There are a lot of streaming services out there. There’s Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, HBOMax, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Apple TV+, YouTube TV and more. It’s easy to get carried away with all of these streaming choices and take on more subscriptions than you can really afford.
Ask yourself: are you paying for too many streaming services?
Signs That You Should Trim Your Streaming Subscriptions
You’re Getting Choice Paralysis
You have too many options. You’re spending more time scrolling through your accounts in search of something good to watch than watching content. Narrowing down your options could make it easier to relax and pick a show that you enjoy.
You’re Forgetting Subscriptions
You’ve lost count of how many services you’ve signed up for, to the point where you’ve forgotten some of your accounts. You don’t seem to use them at all. This wouldn’t be that much of a problem if you weren’t paying for them.
Your Budget Is Tight
You’re living with a really tight budget, and your bloated entertainment costs aren’t helping. Cutting these monthly subscription fees would make your paycheck last a little longer and leave you some savings for more important expenses.
Living with a too-tight budget will make you vulnerable to emergency expenses that you just can’t ignore. What will you do when you have to pay for a plumbing fix or a car repair out of the blue? If you don’t have any savings to cover these emergencies, you can try to put an emergency expense on your credit card, or you can go to a website like CreditFresh to try to apply for an online loan. If your loan application gets approved, you can use the funds to manage the emergency quickly and then focus on repayments later on.
You should only use a loan for emergency expenses — it’s not meant regular expenses outside of your budget, like streaming subscriptions.
How to Trim Down Streaming Services
You know that you should cancel some streaming services. Cancel the ones that you barely use or that only have a handful of shows that you like. If you find the process overwhelming, you can download apps that track paid subscriptions — these can remind you to cancel subscriptions that you don’t care about anymore. They can help you decide what accounts to put on the chopping block.
Here are some more tips that will reduce your streaming costs.
Use Free Services
If you’re worried that cutting down your streaming services will leave you without any entertainment, don’t worry — there are plenty of free streaming services that will keep you occupied. Take advantage of these options to save yourself money.
Share Accounts
There’s no reason why you should have to pay for all of the subscriptions. Save yourself some money by asking your friends and family members whether they’d be willing to share accounts with you. This will help everyone enjoy the same shows and lower their bills at the same time.
Cut Cable
If you’re committed to streaming services online, you shouldn’t be signed up for cable TV, too. Otherwise, you’re going to be paying way too much for content that you can’t even keep up with. This is a sign that you should think about cutting your cable services.
Your streaming services shouldn’t be stressing you out or making you go broke. If your subscriptions are getting to be too much, it’s time to follow these tips and cut them down.
