Check Your Subscriptions | Money Saving Challenge

If you are looking for a way to save money, cutting out a subscription (or 3) might be the way to go. Subscriptions are on the rise in our digital age. We are paying monthly fees for anything from ad free video streaming to free two day shipping to having perfectly measured cooking ingredients sent straight to our door. Don’t get me wrong, some of these are pretty handy. But ask yourself, how many services are you subscribed to? How much in monthly fees are you racking up?

Subscription Perception VS Reality

You are probably spending more on monthly subscriptions than you realize. A study by the West Monroe Partners found that those studied spent 197% more than they thought. The average an individual spends on subscriptions a month is $237.

The first ones that come to mind are:

• Netflix
• Amazon Prime
• Hulu
• Spotify
• iCloud
• FabFitFun
• Adobe Cloud
• Hello Fresh
• Audible

Take a moment to tally up the subscriptions that you have. Then look at this list to see if there are any you missed.

After tallying up our subscriptions, we had more than we thought. It went a little like this: “we just have Netflix. Oh wait, and Amazon. Oh and I guess Audible, too. Wait, does web hosting count as a subscription?” Initially I would have said we had 2: Netflix + Amazon. But after going through the list, we uncovered some we forgot we had.

• Netflix
• Amazon Prime
• Audible
• Web Hosting (Bluehost for this blog)
• Identity Theft Protection
• Home WiFi
• Mobile Phone

Some are sneaky because they are purchased on a yearly basis *cough* Amazon and web hosting *cough*. The bank handles our ID Theft Protection and automatically withdraws it. And I didn’t even consider our home WiFi or mobile phones as optional subscriptions.. at this point they’re more like necessities! Personally, I put them in the ‘utilities’ budget category.

“Clearly, most Americans are unaware of how much they spend on subscription services,” writes West Monroe Partners. “When pressed for a quick answer, they dramatically underestimate the amount.”

Conscious Budgeting

Now is the time for conscious budgeting. There is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying “free” two day shipping or ad free TV shows. I’m not saying that subscription services are bad. I am saying that we need to be intentional about the ones we have. Don’t fall prey to the business tactics of a “free trial.”

More and more companies are coming up with some type of a subscription based service. Just think about how many different options the largest e-commerce marketplace, Amazon, has: Amazon Prime, Fresh, Kindle, Audible, Music, just to name a few. The “small monthly fee” is a lot easier to stomach than paying a lump sum. And is very painless when it’s in the form of an automatic payment. It’s so easy to forget! Just think about it: how many “free” trials have you signed up for, only to forget to cancel before you were billed? I know we’re guilty! We began Netflix on a free trial and now we’ve been valued customers for over 4 years.

There is a myth going around that you have to wait until the day before the renewal date to cancel. I thought that at first with Hulu but kept forgetting until about day 5 into the next month. And I thought, “oh well, I’ll try again next month.” Guess what? I forgot that month, too. When I finally went to cancel, it turned out that I was still allowed to continue using the service until my month was over, regardless of when I cancelled. Subscription services pay for the month ahead and they have to let you finish out what you’ve paid for.

The goal is not to cut out all of the subscriptions that you enjoy and then lead a miserable life. However, the goal is to be conscious and intentional about the ones you do have. Cutting out a monthly fee would be a great option if you are looking to save money because there are many free alternatives to these subscription services.

Challenge: Get rid of 1 subscription this month.

More Money Saving Challenges:

• 4 Money Saving Challenges You Can Start Today
• Stop Buying Coffee | Money Saving Challenge

If you are looking to fill that void of subscriptions with one that doesn’t cost any money, please subscribe to the email list for more posts like this delivered straight to your inbox!

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Now it’s your turn: what is one subscription that you can get rid of today? Personally, I think Audible may be the next to go for us. How about you? Let me know in the comments below!

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