Anyone else getting subscription exhausted?

[Chuckanut]

I'm currently paying $8 with taxes under their introductory offer for another 10 months... $5 sounds better... maybe I'll call them and tell them I want the "Mulligan" deal.

You are going to ‘take a Mulligan’? [emoji3]

 

[JoeWras]

A LONG blackout period, they waited almost 2 years to stream season 5.

I'll give them a true Mulligan, because COVID and a heart attack were involved in this situation.

 

[CP Soon]

Oh wow I'm not that high, but this made me think. I like to get my Diet Coke in the 1 litre bottles... Because the 2 litre is too bulky in the fridge (and I know I could buy a 2 and pour it into an empty 1 but life is too short). And the 1 litre is never on sale, and often out of stock. But I probably go thru 5 a week at about $1.30 per... oof. I noticed this week Fresh Market, instead of being $1.49 in a pinch raised to $1.99 so now I need to stock better at Publix.

DH's main addiction is LaCroix, and at $5 a case of 12...eh yeah he probably outruns my DC costs, but I do take advantage of BOGO's and the like.

He has just rejoined Panera's subscription - keeps getting it for free. They include Iced Tea as well as coffee.

Was spending a fortune on Bubly for my Son. Bought him a Soda Stream for Xmas. He likes the Soda Stream but not the effort to make regularly. His consumption is down at least 75%, and he is still on the original CO2 canister.
Wife just joined the Panera sub for the daily Pepsi. Should be a huge savings for us as we are not paying the local Taco Bell now.

 

[F.I.R.E User]

I don’t have any subscription. There is lot of free stuff like on You Tube.

 

[Out of Steam]

There are a number of services I would like to subscribe to, but do not because I am unwilling to give them access to my credit card or bank account for an indefinite term.

 

[ElizabethT]

We have been adding instead of subtracting
Grandkids like certain shows when they are here!

Xfinity comes with Peacock and showtime.
Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+, Discovery+, Netflix
Apple News, local online newspaper

Can you get parents to share their streaming passwords for when the Grands visit?

 

[Aerides]

I'm currently paying $8 with taxes under their introductory offer for another 10 months... $5 sounds better... maybe I'll call them and tell them I want the "Mulligan" deal.

If that's With all the taxes and fees, that might be about right. On my annual plan, I pay $27 in taxes and royalty fees, on top of the annual sub, so even though my subs are $5 or $6 per month depending when I give up, it's really another $2+ per month in the taxes etc.

Still, if you listen to it enough, as I do via the app, it's worth it. Even for simple stuff like putting on holiday music, I just go find a channel and I'm good.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

We left Netflix recently before we realized leaving was trendy. I've watched 30 mins tv total in the last month

 

[Surewhitey]

I keep subscriptions to a minimum. Amazon Prime is a keeper for me as I like the splurge of shipping and do use Prime Video now and then.

In the news lately is Neflix getting dropped like a rock by many. Makes me wonder if Netflix is becoming the next Blockbuster.

I forgot about Redbox, but ran across them on CNBC ticker... Don't think Netflix is going this way, just a lot of options for decent content these days. HULU & Paramount + & Discovery have been our favorites, although we only have HULU currently. Disney & Prime are the bottoms for me... Haven't tried the others yet.

BTW, very happy, so far, with Spotify. Great option to Amazon Prime music.

 

[ElizabethT]

We left Netflix recently before we realized leaving was trendy. I've watched 30 mins tv total in the last month

Admirable! We were down to one show/one hour per night prior to leaving on a week long RV trip, during which we watched zero streaming TV. We arrived home yesterday, and spent the night reading while jazz played in the background. Life without TV, or with very little TV, takes deliberate energy, but I/we're liking it!

 

[JohnRM]

Amazon Prime is a good deal with the credit card

We have Amazon's Chase card, no fees there, and when you use it you get up to 5% in points to apply toward Amazon orders. In the last 12 months, after subtracting the annual fee (then $120) we got $150+ back. That is disregarding the Amazon prime TV and the free two day shipping.

We have a Costco "executive" membership, but we don't spend enough there to make it pencil out; going back to a regular membership.

Then there's Netflix, Peacock, YouTube, and our internet service. Pandora.

If it was just me I would just have Internet and YouTube.

Oh and the cellphone bill. And the newspaper. Water/Sewer, Gas, Electric. It sure adds up.

