On Subscriptions
Posted on 11/05/2023 in misc
A couple of bloggers, Kev and Manu, are talking about how much they spend on recurring subscriptions, and that is something I've been meaning to check on for a while. Subscription fees, by design, tend to hit your account well past their usefulness.
Entertainment
- Cup of Coffee newsletter - $5.83
- All Trails - $3
- Hulu/Disney/ESPN+ - $24.99
- Peacock - $5.99
- Netflix - $15.49
- Fostodon - $5
- YouTube Premium - $13.99
- Pandora - $12.99
- MLB audio - $2
Subtotal - $89.28
If you are wondering why I have both YouTube Premium (which includes YouTube Music) and Pandora, let's just say being married for 32 years teaches you which battles aren't worth fighting. Peacock I originally bought for the Premier League, but my team got relegated last season, so I haven't been watching much soccer. I need to check if anybody else is using Peacock regularly. Cup of Coffee is my absolute favorite online destination. It's a baseball Substack with a comments community that is straight out of a blog circa 2005. Clearly, I should pick one of Netflix and Hulu and alternate subscriptions every 3 months or something. Again though, that may fall into into the battle not worth fighting category.
Birds
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology - $5
- National Audubon Society - $5
Birding is a major hobby for us so supporting the two primary conservation organizations is important.
Subtotal - $10
News
- Guardian - $2
- Virginia Mercury - $10
- Techdirt - $1.25
- Good Morning RVA - $2
I think some of the issues on the US can be traced directly to the collapse of the newspaper industry. Local papers kept local politicians in line, and nobody is really doing that job these days.
Subtotal - $15.25
Internet
- GoogleOne - $2.99
- Dropbox - $9.99
- Hosting - $1.50
- Domain - $1
Subtotal - $15.50
Yes, I really am down to 1 domain name. I recently switched from Google One to Dropbox, but given that Google is cheap I'm keeping it as a backup of the backup. I can probably save $2.50 a month by using S3 directly, and it's on my list of thing to do.
Total - $130 (rounded)
I was budgeting $110 for subscriptions, and it's been at least a couple of years since I did this sort of audit, so that is not too bad. I'd like to get it under $100 though.