Gotta hand it to disrupting innovators who made it so easy to charge for subscriptions while being so unobtrusive and unnoticeable. It is on my to-do list to clean up the garbage we pay for and don't use.

I consume more how-to content on YouTube than anything these days, and I suspect that is true for Lots people sick of agenda-driven narratives.

https://www.truebill.com/

Despite $15 really being an insignificant amount of money, I only allow myself to have one extra service at a time (something like HBO, Netflix, etc., but usually nothing). And I cancel it as soon as I buy it to prevent it from auto-renewing the following month.

What are you down to now?

YouBet said:

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Netflix just announced another price increase effective in February. They are adding $2 to your monthly sub which is an 11% increase, if you haven't realized this yet. This triggered a budgetary review by me of our monthly, recurring subscription spend.

In the spirit of transparency, I present to you what we spend every month on subs (note: some of these costs are paid annual and I've allocated them to monthly for sake of discussion). Feel free to ridicule it as if you won't.

I post this to maybe trigger others into reviewing what you are really spending on subs because many people organically add these and never really add up how much of your spend you are leasing:

Productivity / Data

• Apple - $2.99 - Data
• Todoist - $4
• MS 365 - $9.02

SubTotal = $16.01

Entertainment / News

• Disney - $6.31
• Sirius - $6.48 (wife's commute)
• Hulu - $7.57 (literally active for 1 show)
• Amazon Prime - $10.73
• Apple - $10.81 - Music
• TexAgs - $13.85
• MS GamePass - $16.23
• Netflix - $21.64
• Barkbox - $32.48 (our f'ing dogs have their own entertainment sub)
• Dallas Morning News - $35.68 (for wife - this just went up almost $5 AGAIN)
• WSJ - $42.99
• YTTV - $70.35

SubTotal = $275.12

Grand Total = $291.13 / month or $3,493.56 per year. That is incredible.

Of note, tv/movie subs are $116.60 total now which is approaching my old sat tv or cable pricing.

Opportunities for reduction I would like to make. Would require convincing wife to cut:

• Sirius - $6.48 (her commute is about 10 min; this is unnecessary)
• Dallas Morning News - $35.68 (trash publication and we already have WSJ)

Seasonal that I plan to pause or cut:

• Hulu - $7.57
• YTTV - $70.35

Grand Total Savings = $120.08 / month or $1,440.96 per year. Annual might actually be less because I would probably activate something in order to watch sports in the fall.

Significant savings to be had here.

edit: added Prime

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todoist! grand master here! probably the best bang for the buck out of the group of expenses

Quote:

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Sirius - $6.48 (wife's commute)

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How the hell are you paying only $6.48/month for that? Gimme the secret code!

It seems like my wife tags me for between $200-$300/year for that in her car. But, I don't expect her to listen to AM news/talk radio like I do so I guess it's a good 'investment', right?

I haven't paid full price for Sirius for years. I canceled it, then started getting emails for discounted rates. I now pay something like $80 a year for car and internet listening. Worth it for me.

My cheap ass used to pirate everything in college, I got all the stuff on Netflix, hbo, Hulu etc plus new movies that just came out. Only reason I stopped is cause I got a new laptop and didn't want a virus

fightingfarmer09 said:

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Jeez. I though we were bad with Hulu bundle + Netflix.

Canceled Prime because nothing gets delivered on the two day anymore.

All the newspaper subscriptions should be dropped. There are WAY to many free ways to get the exact same content and articles. TexAgs is the same I'd drop that.

XM radio for a 10 min commute?

Anyway, I think you can drop half that stuff and never notice. 2/3 if you prioritize.

Go to Tractor Supply or Petco and buy a cart full of their "seasonal" dog toys for 75% off. Yeah they are chewing on Santa in July, but they don't care.

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Why I posted it. It's bad.

Our experience with Prime hasn't been like that. Quite a bit of what we order still gets here next day. Maybe it's just what we order. We also aren't ordering a ton of recurring stuff from them though. It's mostly one-off stuff plus I use Prime Video.

Newspapers: I enjoy WSJ although I will be looking to cut my cost there when I reup. I don't mind paying something for it. DMN is trash. Would love to cut it but that's not my decision.

TA: probably will.

XM: not my decision.

Barkbox: wife likes it; not a battle worth fighting. I can save elsewhere.

