I was reading an article on BBC the other day about how Facebook and Instagram will be launching add free “subscriptions” to their platforms in Europe soon to the tune of 10 euros a month. About halfway through the article, I stopped to question myself… How many subscriptions do I have?
It took me about 5 seconds. None. I have zero subscriptions.
No Amazon prime, no Walmart+ no Hulu or Netflix. No YouTube, no Spotify, no anything. I {we} don’t have a single monthly, or yearly subscription or PAID membership to a single store or “service”.
So then I wondered how out of the ordinary that is these days. It seems like everyone I know has some sort of membership card or pays for the convenience of no ads on something.
I even remember reading somewhere that 62% of households in America have an Amazon Prime membership! Yowzers!
I jumped off the Amazon Prime boat years ago and have never looked back. Do I miss it? No. I order from Amazon less than a handful of times a year and even then it’s for things like boxes or mailers or some other type of business supplies.
And that’s only when I can’t find it online somewhere else {usually ebay} for less! It’s amazing how many “services” we pay for these days that we think we just can’t live without.
So after reading the BBC article, I just have to ask… How many paid subscriptions do YOU have? Do you really feel like you get value out of them? Or do you just keep paying them because canceling them is such a hassle?
~Mavis
Patti Vanderbloemen says
My only subscriptions are for Netflix and Amazon prime…but I use Amazon a lot, as their prices on many of my food staple items are cheaper than the local grocery stores. I also listen to Netflix a lot in my studio, as I am a person who needs “white noise” when I am working. Those two subscriptions are worth every penny to me.
You don’t have a Costco card?? I refuse to shop at Costco, as I would go in for 1 item, and come out with 30 items…28 of which were pure impulse! I wasted more money on Costco than anywhere else!
Nancy Settel says
uuummmm NONE! We now live in an apartment high rise for 62 and older. Last week I was sitting downstairs in our lobby and within 2 hrs. there was 4 different Amazon deliveries alone not to mention the Post office bringing packages, UPS etc. I was amazed. Some people never leave their apartments but order stuff everyday. Where they put all this stuff is beyond me.
Tammy says
Some people are unable to leave their apartments and rely on services like Amazon and the post office. I use it to order adult diapers, lotion, body wash and tissue for my homebound aunt, for example. Often I find that I can buy something much cheaper on Amazon than I can find it at a local store and ordering it saves me wear and tear on my car as well as gas money. I am surprised that this doesn’t seem to have occurred to you as a reason for all those deliveries. Not every one who uses mail order is just ordering junk.
Denise C. says
I don’t have any subscriptions. I too left Amazon a long time ago. When I order it’s always over the minimum to get free shipping anyway. I don’t watch much television as it adds almost no value to my life.
Jennifer says
We have 4 and all are worth it to us. Spotify and Sirius/XM – my dh LOVES music and makes playlists constantly. He had a stroke 6 years ago and is disabled so he spends most of his day sitting. Music makes him happy and reminds him of good times. I Instacart and Spark so sometimes he’s in the car and can pull out his JBL speaker and turn it up loud.
Hulu Live – we are HUGE college football fans (GO DAWGS!!!!) and while we do watch other things like network shows and movies, I wish it was all commercial free.
That brings me to Netflix – no commercials and a lot of great shows and movies.
Being on a fixed income, these are all strictly entertainment, but I couldn’t imagine living happily without them. All told, it’s only 5% of our “pay check” and ill bet that’s low compared to most households.
Jennifer says
I forgot Sam’s. We have one less than 5 miles so it’s where we get our gas. It pays for itself because I save at least $10 a month on gas alone. Dh and I both need glasses and insurance covers Sam’s. I rarely go in otherwise buy I want to try their rotisserie chicken.
Meg C says
Yeah, we’re guilty of too many subscriptions, for sure.
