Off and on, readers comment or e-mail me asking for links to things I mention on the blog. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a walking billboard for clothing and makeup.
(Belle was watching the trailer for Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie over the weekend, so I asked her how it looked. Her immediate response: Well, they dress like you do. Which is a reference to the dress below, an Old Navy hand-me-down from a friend, which Belle refers to as my Laura Ingalls dress.)
I wash my face with a cloth and water. That is literally it… and I bought the cloth at a dollar store. A few times a week, I might smear on some coconut oil as a moisturizer. Or, if I’m feeling fancy, I use a little squirt of the €3 night cream I bought in Vienna. (I know retinol is likely in my future, but I haven’t crossed that bridge yet.)
Still, I enjoy hearing about other bloggers’ favourite things, and I’m happy to talk about products I particularly like. Historically, I’ve been too lazy to include links. It feels like one extra step, so I skip it.
About a year ago, after learning that a few blog friends belonged to the program, I applied to become an Amazon Affiliate. I was accepted, set everything up… and then did absolutely nothing. I didn’t share a single link! If you don’t use the program within 180 days, the account goes dormant.
Which is exactly what happened.
Recently, I’ve been reading a series of Substack posts about blogging, and they prompted me to revisit the idea.
I do not have grand illusions that affiliate links will become an enormous income stream. Amazon commissions are not especially high, and I’m not a “stuff” person.
I’ve been using the same $4 lipstick as blush for an entire year. I shave my legs with 99-cent Ivory bar soap and buy disposable razors from Dollarama (I use each one for months).
I am quite happy not to be a poster child for consumerism. If you’ve been here for any length of time, you know I tend toward minimalism and, whenever possible, buy second-hand. That is not going to change.
I will not suddenly start buying random things so I can link to them. What I will do is occasionally link to products I already own, use, and genuinely like.
Some of those things won’t have been purchased from Amazon originally. For example, we have an Amazon-brand expandable duffel bag that has been amazing. This very second it’s tucked under a bunk bed at Belle’s summer camp. But we didn’t buy it from Amazon because John found it brand-new at a thrift store for $10. That said, if someone is curious about the bag, it makes sense to link to the actual product.
Similarly, I bought my beloved Maybelline Lifter Stick and NYX The Face Glue primer at Shoppers Drug Mart. (On sale, obviously.) But most of my readers don’t have access to a Canadian pharmacy, so linking to a widely available retailer is more useful.
When I link to a product, it will be because I use it, like it, or think it’s relevant—not because I’m trying to convince you that your life will be magically transformed by owning it!
How affiliate links work
If I link to something and you click through and buy it, I may receive a small commission. The price does not change for you.
You can use the link to look at the product and then buy it elsewhere, wait for a sale, find it second-hand, or decide that owning one more thing sounds exhausting.
I support all of these choices!
Because most of my readership is in the United States, I’ll primarily link to Amazon.com. I’ve also set up something called OneLink, which theoretically redirects some international readers—including those in Canada and the UK—to their local Amazon storefront.
Whenever a post contains affiliate links, I’ll include a clear note near the top. (There are no affiliate links in this post, by the way!) I want everything to feel transparent and aboveboard and I never want anyone to feel tricked into clicking a link.
I was also accepted into ShopMy, which I may experiment with; between you and me, I suspect I am not exactly their target member. A lot of ShopMy content seems to feature $600 dresses and $1,000 pairs of shoes. Take two zeros off each of those numbers and you’re much closer to my thrift-store price range.
I’m treating this as a little experiment. If it brings in a few extra dollars to help support the time I spend writing this blog, wonderful. If it doesn’t, that’s fine too. In the latter case, I will probably go back to being lazy and not linking anything.
Either way, I’ll still be writing about ordinary life, books, travel, optimism, parenting, thrifted treasures, blah, blah, blah.
A few days ago Belle asked me, “What do you even blog about when you aren’t writing about Europe? We have nothing interesting in our life.“
I found this hilarious and texted the exchange to some bloggy friends. Nicole responded: “Tell her I wrote 1500 words about people at the dog park and a guy at Superstore.” SHE GETS ME! I can write a lot of words about just about any topic.
Thanks for being here to read about “nothing interesting,” and for being the kind of community where I feel comfortable explaining these things openly.
Header photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash
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I think you hit on something important, Elisabeth: people don’t come to your blog because they need a shopping list. They come because you can turn everyday moments into stories that make people smile. A thrift store find, a funny conversation with Belle, or a random everyday observation can be even more entertaining than a big adventure.
I hope the affiliate links work out as a little bonus for all the time and effort you put into your blog. And if they don’t, well… we’ll still be here for the “blah, blah, blah” posts. 😉 I’m pretty sure those are often the best ones!