Within the past year or two, if you’re on the internet at all, you’ve likely seen ads for subscription box services all over the place. Between health services, entertainment, fashion, even meal preparation can come right to your door! If you think about it, services like Dollar Shave Club (shaving, for both men and women), Smile Direct Club (braces in the mail!), Hubble (contact lens mail service), Quip (replacement toothbrush heads for their electric toothbrush), Blue Apron (dinner in a box), are all just taking different aspects of adulthood and making them flashier. In the dark ages Before subscription boxes, we used to have to go to the store to pick up a razor or do our groceries, or go to a doctor for braces or contacts. However, thanks to advancements in technology and the oncoming delivery craze, we no longer have to!

What does this mean? For people with disabilities, this is a lifesaver. Most of us, myself included, don’t drive, so subscription services save us the effort to coordinate a bus ride across town, the embarrassment of asking a friend for a ride for the zillionth time, or shelling out for a Lyft. I’ve actually tried three of these services, and no, I’m unfortunately not getting paid any marketing fee for this, but I figured I’d highlight some things that have helped my life as an independent person.

Instacart: While not technically a “subscription” service, Instacart gets people to do your grocery shopping for you! For me, getting groceries is one of the most difficult things to do. I live three blocks from my local grocery, and while that’s not too far when you don’t have any groceries in hand, is almost impossible to carry back more than one or two bags including my guide dog. I’ve only used Instacart once now, but it did come in handy during a busy week where I didn’t have much time to do grocery shopping. The only limitations are that if the shopper doesn’t find the item you’re looking for, they’ll try to bring a substitute and I’m generally picky. Instacart is good about handling the substitutes and will refund you if you’re not satisfied.

VNYL: I love collecting vinyl records, and while I love to sift through record stores to find the perfect album, it’s time consuming and often hard to see all the options. When you sign up for VNYL, you can connect your Spotify and other accounts and describe your music taste and favorite bands/albums. Each month, they have you choose a new vibe, which is just a collection of types of music (I got Festival Fever most recently for bands that would be performing at summer festivals). The staff then curates based on your tastes and vibe and sends you three awesome records! I’ve been very satisfied with them and have gotten to discover new music similar to my taste. I wish I could continue doing it but I can’t afford it L I’ve also gotten some white vinyls and one gold one, which is pretty hard to find!

There’s much more to being an adult than meets the eye, and if you can afford it, make your adulthood glamorous and save yourself the time and effort to go find things yourself!

Have a sunshiny day!