We have 7:
– Netflix
– Disney+
– Amazon Prime
– Sirius XM
– LiveBarn (so we can watch our kids/my husband’s hockey games if we can’t be in person due to schedule conflicts)
– Our local newspaper (W/Sun are paper versions, other days are digital)
– Jazzercise (monthly EFT for unlimited classes)
We try to get rid of them but can’t seem to pull the trigger. I don’t know how much longer we’ll have Disney+, my 12yo daughter is the only one who really watches anything with that service.
Jennifer says
Offer to give her half of the cost to give it up for a month. Then another for a few more. If she does, you can probably cancel in a few months.
Lana says
We ditched Amazon, too and don’t miss it. We have one streaming movie channel subscription and that is it and we paid yearly so we saved a bunch.
Rosemary says
These are our memberships/subscriptions:
1) Costco – we shop there every week (and get gas) and the money we save makes it well worth it. ($60)
2) Sams – we bought this membership for when we traveled this past summer. We wanted to get our gas as cheaply as possible and there weren’t too many Costco’s on our route. We will not renew it. ($50)
3) Amazon Prime – we do a lot of shopping on Amazon – mainly because we can’t find what we want locally. I compared the cost of membership verses what shipping would have cost us, and we do save money. It also gives us the benefit of Prime Video which we might watch occasionally. I would not get Amazon Prime for just Prime Video. This especially comes in handy for buying gifts for the grandchildren (13 of them don’t live near me so this is a big savings in mailing them their gifts) ($139)
4) Paramount (CBS) – we love to watch reruns of all our favorite CBS shows. ($6.99)
5) Acorn TV – we have some favorites on this service as well. ($6.99)
With exception of Sams, we will most likely continue to renew these services.
Stephanie in Utah says
We have 3 subscriptions/memberships. Well, 4 if you count the newspaper. I stopped getting a physical newspaper for a few years, but I missed it, so I resubscribed. I guess we have a couple magazine subscriptions too, but those are pretty cheap. We have Costco and Sam’s club memberships because both are nearby and one has things we really like that the other doesn’t. Also on road trips it’s nice to be able to stop at either one for gas. We usually only have Prime for a couple months a year for holiday shopping, but we had a house fire this year and are having to replace a lot of things, so we’re subscribed to that for the foreseeable future. But all of our subscriptions total about $70 a month, which is a price I’m pretty happy with.
Peg says
We signed up for YouTube TV slightly more than a year ago. Even though I don’t consider it a bargain, it sure is a lot cheaper than our cable/internet bill which was $225+/month. We still have Internet service through our cable provider, but, it, plus YouTube TV is still a LOT less than we were paying.
I could gladly live without TV, but my husband’s in poor health and doesn’t get out much unless it’s medically related. The blare of the TV gets really really old on a good day, but it’s his entertainment, so I try not to say much. Unless he’s truly not watching it.
I’ve been on the Sirius/XM bandwagon for a long time. For many years, I traveled some for work. If we go out of town now, it’s almost always for medical appointments. It is nice-to me-to not have to constantly mess with the radio while driving to find a radio station. My car’s old enough that I have a CD player, so that’s an option I also use. But not as much as Sirius/XM.
Amazon would have gone bankrupt years ago if it depended upon me for business. I always try to find an item locally before I order it online, and Amazon’s always the last place I check. My husband bought a one month membership to Prime last month for Thursday night football.
I also just started paying for the cheapest Apple storage for my photos. Now that winter is imminent, I plan to sort through them and plan to get rid of the cloud storage.
These are a very small percentage of our income so I try not to think about it much.
eliz says
I’ve has a peloton subscription for 2 months now and that is it, besides cell phone.
Kirsten T. says
We have zero subscriptions. Over the past couple of years, we canceled Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and our internet (because our phones work better to connect), and I won’t be renewing our AAA memberships this year. We have a Roku, and we use our phones’ Hotspots to connect to free streaming services, on the rare occasion that we want to watch a show or a movie. For AAA, we’re paying roughly $200 for a service we haven’t had to use once in 5 years, and when we did use it for a tow, we only saved $60.
Jennifer says
Roadside assistance for our one car through our policy at Progressive is $6/month and so worth it.
