Cutting costs = cancel Netflix?

Thanks to all who recommended lebara. 3 x phones about ti be switched!

No. It was in response to Tbh there is nothing that makes people sound more out of touch and clueless than cancel Netflix (maybe- stop eating avocados?)

I think the Netflix advice is more to look at your spending and see what you can reduce/shop around for to make savings. So switching from ad free Netflix to with ads Netflix saves a few quid. On its own that's not a lot but if you do it with every item of expense then you can save quite a bit.

Ive just changed the whole family over to sim only contracts with lebara. It now cost £3.40 a month for 3 phones when before we were paying £60 (this lasts for 6 months then goes up to £21 a month, but overall a big saving)
We rotate tv subscriptions so only pay for 1 a month, review all Insurances etc rather than autorenewing.

But its the big ticket items like rent/mortgage/childcare that are truly crucifying people's budgets.
Ideally housing should be 25% of your income but that's not possible with house prices where I am in the home counties

Completely agree. Why would you do this ? Arguably one of the best value things you can get for a fiver. A fancy coffee in Starbucks is a fiver.

I most certainly wouldn’t cancel Netflix or Apple TV - the cost together is 2 cheap glasses of wine , but gives me hours of pleasure- not going out!!

It all adds up
We currently have 3 TV related subscriptions, 2 book related ones and one music one. For all of that I think I'm at £50 or so per month. I switch out one of the TV ones every now and again, or pull them back to a single one.
Nevermind all the other subscriptions
Magazine (gifts to family), alarm/CCTV, news, computer related ones....

Getting rid of the cheapest streaming package would be one of the last things I would recommend someone cut. Having incredibly cheap entertainment on demand is valuable. People need rest and relaxation. Yes, libraries might offer free entertainment, but that adds travel expenses, even if you only walk and consider the wear and tear on your shoes. If we are really getting down to truly tight budgets, people need to consider every aspect of an expense.

ID mobile always seems to come up cheap on comparison sites if you need a phone. And they offer free EU roaming so handy when you go away.

I think they thought "maybe stop eating avocados" was you advising to do that. When what you meant is that telling me to stop eating avocados is as clueless as telling people to give up Netflix. I wouldn't worry - I think the rest of us understood what you meant!

Sorry but I don’t understand your reply in the context of my post. Did you tag the wrong person?

Thank you, thats a good benefit.
unfortunately mine offers money off places I never use. 😊

I agree, but then it’s usually used by those who are crying about ‘struggling’ on £100k plus. £5 Netflix subscription gonna make not one iota of difference.

It’s almost like a weird kind of flex or virtue signalling.

Depends how much value you get out of any given subscription I guess. I think lots of people end up forking out more than they realise on multiple subscriptions they don’t really use, which is a waste!

We don’t have a TV 😂

It’s Lloyds. You need a Club Lloyds account and you get a few options for free stuff and Disney + with adverts is one of them.

Look after the pennies…

Which bank may I ask please?

@Bambamhoohoo , if you've ever been skint, avocados and bought coffee aren't things you'd buy. They're extravagances.
If I sound clueless, then what do you think you sound to me? You've not been that person putting a (then) 23p tin of own brand baked beans on the shelf because you couldn't afford it.

True, it's like the old, if you stopped buying coffee everyday, you'd afford a Ferrari in x years.
Except, love doesn't work like that.

It boils down to priorities OP, in the other posts it was £140 for a cleaner Iirc.

I also have friends who have a Friday takeaway without fail, yet will be all 🤔 if we buy a big piece of furniture for example, claiming they could never afford such.

I use money saving expert, go through their deals and you find fab deals.
jm with lebara. I pay £1.50 per month and get 100gb. I was paying £1 per month for 50gb. When the deals end (usually 6 month) I go for the next cheapest away from lebara, Thai time was talk home £4.50, then I switch my number back again to lebara (the total cheapest everytime!) back to £1 ish deal.
i haven’t paid more than £4.50 per month for years! When my phone needs upgrading (this is only the second time since I moved away from handset contracts) I buy refurbished or from cex. This time I used phones direct. I’ve paid under £400 for iPhone 13 Pro with huge storage. That will last me years. 👍🏼

I think it comes from people still living in the days when a basket of shopping could be had for £20 and things like sky subscriptions were quite expensive. Tbh there is nothing that makes people sound more out of touch and clueless than cancel Netflix (maybe- stop eating avocados?)

The source of this 'give up the Netflix, coffees and avocados' is the tabloid press whose readership tends to be older people (70 plus) who didn't have these things when they were younger and think anything other than terrestrial telly, a cup of instant coffee and a biscuit is an extravegance.

I’m on a low income but still agree. We need something to watch. Netflix is far better value than a tv licence and I only get Disney when it’s on an offer, like just now I have it for £1 a month and we are enjoying family movie nights until that offer ends. Saving a fiver can be done in ways that doesn’t impact basic enjoyment in your home for an entire month

agree
there are lots of instances when 'take care of the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves' is good advice.

But often when people are struggling for money they go ott trying to make lots of tiny savings, rather than making 1 or 2 big changes. And often focus more on what they can cut rather than if they can get more money coming in.

Even only going from a £32k salary to a £33k one is equivalent to 200 months of netflix!

(okay not exactly by the time you've taken into consideration tax etc but just making a wide point).

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I have chase also and should probably be putting my money in there to get the % cash back but I don’t. Every little helps.

I would keep the Netflix as pp have mentioned it’s cheap entertainment and add some microwave popcorn for a movie evening at home.
always worth checking what subscriptions you have and are not using. Dh was helping one or elderly neighbours with a finance issue and she realised she was still paying monthly for a National trust subscription she never used. Same with more than one person in the household having prime.