Cancelling as many subscriptions as possible

[FuglyBitch]

Trying to reduce our software/streaming plans outgoings as I just feel annoyed at large capitalist organisations trying to bleed us dry, and move us to a model where we don’t own anything. Frankly, I want out.

• Apple iCloud - £8.99/month - cancelled, I’ve just backed up 40K images on to a hard drive.
• Spotify - £12.99/month - listen on the free one, but lost all my playlists
• TV licence - £174/year - cancelled, deleted iPlayer and don’t watch live TV
• Sky TV - £40/month - cancelled over a year ago

Subs We have, need to work out a plan to cancel

• HP printer plan - £1.79/month for 10 pages a month, use it mainly for kids work
• Disney+ - get it as part of our bank account, will keep while we can
• Amazon prime - £95/year - free delivery and Prime TV. I want to move to buying more locally and not impulse buying stuff

what do you pay for and are thinking of moving off?

We have:

Spotify family 21.99 (6 family members)
Audible 5.99
Disney 5.99
Netflix 5.99
Amazon prime 95 per year

I would rather cancel Netflix and Disney however my daughter enjoys these so we will keep them for the time being.

I use my Spotify and Audible daily... I am learning a language and these are a fraction of the cost of a tutor.

We did try to cancel amazon prime however we are now so reliant on the next day deliveries that we were paying more in postage, so we reverted back...

I'd keep Amazon Prime because it can store your photos (and music?) too, and as PP says, the next day delivery is useful.
Could probably get rid of Netflix even though it has better offerings than Prime. Would also keep TV licence. All the rest could go.
What is this printer plan? £1.79 for 10 pages???

I’m really trying to wean myself off Amazon. It’s not easy but I whinge about our shops going so think I need to put my money where my mouth is

The printer plan, is a HP printer where you get the cartridges sent to you “free” but part of the plan, you can print a max of 10 pages (there’s other higher plans), sadly the printer is a brick and won’t print if you’re not on the plan 🤦🏽‍♀️

I have Netflix 5.99 plan with ads, but the ads are few and far between and last for 15 or 30 seconds, often have none at all in an hour's programme.
I have a TV licence.

That's it. I have none of the other things on your list.

I can go months without buying anything from Amazon and when I do they often give me a month of Prime free. Also often the products are free delivery anyway, you just have to wait a couple of days.

I bought a canon eco tank printer a couple of years ago. I've printed thousands of pages and still haven't needed to replace any of the original inks, it's been the best value printer I've ever had.

Got rid of prime (had gotten with something as a deal)
Same with paramount
got rid of sky last year too but am hugely missing it!
keeping netflix
getting rid of ‘with love’ which I haven’t had a chance to watch (tv romance film app)

getting audible and kindle unlimited back, both on special and too invaluable to me
dh wants to get rid of health insurance but there’s no way in hell
edited to add I pay monthly for Microsoft word, page’s doesn’t cut the mustard for me

Prime was much easier than I thought it would be, and I'm saving loads. I'm a lot more mindful about what I actually need and very often I can get it as easily offline. Or even easier - I've realised I've lost my Philips screwdriver so old me would have ordered a new cheap one on Prime when it turns out I've got a great, independent hardware store within walking distance, which is actually usually cheaper than Amazon! Most happy about that one as I think Amazon is a truly terrible company which has quite possibly caused more harm globally than any other. It just took them forcing unskippable adverts on me when I was already paying more than enough for Prime for me to remember my morals 😬

Also got rid of Sky TV, Netflix and Paramount and currently working my way through iPlayer to watch everything of interest, then I'll cancel TV license. That's stupidly expensive for not much at all. I'm thinking I'll probably then just rotate through all the options and stick to one subscription at a time.

Planning to keep my phone extra year until out of contract, then probably buy next one outright when I need it. Debating whether to do the same with iPad. I really hate the iPad and want a Samsung replacement, so I might cave!

