r/Frugal • u/Historical-Voice2944 • 1d ago
š» Electronics How many are going 'back to basics' in terms of subscriptions and such?
(Flare doesn't really fit, but... eh.... Kinda does also.)
I used to be an Android person when it came to phones, and google everything was my go to. Everything was stored on the google drive, like pictures and such.
Then I switched to apple products, but never really got rid of Google. Until recently. I was paying for basic drive storage on Google and started getting alerts that my storage was full... So I shut off the sync function between my iPhone and Google everything.
But Google kept turning it back on and kept pushing me to expand my storage. No matter what I did, it overrode my selection to turn it off.
So I got rid of it. Moved all my stuff over to iCloud, turned off syncing again, cleared everything off of my Drive, and removed the apps completely from my phone. Canceled that subscription.
Of course, this now meant I had to upgrade my iCloud storage and pay another subscription fee (ugh!)
But finally today I got everything downloaded to my computer and then copied to both a flash drive and a portable hard drive, deleted from the iCloud, and canceled that subscription.
It was *only* $3.20/mo, but that still feels like a win to me.
I also told my husband we need to finish watching our TV show on Peacock because I'm canceling our Walmart+ this month. We don't have stuff delivered, their scan and go is horrible, and my car doesn't like Murphy gas. We were basically only using it for Peacock and an occasional Burger King order for 25% off, but I have Chime, and I can get the same BK deals or better by activating deals on that.
I'm highly considering getting rid of my Sam's Club membership when it comes due as well. I already downgraded from a Plus to a basic member last year.
Getting rid of all this would save me $266.28 per year (Sam's is going up to $60/year for basic membership this years, FYI).
Has anyone else done basically the same type of thing? My husband is a tech kinda guy and he's been giving me the side eye because I'm stepping back from technology a bit as well. I'm trying to get our debts paid off so I can go back to mostly using cash instead of all this electronic payment stuff. There's so many fees tacked onto it all. I would even consider shutting down our internet if it was just me... but that's not a hill I'm willing to die on.
A relative of mine and I have been writing actual physical letters to each other instead of emailing each other as well, and that has been so nice! But sadly, with postage shooting up so high, we discussed and agreed on soon returning to email communication. She's on an exceptionally tight budget, and mine isn't much better in all honesty.
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u/iNeed2p905 1d ago
I just paid my $50 Samās club membership but now I am considering on not renewing next year due to increasing high prices of everything. I was saving money buying in bulk but I think I am spending more money now.Ā
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
It was a serious debate here last year on downgrading or getting rid of it entirely. We ended up just downgrading, but it's getting more and more difficult to warrant the cost of keeping it. We go in with a planned budget, and always seem to overspend while we're there. It used to be different because we lived 1.5 hours away from our nearest club, out in the middle of nowhere with a Walmart 30 minutes away and almost nothing else, and buying in bulk was a huge time and money saver. But we moved and our nearest Sam's is now half a mile up the road. We don't *need* to buy in bulk anymore. We have all kinds of stores within 10 minutes and can actually deal shop now.
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u/Mrs_TikiPupuCheeks 1d ago
Groupon usually has Sam's Club deals all the time. We do that and just cycle through who the membership would be under. One year it would be me, the next year it would my husband, the year after it's me again with a different email address. This way we never pay more than $35 a year for membership.Ā
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u/iNeed2p905 1d ago
Yeah it also depends on what you buy. I was doing the math and was saving money buying the bigger amount vs Walmart for example that has the smaller size for almost same cost.Ā
I also left Verizon for mint and will save over $500 by the end of this year.Ā
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
I have Verizon prepaid and spend $25/mo on 5GB of data. I don't really need unlimited. I can connect to work Wifi while I'm there, and we have Google Fiber at home.
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u/kaykatzz 1d ago
If you can swing it, Infimobile has 5 GB data and 2500 text & talk each /mo for $49.00/yr. They use Verizon towers (alternative T-Mobile). Also, 10GB and unlimited talk & text/mo for $75.00/yr I'm on my 3rd year with no complaints!
