Anyone else getting subscription exhausted?

[Surewhitey]

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.

 

[JoeWras]

No, I'm adding them cautiously. But I'll probably reel it back eventually.

What I am fatigued on is survey and reviews. I stopped doing them, even though I get multiple requests per day. Originally I did it to help and be a good guy. Now I realize I'm just giving these corporations my intellectual property for free.

 

[frank]

thinking of cutting hulu. there are so many commercials I don't see why I pay to watch commercials.

 

[tmm99]

I'm keeping my Prime membership although the fee has gone up. As many items as I order every week, it is still so worth it and it even comes with some free movies and music to boot. I don't subscribe to anything other than Prime though (No Kindle or music or anything else.)

I'm one of those folks who ditched NETFLIX for the first time in years as it was becoming slim picking so I have started to hop around other streaming services. I will go back to NETFLIX once I know that they have enough offerings I'd be interested in.

One thing I make sure and do with most things is to cancel as soon as I subscribe in order to stop the auto renewal. Much easier to keep track of my subscriptions that way.

 

[tmm99]

thinking of cutting hulu. there are so many commercials I don't see why I pay to watch commercials.

You can do a no-commercial option although it costs more. Right now, I'm only paying 99 cents a month for it (a promotional deal for a year), so I don't mind the commercials...

 

[pb4uski]

Over the last year we have added.

We have two electronic periodical subscriptions (WSJ & NYT), added Sirius XM recently, and numerous streaming (Prime Video, BritBox, Apple TV+, HBO Max, PBS Passport, Peacock, etc.)... total of ~$65/month.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

BritBox is really the only service we like and value. But once we have seen all we want we will curtail that too, then re-sub when they get new stuff.

 

[target2019]

Gave Amazon another year. Netflix is under consideration for the chopping block.

 

[Surewhitey]

thinking of cutting hulu. there are so many commercials I don't see why I pay to watch commercials.

Yeah, this is one "splurge" I have, the no-commercial option...

 

[Car-Guy]

I'll add free streaming video services to check them out but find most of them worthless. I do pay for Netflix but that may end soon... 90% of the programs on streaming services that I actually watch are on Pluto, Tubi and Ruko... (all free) That's plenty for me. When they start charging a fee, I'll drop them too.

 

[Surewhitey]

I'm keeping my Prime membership although the fee has gone up. As many items as I order every week, it is still so worth it and it even comes with some free movies and music to boot. I don't subscribe to anything other than Prime though (No Kindle or music or anything else.)

I'm one of those folks who ditched NETFLIX for the first time in years as it was becoming slim picking so I have started to hop around other streaming services. I will go back to NETFLIX once I know that they have enough offerings I'd be interested in.

One thing I make sure and do with most things is to cancel as soon as I subscribe in order to stop the auto renewal. Much easier to keep track of my subscriptions that way.

We do bounce in & out of a couple of services as they rebuild content. Then we binge watch a month or two. Hulu has a sleep mode that is easy to use. You can turn off the service for up to 6 weeks (I think) & go back early if you want...

 

[athena53]

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.

What I am fatigued on is survey and reviews. I stopped doing them, even though I get multiple requests per day. Originally I did it to help and be a good guy. Now I realize I'm just giving these corporations my intellectual property for free.

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.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

My best friend is addicted to Diet Coke. After he saw how I meticuloulsly track my expenses (I do this for informational categorization purposes, not budgeting), he decided to start tracking his expenses to see where he spent his money -- he's not yet retired, but approaching it. He found that he was spending in excess of $1000 a year on Diet Coke alone.

He recently found out that Sheetz (a regional? gas/convenience chain) offers a Soda Fountain Subscription for $9.99 per month. Sheetz is his primary place for stopping on the way to and from work (and more) to fill up his hump with Diet Coke. So he signed up for it and is saving a lot of money. He is limited to one every 2 hours and he takes advantage of it by stopping by multiple times a day.

He calls it getting his Diet Coke "Prescription" filled when he stops to get one.

They also have a French Fry subscription. He doesn't use that one.

 

[Magus]

Yes, I just cancelled Netflix a few weeks ago after the most recent price increase. Finally got rid of primary spectrum although they did give me spectrum streaming for most of my wife's fav channels for $20/month (still down over $100/month). Need to call and 'cancel' Siriusxm on my vehicle to get the discount price again. We gave Prime another year but under review. Currently have Peacock and Paramount+ for roughly $10 combined. Have WSJ for $4/month as well for another 10 months (normal rate is nearly $20/mo). Also have 8 or so credit cards with varying fees that easily pay for the fees (did convert 2 last year to non-fee cards) but tough to keep track of it all while I'm still working. Plan on reducing that down quite a bit. I need to start a spreadsheet at some point for all things like this I'm locked into monthly or annually. Combined with my 9 rentals, my corp VP job, plus life itself, it sometimes is difficult to keep it all top of mind but I probably get 90-95% of it down right.