 

[FindingForward]

I'm VERY wary about subscriptions (the "easy monthly payments" add up) so I have few. I have Netflix and have been very happy with that although I see that they're likely to crack down on my sharing the login with DS and DDIL (it used to be permitted and it was never running on more than two devices, which my plan allowed). If I'm forced to add them and pay a separate charge I'm going to "downgrade" the video quality to cut the bill by $5/month. Just because I'm cheap.

I bought MS Office outright when I bought a new computer to avoid monthly fees. Never had Amazon Prime.

Yeah, I ignore those. I'm on e-Rewards (they may not be taking new people) and I get Hilton points, AA miles and Starbucks gift cards for filling out surveys. If you're just going to collect my opinion, not publicize the results and use them for your own purposes, no, that's not happening.

I wish I could do more erewards surveys as I'm a member. But almost every survey asks for age range and every time I enter it, it rejects me from participating. I don't seem able to qualify for very many, unless I want to lie and use a younger range, so I've pretty much given up for now.

 

[KarenF]

So I try to "clean up" my ticky tac expenses every so often. This can be annual credit card fee cards, streaming services, etc.

Amazon has pushed my limits this year. I'm going to detox their many services and look at alternatives. I cut prime which as we all know went up. The add-ons are what they don't tell you about.

DW used Kindle services for another $12/mo. She said she could use the local library download service for free.

The straw that pushed me over was the Prime music. Don't get me wrong, I used it more than most, but every time you open the app, you had to decline the "upgraded" music for another $9/mo. If you fat-finger your phone, bam! It got you.

So I went to Spotify (free version) & local public station app with great music and will continue to shop Amazon (although I noticed they're not competing on price much anymore). I feel great about cutting the Amazon cord & cutting out $$ & more importantly the frustration of their app...

Anyone else cleaning up your life? I'll be doing at least one CC soon too.

We keep our subscription services under $140/month. That includes streaming services, Amazon, Costco, Ring camera, ancestry and a few miscellaneous things like FileThis to collect electronic statements. We have reduced subscriptions by more than half after I started paying more attention. We do have Prime, and the free Amazon Music - it does annoy me to have to say no thanks to paid services every time I open it, but I get over it. Kindle Unlimited is 9.99/month (not 12) and I do think that is worth it as well. We rotate among streaming services and share among family members. I have lots of credit cards but usually downgrade them to a no annual fee once I get the bonus. I love "free" airfare and hotels with points!

 

[KarenF]

Can you get parents to share their streaming passwords for when the Grands visit?

Yes1 We have a Netflix login from one kid, and a Disney+ one from the other. We share DirecTV with them and HBA Max, which is included with our internet. We also got Hulu for $0.98/month this year.

 

[ychuck46]

Absolutely

Starting cutting them out a year or so ago. No more live streaming TV service, and also culled out a few subscriptions I had. Not missing anything since we still have alternates for watching TV, both free and pay.

 

[Koolau]

I've found plenty to watch for "free" (included in HOA dues) so have never added a service. I probably have 500 DVDs I've never watched (picked up at resale shops for $1 or $2.) Only subscription I now have is one financial porn magazine - Kiplingers. Considering dropping it as they have raised prices to like $30 for next year. Haven't received a discount offer yet - expecting that as we get closer to expiration (theirs, not ours) YMMV

 

[Sunset]

...

We have a Costco "executive" membership, but we don't spend enough there to make it pencil out; going back to a regular membership.

....

If by the end of your membership time, when you get the rebate check, it doesn't add up to the difference. You can take to the customer service and they will bump up the amount so there is no extra cost for executive.

 

[Sunset]

There are a number of services I would like to subscribe to, but do not because I am unwilling to give them access to my credit card or bank account for an indefinite term.

Don't let that stop you.
I'd only do it with a CC.
And all services except Sirius have been easy to cancel.
Some CC's you can get virtual numbers, so the number you give them isn't the CC number.

Or get a new CC with a bonus, and use just that one for the services and enjoy the $200 bonus for getting a new CC.

 

[maingram]

Sirius gimmicks

Just wait until you try to cancel that one! Better be ready for a long phone call.

Every 5-6 months for the last 12 years I have had to call and cancel knowing that they would agree to the monthly fee I have kept of $29 a month. Annoys me that we play this game while knowing it is their gimmick to charge more with a unknowing customer. They first offer a "deal of $199 for 6 months", I saying no and they keep going down in price. Yes it is a long phone call but planning ahead and getting what I want makes it worth it in the end.