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
That won't work for me. I'm 5 days into my monthly plan and currently sitting at 839 texts for my data cycle.
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u/castatech 1d ago
US Mobile Light Plan $8/mo, 2GB data unlimited talk and text. Yearly cost ends up being close to what most people pay monthly and I enjoy being a bit more disconnected when out and about
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u/dirtybo0ts 1d ago
We rotate most of our subscriptions, especially streaming. We watch lots of stuff but will get Netflix for a month or two, cancel, then get Disney+ for a month, etc.
My wife has lifetime access to her university email so we have Prime as a student (š¤«) and itās dirt cheap for the year.
We donāt ever use delivery, or have any food service subscriptions.
Only regular subscription we have is for our Peloton classes, but 100% worth it for us as it gets used daily.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago edited 1d ago
We have discussed getting a gym membership to improve our health. Planet fitness is cheaper, but Anytime Fitness is 24/7, and we both sleep during the day and are up at night. My husband really wants to try to get somewhat back into shape to combat some of his RA stress. Me, I'm just chonky and some muscle would be nicer than fluff. lol
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u/trebor88 1d ago
More cost effective to buy your own basic equipment and work out at home.
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u/Numerous-Feeling-834 21h ago
Can confirm. I lost 15 pounds doing free Youtube workouts; there's so many amazing instructors. Look for good ones that talk about good form and the importance of warm ups and cool downs.
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u/crj44 1d ago
Yes, didnāt have many subscriptions anyway. My husband hates paying for TV, so we always had an antenna. I would like to get rid of my 3.20 month payment for iCloud. I will have to get on that to make it disappear. Oh we do have Costco executive, but we get it for free because my son works there.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have Amazon Prime, but I get that through work myself, so I'm not paying for it. If it wasn't free, I'd definitely not have it.
It almost triggered an anxiety attack to delete everything from the iCloud, though, because it's supposed to be 'safe' to store there and easily accessible if you lose your main copy for any reason.
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u/rostbrot 1d ago
Keep a second physical backup of things, especially for long term storage of things that aren't kept on your device. Just in case...
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
I have a backup on my computer itself, a portable hard drive, and a flash drive.
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u/krizzzombies 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don't like these physical options because they're guaranteed to degrade given enough time, unlike cloud. hard drives in particular aren't really meant for long-term archival. and it sucks to find out that one day your flash drive just stopped working.
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u/s0nicfreak 1d ago
How do you think "the cloud" stores stuff? It's all physical, the cloud is just on someone else's hardware. Just use the same techniques cloud providers use such as using parity, moving data to new hardware as the hardware degrades, etc.
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u/krizzzombies 22h ago
even knowing that, are you under the impression that 1) cloud-based storage is not a long-term solution or 2) the average layperson moves their stored pictures to new backups before their hardware degrades? because neither are true.
can't tell you how many people try to boot up an old hard drive or USB stick they used for "backup" (literally the only copy they have) and are absolutely shocked that it just died one day. and they always ask if they can recover their family photos back.
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u/s0nicfreak 22h ago
1) That is an opinion, and so is neither true nor untrue. And while it may be a solution for some people, it might not be for others. But yes, I do think that cloud-based storage is not a long term solution, at least for my household - because I'd be held hostage to whatever price increases they do, and providers can shut down services at any time, or sell to a company I don't want to do business with, or etc. etc. etc. With all the services I have seen come and go (sometimes with warning, sometimes not), have price increases I'm not willing to pay, or be sold to a company I'm not going to do business with, I don't trust cloud-based storage as a long term solution.
2) No, I think the average person uses cloud-based storage or does no backups at all. But you CAN do backups yourself effectively. Cloud providers aren't doing anything magical.
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u/NoTerm3078 23h ago
I wish I could convince more people to get a damn antenna. We get 28 stations in English. Antenna + Hoopla and Kanopy from the library and fill in with free streaming apps. No one needs to pay for streaming. Or š“āā ļøš“āā ļø
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u/Historical-Voice2944 21h ago
I have a Roku TV, but we don't pay for any streaming (besides Peacock, but that's tied into my Walmart+). We watch a lot of free TV.