Hate Spotify, I buy music I like and download to cloud then use VLC to access my entire collection. I do love Podbean for podcasts and am thinking I should pay them, they are very good. Then have Times, Economist and FT subscriptions which I think are probably worth the money. And my ROH membership, which might not be.

It’s pretty silly to cancel your tv licence imo as you get much more variety through freeview than the collection of bog standard American tv shows you get on the many subscription services you need to get any similar wide level of content. But each to their own.

I only have the tv licence so I cant cancel any of the others

I got rid of TV licence a few years ago

At the moment, I have Amazon, Spotify and I will take Disney for a month to see the Taylor Swift documentary.

For me, Amazon is worth it because I don't drive. I don't have issues with impulse buying because I don't enjoy browsing. I don't have issues with impulse buying at all really

I still have a big DVD collection, in spite of living in a small flat, I refuse to give it up and it's brilliant to have everything on hand that I know I like. Stuff I haven't seen for ages I really enjoy a rewatch. Does your library have any DVDs available?

What is iCloud actually for? I didn't know it cost that much, but I don't use it.

I've never liked monthly subs, but they creep in don't they?

I have the free Spotify. I got Netflix in lockdown because my dad died and my mum could watch it from her TV. She has now died too and I have the lowest sub which I think is £5.99

Then I have Disney, which I got for Rivals, but am now getting through The Bear, after that it'll be cancelled. That's £4.99

My mobile is £8 a month, but I need a different network so think it will go up to £9. I have The Week magazine. I love it, but never read it, so should probably stop it.

I think that's all I have but might do a check tomorrow.

Dp has Netflix, Spotify, Apple, Amazon Prime the latter two of which I can access on my TV and we are working through Slow Horses at my house.

I would never get rid of the TV licence, I think the BBC is amazing and great value for money. OK, it is essentially a tax, but I don't begrudge it.

I do have things like OneDrive but I pay for that from my business account because I need it, but it gives me document and photo storage.

I only have a TV licence, HP instant ink and iCloud storage from the list you gave. I have no streaming services as I don’t freely the need as there’s plenty of decent programmes to watch on terrestrial TV that I like, I don’t really have time to watch any more! I pay my TV licence annually rather than monthly as it’s a lot cheaper.
My iCloud storage is only £1.99 a month though.

Im on a higher HP plan than you as I print things quite regularly - recipes, patterns, research notes for my hobbies and WI business as I’m President of a group. I can have 50 pages a month and roll over unused ones which I do use at times such as now when I’m preparing for our AGM

I refuse to pay for Amazon postage even though I use it a lot as I have mobility problems and cannot walk round shops. I always choose items that are free of you spend over £35 and whoever I think of something I need, I pop it in the online basket until I build up a list totalling over the free postage amount.

Mind you, if I need something urgently, I can ask my sister or daughter to order it for me as they have Prime!

I’ve never even heard of the printer thing!
ditched the tv licence years ago
have Netflix/disney/now/prime on cheap/ discount deal packages
never had audible or spotify
apple .99 pcm and I resent that!
ditched the gym
mobile/broadband/fuel all on cheapest packages
I use MSE!
no insurance other than house/car

We only have :

• TV licence. The kids watch a lot of iPlayer and live TV and we watch a bit of both too.
• Spotify, this is used every day at least in the car to/from work and often more on top.
• Netflix for two households however a relative who uses it too gifts us money each year so more than covers the cost of that anyway. We heavily use Netflix.

That's it. If we started getting properly strapped for cash I'd cancel both Spotify and Netflix if needed like.

We have a similar plan but the first 10-pages are free.
Buying that HP printer was one of our best purchases.😁

Have the TV licence but no other subscriptions, have never felt the need.

The only way to stop the printer sub is to buy a printer where you buy your own ink - I have quite an old one (Epson) - it is pre-pandemic so no idea how much it cost, I buy generic inks off amazon and print as much as I want (I WFH so that’s sometimes a lot!).

