If it exists, there’s a few subscription boxes to choose from for that.
At most, back in the days, you may have had a magazine or newspaper subscription.
In 1995, Pay TV subscriptions landed with Galaxy, Austar, Optus Vision, and Foxtel.
Do you remember a time when most of us, or we knew someone, who downloaded movies, TV shows, and all sorts of things for free? Yeah … I remember …
We also used to go to a store to rent movies and games, until DVD by mail became available to rent online with QuickFlix, the first online disc rental company in Australia in 2003.
In 2006 QuickFlix launched an online movie download service competing against BigPondMovies, and in 2011, it launched a streaming service. Netflix, Presto and Stan arrived in Australia in 2015, and by 2016 Quickflix entered voluntary admission, but is still around.
In 2001, the first TV reality show, Big Brother came out in Australia, and with it came online grocery shopping service with Coles Supermarkets. At first, it was only available in Sydney.
On a side note about grocery shopping, around 2000, I used to order Organic vegies on the phone each week, and they would deliver at home, which could be considered the archaic ways of doing online shopping while Internet was still in its infancy.
Today, online subscriptions are part of our life. It’s something you don’t even want to track in the fear of seeing the amount we spend… I mean… how many streaming service do you subscribe to?
Then COVID-19 happened, and we learned the hard way what lockdown and curfew meant. The struggle was real. Some rushed to buy toilet papers… while others were receiving their rolls directly to their doors because they had a “toilet paper” subscription box. Others didn’t worry about grocery shopping, because they cooked with food subscription boxes delivered by businesses such as HelloFresh – let them do all the shopping for you.
Today, there is a subscription box for absolutely anything. And if it is not available yet, give it time; it will come.
Today, you could literally not have to set foot in a shop and have all your needs covered with subscriptions.
Photo by Evelyn Semenyuk on Unsplash
Food and drinks subscriptions boxes
Lite N Easy was the first one I used after my daughter was born in 1995 to loose weight. They deliver ready made frozen meals and snacks. All you have to choose is the amount of calories you want to consume each week.
Nowadays you have home delivered meal kits such as HelloFresh, Dinnerly, Dinner Sorted, and Marley Spoon, just to name a few, which contain all the ingredients you need to follow the recipes you’ve chosen for the week.
If you don’t want to bother cooking then you can order pre-made meals like Lite N Easy, Oodee, YouFoodz, and My Muscle Chef amongst others.
As for drinks, wine subscription boxes have been widely available for some time . What about if you don’t drink wine? How about some guaranteed fresh beer delivered to your door with Hops To Home beer club or the Beer Cartel?
If whiskey is your favourite drink then you can receive a monthly selection with Whiskey Loot, true North Spirits or the Whiskey Club.
Maybe you’d prefer to treat yourself with a French Martini cocktail box from Cocktail Porter.
It seems that alcohol subscription boxes are not a problem to find, but the same can’t be said about drinks like cordial and juices. Of course they can be ordered from online supermarkets. It is easy to save a list of what you order frequently. Another option is to plan it with Chrisco, but it would have to be done in advance and you receive your goods just before Christmas. You could possibly order a yearly stock with Chrisco.
What about tea and coffee subscriptions?
T2 offers quarterly or yearly tea subscription which includes four hand selected loose leaf teas (approx. 50 cups). You can also gift the subscription. You can also try Tea Blossoms, The RabbitHole, or you can go all the way with the NovelTea Book Club.
If you’re after coffee, there are plenty to choose from, but here are a few: One Coffee Snob, Black Star Coffee, and Thieves. Kodu has coffee and tea subscriptions.
Personal essentials subscriptions boxes
Deodorants
I was ordering mine from Native in the USA for US$10 a month. I wasn’t looking for it, it came up on one of my social feeds, and so I ordered. Since it was just me, or maybe I don’t sweat enough, I ended up with a backlog of deodorants. One order every three months was enough, and you can do just that with most subscription boxes: choose the frequency for receiving them because it can be difficult to know exactly how much you need or use at one time. I since found a few Australian alternatives such as Asuvi and Kind-ly.
Other Personal Needs
Vegan skincare and snacks subscription boxes at The Change Box.
You’ll find quite a few beauty subscriptions boxes. such a Peony Parcel, Blissful Boxes, BellaBox, and Nourished Life.
JAK Organics offers compostable, vegan friendly and cruelty, and GMO free personal care wipes on subscription, and they are vegan. You can choose to have them delivered weekly or monthly.
Find your perfect hair colour with The Shade.
Toilet Paper Subscription Boxes
If you are that afraid to run out of toilet paper, then a subscription is definitely the go.
How We Roll delivers 100% plastic-free household essentials straight to your doorstep. You can buy a box of 24-48 toilet rolls and then save 10% by subscribing. Choose from every 2 weeks to up to every 26 weeks. They also supply 100% Compostable & Biodegradable bin liners, dog poo bags and tissues boxes.
Who Gives a Crap, also helping to build toilets for proper sanitation for people in needs.
No Issues, a brand that you probably know from Coles, or Woolworths.
Wipe That offers toilet paper subscription boxes as well as eco-friendly laundry detergent sheets.
What about our beloved pets?
Pets eat and poo … so it makes sense that you could order on a regularly basis.
TofuKitty is an eco-friendly cat litter delivered monthly.
Bullymake offers a monthly box for dogs that contains 2 to 3 tough chew toys and 3 nutritious treats.
Raw & Fresh is high quality pet raw food.
Laundry & cleaning subscription boxes
Zero Co has different cleaning products as well as body wash with a mission of reducing waste and single-use of plastic.
Dirt offers eco-laundry detergent.
Did anyone say chocolate?
Check out Cocoa Box or Bean Bar You for monthly chocolate goodness, unless you’re like me who prefer marshmallows.
Etsy is also a good place to find subscription boxes.
Check out this page if you fancy receiving different soaps every months.
So many things, and I encourage you to Google it if you’re after something specific because you’ll be amazed at what you can find. Also there are lots of subscription boxes shipping from the US while I have focussed on the ones in Australia for the purpose of this post (and to keep business local-ish).
Other things I have come across and would never have thought about having a subscription:
How about a monthly sock subscription? GetSocked has all sorts of subscription boxes to receive colourful, loud and fun socks. Great for birthdays, Fathers Day, Mothers Day, baby socks, etc. or check out Upparel.
Knobb will send you a new pair of undies every month or every second month (men and women, different styles).
With a Hello Peachiee subscriptions, you will receive either one or two pairs of cute, comfortable underwear each month.
You can also get candle subscription boxes with The Luxuriate.
One of my favourite subscription boxes is Vitable (Referral link) which saves me the hassle of having many vitamin boxes to take at different times. Easy to order. You choose what you need when you need it. You can also speak with a clinical nutritionist if you have questions. Ten times better and quicker than browsing endless amount of vitamin boxes at the chemist.
Once you have organised all your subscriptions, it should give you more time to do more enjoyable things. Not only, you can also budget better, knowing exactly how much you’re spending each month, and if you’re short, you can always pause a subscription or two.
A subscription can also be a nice and different gift for the person who has everything, or you are not exactly sure what to buy.
What is your favourite subscription box, or which one would you like to see if it doesn’t exist already?
