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[bill_schubert]

Almost worth it just to have that misleading post title.

I'm working through all those $10 here, $15 there subscriptions to see how much money I can get back into my budget.  Google music, Spotify, NY Times, and all my Amazon subscription stuff (mostly, turns out, dog treats.. not sure just how that happened).  All the aforementioned was set up when I had my company and money flowed back and forth.  Now it does not flow inbound quite so quickly so I'm looking at everything.

At the moment I'm online trying to claw the $15 from Mint mobile that I'm supposed to get when my friend susandennis  recommends me.  I got all the way to checkout and it isn't there.  So I'm chatting.

I'm hopeful with Mint Mobile.  I no longer need a hot spot and seldom leave the confines of my wireless here.  According to T-Mobile I've only used about 2MB of data per month over the past three months (doctor office and occasional music when I'm walking, neither of which are critical) so I'm paying a bunch for stuff I'm not using.  Turns out that this plan will cost me $101.91 for the first three months and four times that per year unless/until they raise their rates.  That is for two phones.  T-Mobile is $70/month for two phones.  And they use the same towers.

The biggest difference is you pay one month at a time for T-Mobile vs a year at a time for Mint Mobile.  But the cost difference is huge so that is not really a consideration.  

If all that works right I'm up about $1k/year without really changing anything other than having to watch commercials on my Youtube Sudoku instructionals.

Comments

[susandennis]

Wow $1k a year is impressive! good work.

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Actually it's more when you take into account the slashing of the dog treat budget but we're keeping that quiet for obvious reasons.

[spacefem.livejournal.com]

I did that a year or two ago and yes, also found like $100/mo in thoughtless autobilling stuff to cut out. I can't believe how fast it adds up!

first I programmed my credit card to ping me every time it was used, so i could hold each charge in my hand to see if it sparked joy.

then I divided up my life so auto-charges go on one card, and that's all it's for. that way it's a short, easy statement to get a handle on.

I still have WAY too many subscriptions because my family is convinced we need every streaming service... I wish we could cut back. but it's a little less.

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Similar to us. I've got all the critical pieces in one bank (mortgage, electric, water, etc) and I fund that twice a month and there's enough reserve in there to go four months without funding in an emergency. Then everything else goes on a cash yield Amazon card that I pay off every Friday from my primary checking account.

There's only two of us so we can control things pretty well. If I really want something but don't have to have it to live (latest example, battery lawn mower) I'll save up from Prolific.co surveys until it is 'free'. I've ended up changing goals more than once meaning I decided that I could live without it by the time I'd saved up enough for it.

As much as I like the 10% savings I think I save a lot more by not using Amazon subscriptions and buying less when I actually need it. And I love the fact that you can change up no commitment subscriptions. We're pretty stuck on Britbox, Netflix and YouTubeTV (and of course Amazon) now but dropped all the rest and don't much miss them.