Jennifer says
I pay for cloud storage and Amazon prime that is it
RobininSoCal says
AAA+ for the family, roadside assistance, etc.
Costco business membership (rebate on your yearly spending is cash back usually ranges between $700-$900 a year rebate).
Netflix is included with the cell phone service via TMobile (Military plan perk).
Amazon Prime ($16.15/month) because kids have items delivered frequently and watch Amazon.
Spotify ($10.99/month) for music and podcasts.
Nintendo ($3.99/month) for the gamer.
Hulu via student discount ($5.00/month).
Google One (100 GB) storage ($19.99 a year).
Then we sign up for free trials for other streaming services and calendar them to remember to cancel once the free period is over.
Kayla says
We have 8 subscriptions and all of them are related to my kids:
Disney+ (free with phone bill)
Hulu (free with phone bill)
Amazon: homeschool stuff
Discovery+ :also homeschool
Netflix: homeschool
Costco: big family
Phonics app – reading/homeschool
Xbox Live : my older boys one splurge
Probably after our kids are out of the house, we will have none. We will not be there for at least 15 more years, but I’m enjoying the time we have with our kids.
DebW says
No subscriptions or services here. I ditched Prime years ago and don’t miss it at all.
Linda Sand says
I’m not sure since my husband handles all that but we have Amazon Prime with Kindle Unlimited, Reader’s Digest, and PBS (Public Television). Watching something on the big screen for about two hours every evening is my husband’s down time so I join him and we talk about what we are watching. We are in the process of getting rid of our internet because the complex in which we live just upgraded the in-house system and it works fine.
tia in boise says
For a couple of 54-year olds…We have YouTube TV (for a couple fun channels and sports for DH). I’ve had 2 free trials of Amazon Prime–I usually just make sure I have enough in my cart for free shipping. I just recently signed up for Hulu and Netflix (with ads–cheapest version) because Netflix kicked us off our DS’s account and he was cancelling them both, anyway. I use ad-supported Pandora. So, I guess just those 3.
I might sign up for Disney+ for a month to watch Hamilton again and any other movies, but wouldn’t keep it.
SueD says
The OH is a massive tv addict, so he/we have several yearly subscriptions. Still cheaper than cable was. Amazon Prime -every time I considered canceling it, something happened to show how useful it is-(elderly) family in different states, for starters. Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJ’s memberships, as they each have things we need that the others don’t/no longer carry.
FeralCat says
I have Amazon Prime – mostly because there is a Whole Foods nearby which has good sales at times. Prime membership gives a greater discount on sale items, so it is worth it. Sometimes I want to binge on British TV (usually during the cold winter months), so I sign up for Acorn TV or Britbox. They are both easy to cancel, and I take care to cancel them when I stop watching.
I really don’t see a problem with any membership as long as it is monthly, and will be cancelled when no longer used.
Frances says
Two streaming services and that is it. Friend has Costco membership and gets things for me when she goes there. Double good as no membership needed and I don’t get tempted to impulse or overbuy if I were to go in person.
Wendy M says
No subscriptions and I’m a pretty patient Amazon customer.
Oh. I just remembered that my husband has a Spotify subscription for $11 a month because he has a cognitive disability and the service allows him easier access to his music collection.
Pamela Sheppard says
Zero I have zero.. I used to have Netflix. I signed up to see one series then kept it for over a year watching basically nothing.
I clicked on the free trial of Amazon prime during check-out once and decided to keep it. Once again kept it over a year and very little use.
I had a subscription to a fan base and actually did enjoy this and use it. But so little new content came out I decided it wasn’t worth the $10 per month.
So right now I have no subscriptions to anything. I’m not saying I never will but right now I like not spending over $30 per month for nothing.