The inks I need are currently £17.99 for four of each colour and I last bought them in June 2024!

There is an initial outlay, of course, but if you buy black & white with no fancy features it should be too much?

I have Netflix on the cheap one, cancelled Prime a couple of years ago when my card refused to update to the new one for some unknown reason so I just sacked it off (I use it so rarely now that even if I have to pay £5 postage it’s still cheaper - I just wait and go to the massive Tesco for whatever I need), Apple Music which I love and is far cheaper than buying CDs like in the olden days (remember when an album was £15 and you only liked 4 songs? Streaming is soulless but way more cost effective) and I also pay for Strava as I run and cycle daily so use the paid for option to plan route which is £8.99 a month (I should really pay annually as it’s much cheaper than monthly)
that’s it. I’m always amazed when I watch vlogs of people who have decided to cancel all their subscriptions and they have LOADS of unused ones - who are these people either money to burn and no idea what goes on in their bank accounts?

Currently have:

• Tidal Family plan
• Apple TV
• Disney+
• Amazon prime (for tv)
• kindle unlimited

I rotate subscriptions, so every now and again we switch out Apple/Disney and replace it with say Netflix or now.

Also pay for family Microsoft 365 which im ok with as long as it is getting used by multiple people.

Do you have a local library where you can pay for printing? A subscription where you can only print 10 pages a month seems very poor value for money.

I don't get your opening post comment about capitalism and services - you pay for a service and get what you pay for. Paying for Netflix is the modern equivalent of going to the cinema or music hall regularly- you pay to watch entertainment but don't receive any tangible goods.

I have weaned us down to just Netflix which works for us as DP has retained his huge DVD collection anyway.

I thought coming off Amazon prime would be the hardest, but I did it last Jan and honestly I just don't use Amazon anymore now, I live in a city so nothing that can't wait for me to either buy locally or order from a smaller business.

I stopped the TV Licence years ago!

We have TV licence as we almost solely watch TV from BBC and the other main channels
My partner pays for Spotify but he listens to it all day and my daughter uses the audio books and has meditation on to sleep
We had Amazon but currently are on a break. We cancelled it when our annual subscription came to an end in August and we are seeing how long we can go without it. We are waiting until we have a basket full of things that qualify for free delivery before ordering and we have a bunch of presents ideas and regular purchases that we can put in to top up baskets when needed. We are waiting to see how long we can go without it.

We used to share subscriptions with family, my in-laws had Netflix and my sister had Disney and they used our prime but since they have tightened up rules we have dropped them and don't particularly miss them. There are a few shows we watched on Disney so we will do a cheap trial over Christmas to catch up and have some family film nights

The only ones I have now is Netflix and a tv licence, the tv licence is mostly so I don’t get threatening letters every week.

I gave up with a printer after the last one died, any printing I do via work or my mum but actually I feel like it’s been years since I needed to print something out.

memberships of English Heritage, Historic Houses, National Trust; subs to National Theatre at Home and Royal Opera and Ballet. I don’t get my money’s worth, and object to them wasting money on virtue signalling critical social justice initiatives. Didn’t renew membership of a couple of local heritage Friends organisations. Can’t afford to keep up huge expense of Ancestry AND Find My Past subs but need to do something about saving the data, thanks for reminder

Cancelled gym membership, bought some free weights cheaply and stepped up the walking. £60 month (‘lifestyle gym’).
Domestic and General appliance repairs - started at £3 am appliance, has crept up to £15. Would rather repair/replace appliances as they break. £60 month saved.
Couple of tv subscriptions cancelled £15 month.
I need to look at the annual ones too. Think I have a security one for PC that can be switched to a free one but will need to give that more thought.
I do pay for the ad free Mumsnet though as the ads were affecting the format and making it difficult to use.

Try converting your document to P D F and printing it. I get round my printer that way.