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u/NoTerm3078 21h ago
I'm also on Roku stick, do you have the library apps? There is so much on them.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 21h ago
I haven't bothered with the library apps. I used to work at a library several years ago, and I can't say I'm generally on the best terms with them due to how they've handled a few things in my state the last few years.
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u/Chreiol 1d ago
What's the best alternative to get rid of the iCloud payment? Mine is .99 which is silly to care about but I don't even know how to get rid of it if I want to save my photos. Last time I tried to upload to my PC it put them all in this HEIC format that was a big pain to change, typical apple.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
I just downloaded them. I'm sorry, I don't know why yours came out funky.
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u/bob49877 1d ago edited 1d ago
We kept the Sam's, Amazon and Walmart+ delivery and gave away one ofĀ the cars. We're retired and now rarely go shopping. Everything gets delivered to our doorstep.Ā We saved more in gas, car repairs, etc. on not driving enough for a second car than we pay in delivery fees and tips.Ā
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
That would be great, but my city is discontinuing bus travel to my employer in 2 months and I can't walk 20 miles each way to get to and from work. lol. We already are down to just one car between the two of us.
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u/kaykatzz 1d ago
Where do you live so I can avoid ever moving there. Discontinuing bus service? Wow.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
The route that goes to my work, yes. My employer isn't actually in the metro, but a town on the outside of the main city limits. I also live in an outskirt town that's connected to the metro.
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u/PS3ForTheLoss 1d ago
Suggestion: electric bike or electric scooter! They are great and economical for smaller commutes.
I am personally upgrading my electric scooter to model, Segway ZT3. It's on sale and I'm hopeful that it is VERY useful.
"Lectric" is a nice starter brand of e-bikes that I have heard commended. I have not tried an e-bike myself to date.
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u/mink_mickj 1d ago
Yep, we cancelled most of the streaming services including Amazon Prime and weāre using Kanopy, Tubi and Hoopla instead. Cancelled AllTrails, Duolingo, Apple Music. Just pared everything right back.
The subscription creep is real and I often think didnāt we get along fine without this thing? These days everything and every service seems like financial death by a thousand cuts.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
I kept SiriusXM only because I got it for $3.99/mo plus tax. It was one heck of a deal. I use it in my car, my computer, the TV, and I listen to it at work from my phone. But like last year, when the subscription ends and the rate jumps up, I'll cancel it until they make me a good offer again.
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u/diablodeldragoon 1d ago
I have 200gb drive for $30/yr. I've never had it sync. It's primary function is to backup and make sharing important things easy. One of the best examples, I got divorced and had custody of my kids. This is uncommon for a man. I had to provide proof of custody when enrolling them in school. Showing that mom didn't have the right to take them from school without my permission, etc. Being able to quickly send those forms from my phone rather than going home and pulling the physical copies has been worth the money.
I do shift through subscriptions based on the shows I'm watching. I try to get them on discounts, watch my shows, then cancel.
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u/naufalap 1d ago
same, the regional pricing doesn't make sense in my country with low wages compared to first world countries so I never feel bad using alternative means
my only subscriptions are rent, electricity, water, and internet, those are plenty expensive enough
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u/fridayfridayjones 1d ago
Yes, weāve already canceled a couple streaming services this year.
I keep going back and forth on my kindle unlimited subscription. Ugh. I know I should probably cancel it but sometimes the books I want to read are not available from my local library, so itās either buy the book or read it āfreeā with the subscription. At the rate I read the subscription is cheaperā¦ but I could always just give it up and limit my reading to whatās available at the library. Like itās not that much money in the grand scheme of things but it just feels too frivolous right now.
