Are Any of My Subscriptions Redundant?

You might find this question puzzling, but hear me out.

Let’s start with streaming services. Do I really need Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime simultaneously? They all provide access to content when I’m in the mood to watch something.

Is it necessary to keep them all active at once?

Similarly, consider project management tools. Do I truly need both Trello and Notion? I was using both for project tracking. It would be easy to consolidate my tasks in one app; so why pay for both?

Lastly, let's discuss iCloud+ and Google Photos. Both serve the same purpose of photo backup. Do I really need two services for this?

I hope you grasp my point.

The goal was to identify conflicting subscriptions that fulfill similar needs and choose one to keep moving forward.

What Is the Actual Cost?

Subscriptions can be deceptively costly.

Marketing strategies often downplay the overall expense. They frame things in a way that leads you to think: “What’s a few dollars a month if it truly helps me?”

Consequently, you might see promotions like “$2/month” or “$5/week,” or even “$1/day.”

This approach emphasizes minimal amounts to distract you from the total expenditure.

I frequently fell into this trap.

$1/day translates to $7/week, $30/month, $360/year, or $3,600 over a decade.

If you use the service for, say, 20 years, that’s a staggering $7,200!

When comparing this to investing $30/month at an 8% interest rate, your investment could grow to around $16,000 over 20 years.

This illustrates my point.

Suddenly, that $1/day doesn’t seem so inexpensive, does it?

What I’m proposing is that companies often employ marketing tactics to convince you that you’re not spending too much just because the cost is divided into monthly payments.

That’s the exercise I undertook next.

I meticulously broke down the costs for every subscription, allowing me to better assess which ones were worth keeping in the long run.

What Value Does Each Subscription Offer?

This was the most straightforward question!

I was using my hard-earned money on these services. How much real value were they providing?

You might be surprised by what you discover when you start evaluating each subscription.

Deceived by clever marketing, we often enroll in new subscriptions without critically assessing their worth. As a result, we lower our expectations of what these services deliver.

It’s easy to justify a $1/day or even a $6/month expense for an app. It doesn’t seem like much! So, we decide to maintain the subscription.

I didn’t want to follow that path. I aimed to delve deeper and evaluate the true value of each subscription.

I’m willing to pay for apps—sometimes even a premium—but it has to be justified.

That’s why I took the time to write brief descriptions highlighting the value each of my subscriptions provided.

Does the Subscription Fee Justify Itself?

The trend is shifting increasingly towards subscription-based models.

Gone are the days of a one-time payment for lifetime access. Now, developers and companies prefer a predictable revenue stream through regular payments.

I understand this necessity. Apps and services require ongoing maintenance. However, the fees must be reasonable.

What’s considered reasonable varies from person to person. My justification for paying monthly for services like TickTick, Apple Music, and Mullvad VPN will differ from yours.

I wanted to go through this exercise.

I compiled all my apps and services to compare their costs against the value they offered.

Some clear discrepancies emerged.

For example: - Roam Research = $15/month - Fantastical Calendar = $5/month - Netflix = $18/month - Superhuman = $30/month

Ultimately, I chose to cancel these (and others). I couldn’t rationalize the steep costs.

Monthly vs. Annual vs. Lifetime Payments

At this point, I had a solid grasp of my subscription expenditures and the value received.

I knew which subscriptions I wanted to keep.

The next step was to minimize costs as much as possible.

Most services offer different payment structures: monthly, annual, or a one-time lifetime fee.

When considering total long-term costs, the one-time lifetime fee often proves to be the most economical choice, followed by annual payments, and lastly, monthly rates.

For the services I planned to use long-term, I opted for lifetime deals. For others, I chose annual subscriptions.

For apps I couldn’t commit to for a year, it was evident that I was uncertain about their value. This presented an opportunity to reassess whether I truly wanted to maintain them.

Exploring Cheaper Alternatives

I don’t mind paying for apps; I recognize the necessity of doing so.

Apps require ongoing development and maintenance. A paid model ensures developers have a stable income, reducing the need for questionable data collection practices to keep them free.

However, sometimes you may find yourself using certain apps infrequently. These are not essential tools, just occasional aids.

So why pay a monthly subscription for something you don’t use regularly? It doesn’t add up.

I created a list of these apps and sought out cheaper alternatives.

Cheaper could mean either lower-cost options or completely free alternatives. This research took time, as many free apps come with privacy trade-offs. Ultimately, I replaced a number of paid apps with free ones, accepting the compromises where necessary.

Creating a Notion Dashboard for Subscriptions

Once I settled on the subscriptions I wanted to retain, I designed a Notion dashboard to organize them.

Every week during my Sunday review, I quickly check this dashboard to ensure I’m actively using all my subscriptions and that nothing falls through the cracks.

It also provides a clear overview of my monthly and yearly subscription costs, giving me a better understanding of my spending.

I’ll conclude with two additional tips that I personally don’t follow but believe could significantly aid anyone looking to manage subscriptions more effectively.

Use a Dedicated Credit Card

Utilizing one credit card exclusively for subscriptions simplifies tracking.

If there’s a service you forgot to cancel post-trial or one you’re unaware you’re still paying for, it will appear on your credit card statement.

By consolidating everything onto one card, you only have one statement to review.

Try a Budgeting App

If you don’t manually check your credit card statements, consider using a budgeting app.

These apps categorize your spending and alert you to subscription-related charges.

Some excellent options include Truebill and Mint.

Thank you for reading this far!

I truly hope you found value in this article.