Katherine says
Amazon Prime, Kindle Unlimited, Disney w/Hulu, Peacock right now for 99 cents per month, Parmount plus $60 per year, Costco and Sam’s for their gas prices and free shipping. Every few months we will get BritBox, Acorn or another service for one month to catch up on shows that I like on each service. We still pay less than what we did for cable each month.
mm1970 says
Netflix
Disney+
Amazon (for TV, shipping, music)
Hulu
Apple TV
BODi (Beachbody workout videos) – use them all the time
FitOn (more workout videos)
Costco
Does the YMCA count? I swim there.
NY Times
These are all in very heavy use…except maybe FitOn.
TISHA says
I have a Costco membership. It pays for itself with the cheaper gas prices and the potassium water softener. I also share the membership with an adult daughter, so that she can get cheaper goods, too.
For Netflix, I buy a gift card whenever a show comes out that I want to watch. When the gift card runs out, I have to think about whether or not I want to renew instead of them having my credit card number. I have an adult kid at home that pays for Disney+ and Amazon Prime. He lets ups piggy back off those. We had our own Amazon Prime when one of our kids got the student rate. I was willing to do it for $8 a month but not at the regular rate. I may do a few online news organizations soon, because there are articles I regularly click on that are behind a paywall. I need to think about it some more still to determine if I will get the value I need from it.
Erin says
We have Spotify because we listen to loads of podcasts & music. Ad-free is worth it for the time it saves & the rage we don’t have to deal with when commercials come on lol. And each year we get Peacock Black Friday ($1/mo for 12 mo) & Hulu ($2/mo for 12 mo). Everything else we get from the library. So, $17/mo for our services & we find it’s worth every penny to us.
Erin says
Oh! We do have Costco membership, too. We get enough of a rebate so it doesn’t end up costing us anything.
Mary says
For decades we had no memberships or subscriptions. We watched over the air TV and VHS or DVDs.
We have a Costco membership. For two decades my former employer paid for it and we got used to the things we get there (and gas) so have kept it.
We now have Hulu Plus which comes with ESPN (husband likes) and Disney (grandkids enjoy). It’s spendy but we use it (and can afford it).
Netflix is free through our phone service. Hello Great British Baking show.
Linda Practical Parsimony says
The tv, choices, and bills belong to Tommy. He made those decisions before I arrived, decides still, and pays for it. However, he has no subscriptions at all.
I have Amazon Prime and get it half price because I have Medicaid. I use it for the subscription aspect and things I cannot get into stores to buy. I did find some canned food I use like tomatoes that were cheaper than in the grocery store.
For about $7/month, I save more than that on gas and save energy and stress going from store to store looking for what I need. I have to find an electric cart to shop.
I subscribe to the paper from where I lately moved. But, I have no subscriptions except for the one gifted to me.
Sue S. says
I guess we have one, AAA for me and my son. I can’t figure out how to reduce my cable TV “subscription” but I’m working on it. Every time I think about having to call them I go all apoplectic.
Mrs. M. says
We have Costco and Sam’s memberships. I keep both because our oldest daughter is with me on Costco and youngest is with me on Sam’s. I pay the fees so that they can buy bulk. (I get money back for both that covers the annual fees.)
I have a subscription to Mother Earth News Magazine.
My husband gets Bass Masters magazine and Bass Times newspaper, but we paid for a lifetime membership 20 years ago. (Great deal to get both subscriptions for life!)
We don’t have any streaming services or Amazon, Walmart+, etc. (I use my phone’s hotspot for internet a couple times a month.)
So, I guess the only thing that costs me money is the Mother Earth News magazine. It’s $12 a year! My big splurge! Lol
I think it’s very rare to not have a lot of subscriptions. Everyone else I know has many different ones.
Karen W says
AAA for auto emergency assistance if needed
BJ’s
Basic cable TV
Amazon Prime as live in area with little local shopping choices
I do no streaming, podcasts, etc
Tammy says
We do not have any paid subscriptions. We do have Costco, but we get the best price on car insurance through them (it makes up the price on that alone).
Cindy Brick says
Let’s see…in our part of Colorado, it’s difficult to get a reliable radio or tv connection without streaming or cable. But the Brick has figured out some ways that don’t involve cable for tv – we get a number of free channels. The only bad part: we miss out on some football games we’d otherwise watch. I guess that’s what restaurants are for.)