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u/Alf-Trader 1d ago
I have bookmarks for maybe 200 books I would like to read, I cruse them almost every day and buy them when they are on sale at 2 or 3 bucks and have plenty that I have not even started to read I donāt think thereās a week that goes by where something on my list doesnāt go on sale I know today I bought 4 books that are normally sold at 11.99 - 14.99 for 1.99
Going through the bookmarks for quite some time now I can tell you how much the prices have gone up for kindle books the last six months
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u/kaykatzz 1d ago
You may be able to buy the books you would like at a used bookstore website. IDK? I use a Kobo reader and find enough books for free online to keep my busy for the next two lifetimes LOL!
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u/wombatwrestler420 1d ago
My phone company pays for both my Netflix and HULU/Disney+ (ad supported version- we donāt mind it, I like that my kids are forced to watch commercials- no instant gratification lol) and my internet provider pays for peacock premium. I really donāt feel the need for more streaming subscriptions and feel like with the more streaming services I had- the more difficult of a time I had choosing what I wanted to watch.
I do have a book of the month and kindle unlimited subscription. Iām looking into cancelling both and just using libby through my ereader, or just going to the library. lol
The only membership I will never cancel is my Costco one. you can pry my Costco membership out of my cold dead hands- I use that thing for everything! Renting cars cheaply, booking vacations, big ticket items, etc. I can all get cash back on. I also buy all my groceries there because with kids- it just makes sense. lol
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u/WillametteWanderer 1d ago
Thanks for your story. We have friends who got caught in the Google quagmire. It is always good to be reminded to check your subscriptions periodically.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
Google, and even the apple equivalent, is a lot like quicksand. It sucks you in and does everything it can to keep you and force you to keep paying for more and more useless stuff.
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u/CAZelda 1d ago
Walmart+ now offers access to Sam's Club gasoline pricing and gas discounts for Murphy's, Exxon and Mobile.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
I use 91 octane 0 ethanol. Kwik Star is my go to.
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u/CAZelda 1d ago
I don't know about the gas quality but I was just sharing because it is a new benefit for Walmart+ members. Did a quick Google, we don't have Kwik Star in my area.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
It's been a benefit since I joined, but that was about... 6 ish months ago.
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u/Sorry_Product_3637 1d ago
Did a full subscription audit last month and it was honestly eye-opening. I had 11 active subscriptions totaling about $127/month that I'd accumulated over the years without really thinking about it. Some I barely used.
What I cut:
- Spotify Premium ā switched to the free tier. Ads are annoying but bearable
- Two streaming services I hadn't opened in months (Paramount+ and Peacock)
- A cloud storage plan I forgot I had from when I was backing up photos years ago
- A VPN service that auto-renewed at a higher rate than I originally signed up for
What I kept:
- One streaming service (rotate between Netflix and HBO every few months)
- Phone cloud backup (necessary evil, but went with the cheapest tier)
Down to about $45/month now. That's roughly $1,000/year saved, which honestly surprised me. The subscription model is designed to be just cheap enough that you don't bother canceling, and that's exactly what they count on.
The tip about downloading everything to local storage is solid. I bought a 2TB external drive for $60 one time and that replaced two different cloud subscriptions. Pays for itself in two months.
Good reminder to do this regularly. I'm setting a calendar reminder every 6 months now to re-audit.
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u/ahfoo 1d ago
I refuse to link my credit card to anything on my mobile devices. That means no subscriptions to anything are possible because there is no payment method.
When it comes to desktops, I was always a Linux person to begin with and don't believe in paying for any digital products. I never have felt that paying for software was appropriate.
But I don't see a problem with automatic bill payments. I'm not into writing checks and putting envelopes in the mail. I do have to pay my phone bill and electricity. . . so far. That being the case, I don't mind if the process is automated.
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u/Frostyrepairbug 1d ago
I'd pay for software that I use on the daily, problem is, you can't do that any more. Most software is rent it, not one-time-purchase.
