The digital age has ushered in a worrying era of micro-transactions and subscription culture. Services such as Netflix, Spotify and Disney+ are a regular part of monthly outgoings for many people, but if you don’t keep an eye on your finances, your pay cheque will be shuttled off to streaming services and weight-loss plans the second that money hits your account. Is there a way you could minimise unnecessary costs by keeping a closer eye on your habits? To find out, let’s first take a look at why we use these services and how expensive they really are.
Why Are We Dependent on Subscription Services?
The most obvious reason is … that they’re everywhere. Privileges we once received for free, such as ad-less videos, have been increasingly monetised after the addition of pop-ups. These are typically aggravating enough for you to get fed up, declare defeat, and hand over your hard-earned cash to watch a vlog in peace. Streaming services are particularly tricky because there are few legal alternatives to the companies that monopolise the industry. This means you have to either live with the annoyance of ads and the lack of on-demand entertainment or pay through the teeth for the luxury of skipping seven songs you don’t want to listen to.
But not all subscription-based purchases are cash-sucking vampires. Recipe boxes, for example, can be cheaper for those who regularly order takeout as a result of not having time to cook. While it’s still generally more expensive per-portion than making homemade meals, it helps busy people eat healthier for a little bit less. Yet even here the savings rapidly diminish, as subscriptions tend to be based on cost-plus pricing models, meaning the prices hike up a bit more every year as inflation increases. Something we can all agree on is that when the cost of absolutely everything is rising, we don’t want the services we rely on to follow suit. Yet the dependency remains because we see few alternatives. There’s also the personal element. Maybe watching a movie on Netflix is the one respite you get at the end of a long day, and you’re understandably not willing to give that up. So, it would seem that either you or your bank account must suffer.
Convenience and Entertainment Come At a Cost
That Gousto subscription might be saving you time and effort, but it could all also be getting a bit out of hand. Did you know that ‘one in eight’ Brits are ‘paying more than £100 a month for their subscriptions … on top of standard bills such as TV, phone and broadband’? This adds up to a significant £1,200 a year. While there will be people who spend less than this, there will inevitably be a corresponding number who pay much more. If you’re a student, you might be in luck since you’ll be able to get a discount on some popular services such as Spotify by using UNiDAYS or StudentBeans. However, it might come as a bit of a financial shock when you finish your education and find yourself faced with several full-price subscriptions. You might find yourself questioning whether the steep price is worth it.
To make things worse, many companies have switched to multi-tier subscription models. Perhaps a year ago you spent £12 a month for access to exclusive documentaries along with an ad-free experience — now you may find that for the same amount of money, you can only access half the content and you’re bombarded with advertisements every fifteen minutes unless you fork out another £8 to access the VIP tier. Even food subscription boxes can charge more for ingredients such as leaner meat. That’s not the kind of money you originally signed up to lose!
If You Can’t End the Madness, Reduce It
We’ve established that you probably can’t escape entirely from the Wild West of subscription services, and you can’t exactly force the usual suspects to lower their prices. Then how about standing back and considering what you’re spending your money on to see where you could save?
For example, say you’ve bought a PS+ subscription, but you only get the opportunity to game one night out of every week due to a busy work schedule. That means that you’re wasting over three-quarters of your subscription while paying the price of using it full-time. This isn’t so bad if other members of your household can use the subscription, but if not, you could be better off by finding an offline game that you enjoy. This goes for any other services that you don’t use to their full potential. Do you purchase an Apple Music plan every month, but realistically only listen to music for a few hours every week? Dealing with a few ads on YouTube Music might be preferable and economical.
Alternatively, go the ‘buy-once’ route if possible. You could buy albums that you listen to regularly instead of streaming them. Despite the higher initial costs, you’ll do away with the need for streaming services and build an impressive collection of your favourite music! The same goes for films and other types of media. There may be some ‘exclusive’ content you can’t access without a subscription, but you should be able to buy the vast majority of entertainment separately, dodging ongoing costs and going down the classical route of owning what you enjoy.
If your main subscription outgoings are spent on entertainment, try looking for alternatives. Instead of binging documentaries, go for a run or a walk. Turn movie night into games night, or learn to play an instrument and create your own music. You’ll be gaining a skill, proving that some cost-cutting measures may be more beneficial in the end!
Minimising your spending in a Wild West of inflationary subscription models may seem intimidating, but there are ways to save if you look for them. Think about your lifestyle habits and needs — you might be surprised at how many services you can do without!
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