Cutting Down On Those Subscription Costs

If you’re looking to help save your family some money, then one of the best ways to do it is to cut down on those recurring costs, especially those that you might not even be aware that you’re still paying for. Nowadays, there are so many subscription services, providing us with everything from TV and music to internet protection, deliveries, and more, that it’s very easy to lose track of them. However, doing that is an easy way to start losing more money than you intend to.

Here, we’re going to look at a few ways you can cut down on your subscription costs to help you get back control over your household expenses.

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Track them visibly

The first thing that you want to ensure is that you never lose track of how many subscription services you have, how much you’re paying for them, and when they’re going to come out each month. To that end, there are household money-tracking apps that can help you record that or can even sync with your bank accounts to automatically note what expenses you have going out of it. This way, you will always have a full accounting of how much you’re spending on subscriptions a month.

Choose to pay upfront

With some services, you might have the option to pay on a month-by-month basis, but you might also be able to pay for an entire year’s worth of the service, for instance, upfront. Where possible, you should opt for paying upfront, not only because it’s going to be less expensive in the long run, but because you don’t have to worry about that added cost through the rest of the year. Just make sure that it’s not going to automatically renew next year without your say-so.

Make sure you’re getting your money’s worth

If you are using any subscriptions that send out a variety of goods, such as food or drink hamper subscriptions, then you should take the time to look through each package when it arrives. There are many great deals with exclusive offerings on option, but you should take the time to account for every individual item and to look up how much it would cost you to buy them online, yourself. In some cases, you might be willing to pay the extra for the convenience of it, but if you can buy everything you receive for much less, it’s worth thinking about.

Look for free alternatives

When it comes to digital media, be it music, TV, film, or audiobooks, we might often be paying for things we could easily get for free. Of course, there are somewhat sketchy options like the recently closed Soap2Day, but there are also Soap2Day alternatives that are significantly more legal, some of them offering free samplings of bigger libraries. When it comes to audiobooks, especially for old books that are technically public domain, there are sites like the Gutenberg Project where people upload their readings for anyone to be able to access.

If you’re not using it for a month, drop it

It’s so easy to be ready to rely on the convenience of being able to listen to music or watch TV by simply logging into a profile that we may often forget it when we’re not using it. In fact, you might have gone a month or more without logging in at all. If that’s the case, even if you do plan to use it at some point, why not cancel it until you need it? There’s no extra cost and very few added steps to signing back up and until then, you’re only watching money that could be better spent elsewhere.

Consider sharing your accounts

Although certain services have been cracking down on the unauthorized sharing of accounts across households, there are several that still turn a somewhat blind eye to it. Sharing your account with friends or family and splitting the bill with them can save you both a lot of money. Of course, there are also subscription services that allow you to share amongst friends or family as part of a group deal, so you don’t need to worry about getting caught out, or about policy changes in the future. Either way, if you have the ability to chip in together, you should.

It’s very easy to get caught up paying for subscriptions longer than you intended, or even for things that you never planned to subscribe to in the first place. Hopefully, the tips above let you cut back some on those costs.