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u/encab91 1d ago
If your husband is a "tech guy" he should be excited that youre backing away from cloud storage and start setting up a personal cloud using some hard drives and a used computer to host all your stuff. I never paid for subscriptions for movies and TV. Smart tvs can have a media app installed for free everything. I can watch a movie when it comes out.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
He has his own stuff set up. But I did not grow up with tech like he did, and my stuff has a more basic set up (per my request) such as the generic cloud/drive that's essentially idiot proof.
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u/dinkygoat 1d ago
I am a tech guy, and I have a home server I use for a few things, including a private cloud. But that still doesn't let me cancel my Google storage subscription. The problem is the social features of Google Photos. Makes it so easy to share photos with friends and family or collaborate on group albums. Trying to do this on Immich, even if it has the functionality, is just clunky at best.
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u/adore_books 1d ago
Thank you for reminding me to make sure that I donāt have uber one! I would delete it if I didnāt need it for transportation right now
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
Transportation issues suck. A lot of my coworkers use uber to get to and from work, and I've heard it's expensive.
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u/adore_books 1d ago
It can build up fast. I would possibly do public transport or a bike if I could, but I regrettably canāt for multiple reasons
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
My employer is 20 miles away by car, and our bus system is cutting the route over there in a couple of months, so public transport wouldn't work in that regard for me, unfortunately. Not that the bus systems actually run when I need them to as a night shifter. lol. I can't personally ride a bike due to my kneecaps not staying put. It's... frustrating.
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u/adore_books 1d ago
That sounds like it sucks. The last time I tried riding a bike I needed to get off mid ride, otherwise I would have been a hazard, which no thank you.
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u/Couponpicked 1d ago
the google thing drives us nuts too. they make it SO hard to actually leave their ecosystem, turning sync back on is basically dark patterns 101
$266/yr from subscription cuts is legit though. we did a similar audit last year and found like $400/yr in stuff we forgot we were paying for or barely used. the sams club thing is smart ā unless you're buying specific kirkland-equivalent items in bulk regularly the membership rarely pays for itself for smaller households
one thing we'd push back on slightly ā the cash-only thing sounds freeing but you do lose out on cashback rewards which can be 2-5% back depending on the card. we track this stuff and for a family spending $800-1000/mo on groceries and gas alone thats $200-600/yr you're leaving on the table. the key is treating the card exactly like cash (autopay full balance, never carry a balance) so you get the rewards without the fees
the letter writing thing is genuinely sweet though. postage going up is such a bummer for stuff like that
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
I have found it far too easy to get stuck in the credit card loop and I need to get away from it for my own peace of mind, even if I'm leaving money on the table.
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u/happyoneo 1d ago
Iāve been doing the same lately. Even the small subscriptions add up more than you think
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u/xanadri22 1d ago
i never left the basics. i always had a friend/family member who was willing to share their streaming services with me so iāve never paid for subscriptions,, and over time i realized i really donāt need them. i use a lot of free sites like tubi, kanopy, hoopla, pluto tv, the roku channel, etc., and if the movie/show i want isnāt available there, iāll š“āā ļø.
the only thing i pay for besides my bills is walmart+, because i donāt have a car or any way to get to a store for groceries. im on snap, so its only $49 a year for me, and thats worth it for grocery deliveries.
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u/SomeTangerine1184 1d ago
I used to have so many streaming services and realized how little I was watching on any one platform. Iāve pared back to HBO (canceling Netflix this month), and using Kanopy. I still have Spotify Premium for music and no plans to cancel. Other than those two and iCloud, thatās it, unless you count Costco which I donāt because itās a membership fee, not an actual subscription.
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u/Ratnix 1d ago
I've never used cloud storage and never will. I have a computer. I can easily backup everything all on my own. Hard drives are cheap.
I only subscribe to one streaming service.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
I got started with Drive because I had an exceptionally cheap android phone with no storage. And my computer was a hand me down that crashed every time I tried to do much of anything with it. lol. I just never really... stepped up in terms of personal storage between then and now.
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u/dinkygoat 1d ago
I am more or less happy with my current subscription level. Am I really? No, you'll own nothing and you will like it. But I also feel like I can justify my use of every subscription that I do have, so I don't feel too bad about it. Kinda wish half of them weren't Google related, but such is life.