Audible (covered via Amex)
Walmart + (only have it because it's included with Amex)
HBO max (free with our internet/cable)
Amazon prime
Apple storage
Adobe photo editing
Spotify
Texags
Peloton

I'm right at $100 a month

Youtube TV - $64.99 a month

Youtube Premium family - $17.99 a month - includes ad-free youtube and youtube music which is a good replacement for spotify/apple music/XM/etc

Game Pass Ultimate - ~3.25 a month - I did the 36 month of gold then converted to ultimate for $1 a few years back and have topped it off with 3 month cards as they go on sale for under $30. If you turn off auto pay before entering these cards they will over you a free month extra if you turn auto pay back on so a 3 month card is really a 4 month card. This one expires in November but I think I can still hustle it to under $9 a month by keeping an eye out for deals on membership codes.

Disney+ - ~$3.92 a month. I signed up for the D23 deal 3 year deal for $140.97 they had 2 months before the service launched in 2019. This will expire this November but I'll likely renew at full price.

Amazon prime - $9.92 a month - paid annually

Netflix - included with T-Mobile plan - will keep if I ever have to pay for it
Apple TV - Free from T-Mobile Tuesday offer - wont keep if they don't offer it again
Paramount Plus - Free from T-Mobile Tuseday offer - wont keep if they don't offer it again
MLB.tv - Free from T-Mobile Tuesday offer - will keep if they ever stop offering it.
Peacock - Included with credit card

Apple TV - that's another we have but we get it free. I don't even remember how or why though. Lol.

Went back and checked and its actually $15 month. Good enough quality to rewatch Community.

It's free for a year if you buy most Apple products

htxag09 said:

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It's free for a year if you buy most Apple products

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Yeah, that's it. I'll question it at end of year. We haven't watched much of it.

I haven't checked to see if you can go month to month with it. I need to start churning these streams like people do with credit cards.

I put notes in my calendar when I ever I sign up for a free service that wants me to auto renew to make sure I turn them off before I get billed or when I remember to use them, I sign up with virtual credit cards from capital one.

I'm not immune. I got Audible and haven't used my credits in 2 months.

We are rural so Prime is always a stretch to get us our stuff in time.

The opening post did begin our conversation at the house to verify everything. But we have been pretty tight since canceling directv last year.

hypeiv said:

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I put notes in my calendar when I ever I sign up for a free service that wants me to auto renew to make sure I turn them off before I get billed or when I remember to use them, I sign up with virtual credit cards from capital one.

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I have all of my reup dates in Todoist.

Todoist is badass if anyone is looking for a productivity/to do app.

fightingfarmer09 said:

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I'm not immune. I got Audible and haven't used my credits in 2 months.

We are rural so Prime is always a stretch to get us our stuff in time.

The opening post did begin our conversation at the house to verify everything. But we have been pretty tight since canceling directv last year.

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Ah, that makes sense. We are inside Dallas and a few short miles from their main DC here. That helps.

Never thought about it but I guess a Prime membership is worth more or less depending on where you live. Like you I am about 10 minutes from their massive Coppell fulfillment centers (and not too far from the one at Alliance) and I can get most orders same-day or next day so I don't mind the annual fee. Probably a different story if you are waiting 2+ days regardless.

hypeiv said:

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I put notes in my calendar when I ever I sign up for a free service that wants me to auto renew to make sure I turn them off before I get billed or when I remember to use them, I sign up with virtual credit cards from capital one.

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For most services, you can cancel it immediately after you sign up and you'll get to use it for the entire trial period or pay period.

Even though it's not a subscription, it's also worth reviewing your electricity provider, cell phone plans, and car/house insurance to make sure there aren't opportunities available there also.

chris1515 said:

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Even though it's not a subscription, it's also worth reviewing your electricity provider, cell phone plans, and car/house insurance to make sure there aren't opportunities available there also.

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I shop electricity and insurance annually. I've looked at switching our phone plan several times but haven't pulled trigger yet.

Think I'm going to switch to xfinity. Their cable and Internet are a little more than I pay with U-verse but if I have xfinity internet I can add two mobile phone lines for $40 each. That's significantly less than AT&T

TexAgs
Disney
Spotify
Prime
YTTV (cancelling when football is over, use OTA after)

Where do you live that Prime isn't 2 days? We get almost everything in one day and a lot more things are available next day now. The other day when I came down with Covid I was able to get supplements delivered between 12am and 7am.

My only digital subscription is Spotify at $10.

I have a climbing gym membership that runs $75 though.

Cell phone is $15/month paid annually.

RockOn said:

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My only digital subscription is Spotify at $10.

I have a climbing gym membership that runs $75 though.

Cell phone is $15/month paid annually.

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Most amazing comment on this thread so far.

No just a typical plan from Mint Mobile.
https://texags.com/forums/30/topics/3262361