 

[ychuck46]

One subscription we don’t have to pay for is Sirius/XM. 17-18 years ago they offered a lifetime membership for $250. We haven’t paid a cent for it since then: 3 cars+one feed in the house and the app. I hope they fail to notice us forever. ;-). We won that one big time.

Same here. We signed up for it on one of the two vehicles a number of years ago. Now we just transfer it when we get a new replacement vehicle for something like $30 per instance. Love the outcome of that lawsuit against SiriusXM,

 

[statsman]

I do this annually, and it's far better/shorter than it used to be.

And from actually cancelling DH's, since he uses his car far less than I do, I know quite well that super offers will arrive in my email within 3 days if I ever do cancel outright.

Most likely because of COVID and staff shortages, the last three renewals with SiriusXM have all occurred while waiting to speak to someone with customer service to "cancel". In all cases, we were offered the Music & Entertainment package for $4.99/mo for a year plus royalty fees. For as often as we use it, I wouldn't want to spend more.

This time, the offers weren't as good. The "while waiting" phone call offer was $9/mo for a year to retain the same package. Nope, gonna see what the call rep offers. The best they offered was $5.99/mo for a year, but this excluded numerous channels like news, talk shows, Beatles, Sinatra, etc. There were a few channels in the exception list we would want, so we declined.

We'll be cancelled this coming Tuesday. This will be the second time in the eight years with SiriusXM that we will have gone through with a cancelled service. The last time, maybe five years ago, an email offer arrived shortly after the cancellation, just like above. Now, I am not sure what happens.

 

[Mulligan]

Most likely because of COVID and staff shortages, the last three renewals with SiriusXM have all occurred while waiting to speak to someone with customer service to "cancel". In all cases, we were offered the Music & Entertainment package for $4.99/mo for a year plus royalty fees. For as often as we use it, I wouldn't want to spend more.

This time, the offers weren't as good. The "while waiting" phone call offer was $9/mo for a year to retain the same package. Nope, gonna see what the call rep offers. The best they offered was $5.99/mo for a year, but this excluded numerous channels like news, talk shows, Beatles, Sinatra, etc. There were a few channels in the exception list we would want, so we declined.

We'll be cancelled this coming Tuesday. This will be the second time in the eight years with SiriusXM that we will have gone through with a cancelled service. The last time, maybe five years ago, an email offer arrived shortly after the cancellation, just like above. Now, I am not sure what happens.

I go through the annual Sirius low rate gauntlet once a year. But I do it through their online chat service. I got the $5.99 rate also myself. Except for whatever reason I still get all those channels they werent offering you. We use it for bathroom and outside deck music via bluetooth. But its real worth to me is when I am in the car.

 

[Katsmeow]

Whether I drop something depends on how often I use it and whether there is any financial advantage to subscribing for a longer period of time.

For example, I use Kindle Unlimited all the time. Many of those books that I read are only on Amazon and can't be gotten from a library. And I definitely get my money's worth. But I few months ago they started offering a year's subscription at a discount so I paid for that.

For things that are month to month, I do sometimes cancel if I won't be using for awhile. We were going to be selling our house and moving so I cancelled YouTubeTV. We will probably resubscribe at some point (although we haven't missed it that much).

One group of subscriptions I have to watch is subscribing to online magazines or Substacks. I've occasionally done a Substack if they offer a "sale" or discount. Then I cancel when that is over. Sometimes they offer a reduced price.

I do a whole thing with the NYTimes every year. When it gets ready to renew at a high price I call them to cancel. Then they ask if I want to resubscribe another year at the low price I am paying. I say yes and continue on.

 

[frank]

I go through the annual Sirius low rate gauntlet once a year. But I do it through their online chat service. I got the $5.99 rate also myself. Except for whatever reason I still get all those channels they werent offering you. We use it for bathroom and outside deck music via bluetooth. But its real worth to me is when I am in the car.

I did not know sirius was available to you over your phone or other device. What do you use to get music in the various rooms mentioned?

 

[Mulligan]

I did not know sirius was available to you over your phone or other device. What do you use to get music in the various rooms mentioned?

You download their app on to your phone via Apple or Google store. Then have a wireless speaker and just bluetooth it. I also downloaded it on my Ipad and Bluetooth it to the speaker. In fact I can hear the music blaring from the bathroom now as she must be showering.