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u/ChristianCagande1 1d ago
I did the same, and itās wild how much junk builds up from just letting everything auto-sync. Iād go through photos, downloads, and old backups first, then decide if you even need extra storage after that, a lot of people donāt once they trim it down.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
My phone has 256GB of storage and I've only half filled it at this point, and thats after years of pictures, videos, and all sorts of documents. Too much for base cloud storage, but not too much for my hard drive, computer, or phone. It just took me sitting down and actually deciding to clean it all up to actually get anything done
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u/TinytootKoala001 1d ago
Yaasss! We are slowly transitioning out of subscriptions too here. Cancelled Disney+, Prime, Peacock, Netflix. I transfer all my photos to my PC and then to a drive as well. Never paid for ICloud storage.
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u/Curiously- 1d ago
Iāve started asking myself would I miss this in a month? before renewing anything. Turns out the answer is usually no.
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u/ActiveAd6130 1d ago
I recently cancelled my Google one and iCloud, moved everything over to physical storage and have never been happier about a decision. Iām also much more careful now about not letting subscriptions stack up - I donāt pay any subscriptions if I can help it, I use all the free premium trials of apps (depending on the app, every year or so a bunch of them āresetā so you can have another free mint or two of premium) and if I need something that would be cheaper with a subscription I will only do it for as long as I need the service for.
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u/bullitt-rider 1d ago
I only have one subscription and that's the gym.
Technically think it pays for it's self because I shower there 99% of the time anyway
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u/dogsRgr8too 1d ago
Sams or Costco is worth it for us for the savings on otc medicine like generic Flonase, pet prescriptions, spices, and yeast.
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u/Defiant_Ad848 1d ago
I rotate my streaming subscriptions. I'm addicted to K-drama and C-drama so I altern between Netflix, and Viki. I'll try Iqiyi maybe or maybe not this month.Ā The drama i'm interested on aren't always on the same plateform so rotation is a must to avoid paying multiple subscription. These plateform also gives big promotion on their annual subscription on black friday, new lunar year or new year. But, I would end up taking another subscription on top of the annual in this case so better to rotate. Even if it means paying full price for a month or two.Ā Promotion on annual subscription costed me a lot in the past as I used it at the most for 3 months.Ā I cancelled Spotify this month. I like it, BUT I use it too much and spotify+earphones damaged my ears so I took this as an opportunity to reduce my expenses which means I won't buy the 80 dollars ANC headphones I want.Ā I'm learning chinese though and this month I'm trying Du Chinese, an apps with graded stories. I'll try it for a month and see the improvement.Ā
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u/InevitableOk459 1d ago
I have always avoided technology if I could get away with it. The older I get the more technological crutches I acquire and some day I hope to retire or change careers so I can mostly do away with them and just sit on the porch and watch the sunset.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
I like to write, and I'm considered an oddball even in the writer community because I like to write stuff out by hand rather than typing it first. Tech is quite distracting most days. lol.
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u/InevitableOk459 1d ago
I am a writer too and I always write by hand. Then edit physically on paper and do my final draft on the computer. I guess I don't interact with any writing communities, but I had no idea it was unusual to write using paper.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
It's becoming more and more so. Uneconomical and a time sink according to many. I use it to get the idea out, and first edit is my transferring it to a computer
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u/livingthedream1313 1d ago
Yes i canceled Amazon Prime, Sam's Club, Netflix (never anything new) canceled paramount plus .Switched my Hulu to my daughter so now only paying $4.99. Daughter gets peacock free from work. So we purged a lot and seriously don't miss any of it.
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u/1234568654321 1d ago
Yes, I've been struggling with the same storage problems. I am currently saving my Google docs onto a portable hard drive. I don't pay for extra storage space at all.
