I made my first Amazon purchases after quitting Prime and the experience was almost unchanged. Here are the 6 questions I asked myself before deciding I didn't need the $155 per year expense.

• I made my first Amazon purchase after canceling my Prime membership in August.
• The experience was almost unchanged: Shipping was free and my items began arriving in a few days.

My recent Amazon purchase went something like this: I picked out four things I needed, opted for free shipping, and waited a few days for my items to arrive.

Only there was something different about this purchase: It wasn't made using Amazon Prime.

I canceled my Prime membership back in August after several years of an on-again, off-again relationship. I'd been paying for the service monthly since 2018, but I realized after making a purchase this past July how infrequently I order products from the platform. After reading my colleague Ben Gilbert's reasons for canceling, I decided it was time to put the kibosh on Prime once again.

But after so many break-ups and make-ups with Prime, I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing a solid reason for hanging onto my membership, so I asked myself a series of questions to weigh the pros and cons of canceling:

1. What do I use Amazon for?

My purchases on Amazon tend to be utilitarian, like a shoe rack or a tablecloth or a box of taper candles. Once in awhile, I use Amazon to send gifts to family members that live in a different city.

My other main purchases on Amazon are almost entirely eBooks. But having Prime hasn't tended to give me discounts on the books I most want to read. Amazon offers two reading services - Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading - but I rarely, if ever, find books on those services that I'm interested in.

Otherwise, I use Prime Video to watch movies and shows and I shop at Whole Foods, so I occasionally receive a discount on items there.

2. How often do I order?

In 2021, I've placed eight orders. In 2020, that number was slightly higher at 11. In 2019 and 2018, I placed 17 and 18 orders, respectively. Clearly, there's a trend happening: As time has gone on, my Amazon usage has waned considerably.

3. Do I currently watch anything on Prime Video?

A major selling point for keeping a Prime membership is Amazon's streaming service, Prime Video. Prime Video offers thousands of free movies and TV shows for Prime members, but I found I hadn't really used it since a mid-quarantine binge of the early-aughts network spy drama "Alias."

I'm sure if there's a show I absolutely need to watch on Prime, I'll be OK with restarting my membership (or paying $9 per month for just a Prime Video membership) but for now, it's one less streaming service to scroll through.

4. Are the other discounts worth it?

A main selling point for keeping my Prime membership was the Whole Foods discounts. Prime members get discounts and deals on Whole Foods purchases, and since Whole Foods is the grocery store nearest to me, the possibility of missing out on those discounts definitely gave me pause.

But the discounts weren't making a major impact on my life. I will always appreciate a deal, and a few dollars off is nothing to dismiss, but the discounts just aren't worth hanging onto my Prime membership.

5. Do I enjoy shopping on Amazon?

Shopping on Amazon has always made me a bit anxious. The sheer volume of products is daunting, and given the rise of counterfeit goods - which Amazon says it's working to address - it can be exhausting. I feel like in order to be a responsible consumer, I have to check the seller of every item I choose, and it can sometimes be difficult to tell the quality of some items I'm picking out.

I also tend to spend more and buy items I don't need on Amazon, which is not an accident: Amazon has built-in ways to get you to spend more, like one-click ordering (so you don't shop around) and free one-day shipping (so you get hooked on speedy delivery).

Of course, lots of other retailers have adopted ways to get you to buy more, but I'm not paying them a yearly membership.

6. Can I live without fast, free shipping?

I'm sure there will come a time when there's an item I really, really need, and it's only available on Amazon, and the shipping is not free. But that hasn't happened yet.

Since quitting Prime in August, I've purchased the things I need at my local hardware store, at the pharmacy down the block, and at the Target across town. And months later, when I finally needed to make a purchase on Amazon, the shipping was entirely free. I placed my order on a Tuesday, and the items began arriving on Friday.

So will I go back to using Prime one day? Honestly, maybe. And if I ever opt to pay for it yearly, it would cost about $35 less. But for now, I'm saving $155 a year - and my life is pretty much unchanged.