If the membership goes way up (like the phone or internet), we don’t hesitate to call and threaten to cancel. This almost always results in an automatic “sale” price offered. We’ll do this over and over.
Sam’s — we wait til it’s expired, then get the best sale price we can. (You can do this if you alternate back and forth between two people.) We save a LOT on gas, and it helps out on groceries, too. (I’m also a fan of their hotdog special. Great for a romantic date…)
Sirius — only because we get a great rate. (The Brick called and threatened to cancel when they upped the price. It was automatically discounted. We really like Bluegrass Junction, Political talk radio (that’s the Brick, not me), classic radio programs (that’s me), a symphony channel, holiday stuff…and football games.
Amazon Prime — I’d cheerfully go without this, but the Brick likes it — and we split the cost with Daughter #2.
An online subscription to the Denver Post — $3 for a year. (Guess who’s going to cancel it after that?)
JulieP says
It wasn’t until I really thought about it that I realise we have quite a few! Amazon prime, we live in rural England and they deliver to my door next day which has proved itself invaluable many times. My son in London and my daughter, who lives about 45 minutes from us on the Norfolk Broads use it too so split three ways not too bad. From this we watch the tv programmes and films. We have Netflix, we both have Spotify, I’ve only just joined and I’m waiting to see if I use it enough to justify the £11 monthly bill. I subscribe to a couple of Apps, PUL which is a vegan recipe forum and Duolingo both of which I use regularly. We have cover for breakdown on our cars if we are counting this but may look into changing our current account to one which offers mobile insurance and breakdown cover but again we would have to pay a subscription. It really isn’t until you actually stop and think about it that you realise how much you are spending! £601 annually, at the moment until we fully retire we can afford it and I think we use all of the above, maybe not the breakdown cover so much, but they may have to go, or at least have a rethink, when we do as we will be on a much reduced income!
Brianna says
This is a big thing for me to constantly reevaluate every few months when I modify my budget.
Costco Business (I don’t pay as it was part of my Dads business 20 years ago)
Netflix ($19.99/mo this will be increasing soon)
Hulu ($18.99/mo was $14.99 but they just increased it $4.00)
Kindle ($11.99/mo the hubby is an avid reader, but the library never has what he wants in digital format, I’ve tried)
Unconnect ($9.99/mo we get a bigger discount on our insurance for having this to track our truck as it is a very desirable to be stolen truck)
Spytec ($300/yr because of the rare garage queen my hubby has)
Amazon Prime (139/yr, this is the hubby’s problem, not mine. I never use it)
Bamboo unbleached Toilet Paper ($27.99/mo because I have a formaldehyde and a few other whitener/softener allergies….this is my only paid subscription, the rest are all the hubby’s)
Angela Muller says
I only have two subscriptions: Amazon Prime, which is my lifeline for Christmas and Birthdays…..and AAA, which is my second lifeline even if I don’t need to use it every year. However, when I do, every penny I pay for that subscription is worth it!
Tanya says
We have Amazon Prime because we live rural and there are a lot of things you can’t buy in town. Nearest big shopping options are 90 miles away.
We have a Hulu subscription but always switch emails on that during the Black Friday sale so it’s only $2/month.
My son pays for Spotify.
I do get several magazines but they are all freebies.
Other than that we just stream free TV thru our Firestick.
Christine says
For those who may not yet know, your local library system may get you access to Hoopla, which has a lot of free ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies and shows. It may not have every single thing you could get on the paid services but I have found more than I can use. I highly recommend it as an alternative to multiple streaming memberships if you don’t feel like you’re getting your money’s worth but like them for a thing or two. As someone who reads/listens to 100+ books per annum, it saves me a boodle!
I also tend to get a good bit delivered because of where I live, but since I don’t like getting locked into shopping from one store with a membership, I try to plan ahead to only order when I have a minimum for free shipping wherever I’m shopping.