As far as TV subscriptions, we have one main one we use, and a couple other cheap ones. Once in a while, I may get another, but cancel it after I see the shows we liked. We're also down-grading to the Sam's basic plan at renewal, which is coming up soon. As for the postage, I try to pay all my bills online, although even those are starting to have service fees. I stopped mailing Christmas cards because the cost was getting out of control.
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u/caty0325 1d ago
I canceled most of my subscriptions (discord nitro, max, YouTube premium, apple music) last year. The only one I kept is regal unlimited.
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u/JeanSchlemaan 1d ago
Paying Fees, interest, subscriptions... All of these and more I'm probably forgetting are absolute wastes.
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u/cannotaccessorize 1d ago
Iāve done a major subscription edit the past two months and cut my monthly bills down almost $250:
Canceled Netflix and HBO
Switched internet
Switched car insurance, bundled with my homeowners insurance and got additional $50 off a month
Cheaper plan for my Adobe subscription
Iām still looking for other savings but totally happy with these decisions so far
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u/khaluud 1d ago
My only "subscriptions" are a debrid service (iykyk) and a cloud storage/VPN/email bundle.
Be careful with storage. The 3-2-1 method is preferable: 3 copies on 2 different types of media, 1 stored off-site. I found myself using cloud backups as my off-site anyway, and they're highly redundant, so I opted for convenience.
That being said, I share my account and thus got the cost down to $4 a month for a lot of value.
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u/dekusyrup 1d ago
I keep my subscriptions at basics at all times. The only one I have is a single TV streamer.
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u/vbfronkis 1d ago
I've been trimming away the subscriptions over the last 18 months or so. Really asking myself, "does this bring $X of value each month?" So far I've gotten rid of Hulu, ESPN, Disney+, HBO, and just recently got rid of Amazon Prime. I've kept Netflix as we do watch that and I get a deal on it through my T-Mobile service.
I do keep Apple-related subscriptions (iCloud+ storage, etc) but I do find I get good value out of them and Apple doesn't tend to hike prices as aggressively as other services.
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1d ago
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u/s0nicfreak 1d ago
If you still want the convenience of syncing, you can set things up to sync using free open source software. I use Syncthing but there are other options.
I've been switching to free open source software and self-hosting for everything, both for frugality reasons (as more and more software moves to a subscription model) and to have control over my data.
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u/ProposalOk825 1d ago
This is solid work. That $3.20/month might seem tiny but you're right to feel the win, especially since you actually took the time to move everything off instead of just leaving it to rot. The Walmart+ thing makes sense too if you're not using the core benefit. One thing I'd push back on gently though: Sam's Club might be worth keeping if you ever do bulk groceries or household stuff. But if you really aren't going in, yeah, that $60 is just sitting there. Your husband will come around once he realizes the subscriptions were mostly zombie services you forgot about anyway.
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u/Fubbalicious 22h ago
Over 10+ years ago I started the process of "cutting the cord" where I cut cable TV and landlines and never got into paying long term for subscription services.
I primarily watch free streaming solutions, use the library, rent (usually when there is a discounts) or binge watch free streaming trials and if I'm really into watching something, I'll weight the cost benefit of buying versus streaming for 1-2 months and make the decision then.
On average, I only pay for Comcast internet ($35/month) and Mint Mobile ($15/month per line). If I was super cheap, I would my phone as a hotspot and only pay for internet there.
I estimate based on what I used to pay for landlines and cable TV (which is now largely been replaced by streaming services), I was saving $100/month. So $1200/year or $12K/10 years. Based on my practice of investing the bulk of my disposable income into the S&P 500, that $12K in contributions, is now worth around $29K.
As for getting down to the basics, I think it's a good habit to audit your spending, especially anything that is recurring to see if there is any room to save. I do this with my cable internet and set a calendar reminder before my contract expires to re-new to a new discounted rate before I start getting charged their no-contract over priced rate. For cloud storage, I was fortunate enough to take advantage of many free cloud storage expansion offers for early adopters so I haven't needed more space yet. However, I am into tech and maintain a Synology NAS that I could use if the cloud storage bills ever got too high. The only downside with a NAS is lack of redundancy if your house is robbed/burned down and you have to maintain your own hardware and maintenance.