 

[REWahoo]

Four streaming services at the moment, including Prime. We drop and add throughout the year as various services offer a deal. Currently have two of those - HBO ($7.49/mo) and Hulu (0.99/mo). Will add the lowest price service streaming ESPN starting in September so that I can watch college football.

Not paying for any other subscriptions, although I have taken advantage of a couple of SiriusXM 90 day free offers.

 

[JoeWras]

I dropped Netflix early this year due to poor quality content. I resubscribed recently to watch season 5 of Better Call Saul. Will drop again after we're done.

 

[Aerides]

My best friend is addicted to Diet Coke. After he saw how I meticuloulsly track my expenses (I do this for informational categorization purposes, not budgeting), he decided to start tracking his expenses to see where he spent his money -- he's not yet retired, but approaching it. He found that he was spending in excess of $1000 a year on Diet Coke alone.

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.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I don't think I overdo subscriptions. I use the ones I subscribe to. Here is my list:

Computer software:
1. Quicken
2. Microsoft Office
3. McAfee Antivirus

Phone/Devices:
1. Apple iCloud - I pay for a higher tier to get more photos storage and use of multiple home cameras

Streaming Services:
1. Apple Music - I stream music probably 6 hours per day in my house.

Through the years, I have, on occasion, signed up for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, etc. to watch some video content I was interested in. Usually only one at a time. After a few months, I usually start to feel like I've watched all I want, so I cancel again. I've currently been without streaming video for at least a year and don't really feel compelled to sign up to watch anything. Maybe next winter.

 

[Trailwalker]

I review my subscriptions frequently and cancel those that I don't use or get significant value from. Every time I am about to cancel the NY Times subscription , they offer to extend my promotional rate. Presently, I'm suffering from too much news and doomscrolling, so I'll be letting that one go soon when the next extension expires.

 

[tulak]

If you’re paying for Apple Music and Cloud storage separately, Apple One might be cheaper or offer you more services for the same price.

 

[skipro33]

I dropped Netflix early this year due to poor quality content. I resubscribed recently to watch season 5 of Better Call Saul. Will drop again after we're done.

Better Call Saul comes with my subscription of Xfinity/Comcast.

 

[skipro33]

I'll keep Amazon because it is very convenient to find so many different things in one place and many times they arrive next day. My wife's CamelBack water bottle needed a new bite valve and I needed a set of snap rings and plyers. Ordered yesterday before noon, arriving today. I would have spent a gallon of fuel easy to drive around to a hardware store and a sporting goods store, not to mention my time and it was raining hard. Instead, I ordered on line from Amazon in my PJ's and spent the time repairing the light in the bathroom fan/light/heater. Problem was the ballast was shot. Guess where I found that and it will arrive Sunday. Yup. Amazon. Not the cheapest, that was eBay, but it was fast with a great return policy. Again, saved a trip to the hardware store, likely several as it's a unique type of ballast.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

... added Sirius XM recently ...

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

 

[W2R]

I'm keeping Amazon Prime for the shipping. I don't even know if it saves me all that much, but it makes me happy (for whatever reasons?) so I regard the Prime fee as a discretionary "fun money". Fast and free delivery floats my boat.

I have never paid for any of the other Amazon Prime things people are mentioning. Too cheap/stingy/frugal/tight or whatever.

I did cancel my Consumer Reports subscription a while back. And, I cancelled my Nintendo Online subscription. I don't think I have any others except for my anti-virus software.

As for credit cards, I only have one (the one from Amazon). It doesn't have a fee and its rewards applied to my Amazon purchases make them seem cheaper too.

 

[OldShooter]

Tons of music streaming for free on the internet from public radio stations. No reason to pay for this IMO.

We don't watch TV, so for us no reason for subscriptions.

Got screwed into annual fees for Quciken because my data files are too big for competitors' import program.

Wouldn't consider subscribing to Office. Our Office 2006 is entirely adequate.

The only other subscription I can recall is $1/week for NYT. This was an intro offer a year ago. When it was scheduled to go up to full price I called, said I would be canceling, they extended the $1/week deal for another year.

DW pays for the WaPo I think. Don't know how much; we both have our own checkbook and credit cards for good reason.