky Panda Bamboo Toilet Tissue Paper 24 rolls: £26 £20 at Amazon
Save £6 It costs £5 for a 4-pack of this loo roll normally, so £26 was already a saving for this bundle of 6 of them - but the discount basically means you're getting 8 rolls free. Nice! There are loads of other bulk bundles if you need more or less.

Nivea Men Energy Shower Gel 6-pack: £12 £6 at Amazon
Save £6 This deal works out to the shower gel being £1 per bottle which is obviously pretty nice, right? Now I can feel less guilty about those double-shower-gel showers. It's just a shame it's all for the Energy version, I'd like a mix-and-max box.

Kenco Millicano Americano Intense 6-pack: £34.74 £21 at Amazon
Save £13.74 This deal also works on the decaf and original versions of Kenco's instant coffee. It's normally over £5 for a single (jar? Tub? Tin?) on Amazon, so getting six at this price is saving you loads.