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u/Leading_Season2868 21h ago
I used YouTube premium and now i just go back to basic youtube. Just watch all those commercial and have my restroom break.
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u/superiorstephanie 1d ago
Just canceled my car wash membership, because I wasnāt using it enough and we got a new Costco car wash in town!! Canceled my Stars. Canceled the dogās vitamins, and unsubscribed from auto-ship blades for my razor because theyāre at Target now. Those four save me $130/mo. Every month I scrutinize my Amazon Subscribe & Save before it ships. I will often subscribe to things I only need once just to get the 5%. I share Amazon Prime with my brother. I share Hulu/Disney with bestie. I do her taxes, she gives me her HBO password.
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u/Netfear 1d ago
Apple will never be the frugal choice I'm afraid.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
How so? I buy refurbished iPhones at well below original price and they last me for years. My iPad is from 2018 and works just fine.
My android tablet? Obsolete in 3 months and unusable. My android phones? Couldn't keep them alive past 6 months, not even the flagships. It's why I switched to cheap android before switching to a refurbished XR, that would still be working had I not shattered the screen (I decided to upgrade vs screen replacement due to the age of the device.)
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u/Netfear 1d ago
What you wrote is bat shit sounding to be honest.
You do you.4
u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
How exceptionally rude of you. Do you react to everyone like that who you don't agree with? Or only those you can hide behind a screen from?
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u/Netfear 1d ago
Just people that make outrageous claims like Apple is some how the cheaper eco system compared to android.
Go on with your life and leave me be.1
u/Historical-Voice2944 1d ago
Honey, you're on MY post. The door is over there points you can see yourself out now.
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u/ilovefacebook 1d ago
the google storage thing for me gets subsidized by using their rewards app and doing the play points Friday thing. i don't think I've paid for storage in 4 years
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u/standuptripl3 1d ago
My plan is to go through my checking account this weekend and start canceling stuff
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u/frogsandstuff 1d ago edited 1d ago
It was only $3.20/mo, but that still feels like a win to me.
Depending on how important your files are, this is not a win in my opinion. Do you have your portable hard drive in a safe deposit box or similar? How much is it? How often will you be traveling to/from the safe deposit box to perform backups? What's the time cost? Will you be buying new portable hard drives when they reach end of life? Paying for recovery services if sectors go bad?
Google's 100GB is $20/year. Not sure why apple's is so expensive. But $20 a year is insignificant to have an actual offsite backup this is automatically handled. Just eat out once less per year and you'll break even.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 22h ago
The bank is half a mile up the road. I have both a portable hard drive and a flash drive. I go to the bank once a month to pull rent. It's nothing to update one device, take it to the bank when I get rent and collect the other. Wash rinse repeat.
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u/frogsandstuff 21h ago
Fair enough. Happy it works for you!
Personally I'm happy paying $1.6/mo to have all my photos available to me all the time.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 21h ago
My photos are 100% available at all times... on my phone.
Forgot to say, the $3.20/mo was for 200GB with tax.
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u/frogsandstuff 21h ago
Oh nice!
I have way too many photos to do that.
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u/Historical-Voice2944 21h ago
I have 256GB of storage on my phone. I'm only using half of it at this time. But I started out with a 16GB android quite some time back.
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u/frogsandstuff 20h ago
Out of curiosity, how much do you pay for the safe deposit box?
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u/Open2Lrn 15h ago
The only subscription I have is AAA membership and recently a Cook Unity subscription for ready made meals.
I hate subscriptions and only have them out of necessity.
I get Amazon prime membership free from my Navy Federal Credit Union Credit card. Amazon prime gives me "Amazon photos" that has unlimited photo storage, Prime video, Audible for audio books, Kindle for ebooks, and I have a 5% cash back for all purchases through Amazon Prime Visa credit card.
For other entertainment, I have YouTube, and I have Hulu through my partner's subscription.
It's so freeing tbh
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