I’m coming up on my one year anniversary of first signing up for Amazon Prime. Thus far I’ve been fairly happy with the service as I feel like I got more from the subscription than I ever intended. FYI, my entire interest in joining was so that I could get two day shipping on Amazon Prime purchases which has been really nice. Of course, the past handful of months has been rough so we haven’t been purchasing nearly as much from Amazon which means the original purpose of us having the service isn’t being fulfilled.
Granted, there are other benefits to Amazon Prime, such as access to streaming movies, access to millions of songs (I don’t really use that), hundreds of thousands of free ebooks, and more. There really is a lot if you choose to use all that’s available. But, like I said, the original purpose of the service isn’t being utilized as intended.
Furthermore, streaming movies–the second biggest use of Amazon Prime for us–isn’t quite as good as it used to be, especially since they’re now really focused on charging for the most recent season of television shows… that drives me nuts. Besides, we also have Netflix which tends to be better, in my opinion.
So, the long-winded conclusion I’m coming to is that I’m considering ditching my Amazon Prime membership. Yes, it’s not that expensive–currently priced at $99 a year–but that’s still nearly $100 I can spend another way.
Television Entertainment Services
I was also considering our other television subscriptions. Since we don’t have cable or satellite (just internet) we wound up not only with Amazon Prime for tv shows but with Netflix AND Hulu Plus. Each of these costs roughly $8-10 per month! Add them up and that’s starting to look like a cable tv subscription. 😉 As such, I’m thinking about removing Netflix, though, my wife still insists we keep Hulu Plus. Personally, I like Hulu Plus the least but it’s the only way to get relatively up-to-date access to the few television shows we watch.
Credit Monitoring Services
A while back I also signed up for Equifax credit monitoring due to some potential family credit fraud problems. This was purely proactive on our part but it does cost about $30 each month for the service. I’m told if I call and cancel they’ll possibly drop my costs which I still need to do. Either way I’m wondering if we still honestly need the service so it’s still on the short list to go away.
Food Services
There are other subscription services that we have which are much larger. One big one is our Thrive Life foods. Thus far we’ve been quite happy with what we’re getting but, to be honest, it is a significant monthly expense and one that we don’t NEED. Of course, being a prepper AND being relatively busy means that Thrive foods has been a good choice but if “push comes to shove” it will go too.
Magazine Subscriptions
Another expense that I still don’t get why people pay for is magazine subscriptions. Granted, I’m sure there are specialty magazines (e.g., Guns & Ammo) that the library probably won’t stock but if you’re paying for common magazines it’s time to stop. I know you can often get subscriptions cheap but a simple trip to the local library will probably do you good anyway. Besides, the library often has many other items you can freely read!
Gym Memberships
Gym memberships are another mind-boggling expense I don’t understand. We’ve tried them multiple times in our lives but, in my opinion, most people do NOT get their money’s worth. Most family YMCA memberships are easily $80 or more–unless you get a discount for some reason–which is a bit ridiculous. You can easily ditch the gym membership and workout at home. That can save a thousand dollars or more each year.
Cell Service
Another gripe I have is cellular service. I still haven’t figured out how to dramatically lower these bills since they are a virtual necessity for my wife’s job. Besides, the services make it almost a no-brainer to pay for a bit more data usage or a better smartphone but it is still money being put towards something that might not be entirely necessary.
Insurance Quotes
Although not usually a monthly subscription (we pay twice yearly) automobile insurance rates can vary quite dramatically from one company to the next. I’m sure the same can be said for homeowners/renters insurance as well as any other type of insurance. It’s a big expense that’s easy to write off and not bother with shopping around. I believe that when my wife shopped around for our vehicle insurance when we first moved to Washington state she found at least $100 difference in quotes PER MONTH!
Final Thoughts
I’m sure there are others I can list but these are a good start. I’d say it’s a good exercise every six months or so and look at all the potential monthly subscriptions you’re paying for make an honest assessment as to whether they’re truly used and useful or not. I’ll bet you can easily save hundreds to thousands of dollars each year without much trouble.
Leave a Reply