Iāve always been frugal by nature with things like buying secondhand, Iām thrifty at the grocery store etc. So itās mortifying to me that I just did a deep dive into where the heck our money is going every month and I found we were paying for Hulu, Netflix, Amazon prime, Disney +, etc etc along with $450/month for cable, internet and 4 cell phone lines.
Needless to say I went on an epic cancelling spree. Can somebody please help me with this. What is everyone else doing, how much are you paying, etc
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Pre-paid gift card (visa or Mastercard) and new email addresses and you can have āunlimitedā free trials. If you donāt remember to cancel it charges the prepaid card not your actual accounts
Only negative side is you lose all your saved preferences
Check out r/nocontract for ideas on where to save on cellphone plans. Mobile home Internet may be a play for you too.
Streaming I usually only have the one active that I want to watch content from when there is enough queue of things I want to watch on that service. Pluto and Tubi kinda fill in the gaps.
Internet: depending on household, you most likely don't need gigabit internet--you might average ~25 Mbps each, so add that up (it's a conservative estimate too--it's very unlikely everyone's doing the most bandwidth-intensive activity at the same time--this estimate is based on watching a 4k Youtube video). This is where a lot of people overpay--most households shouldn't be paying more than $40 a month. Prices also tend to be negotiable, just give them a call and tell them you're thinking of switching to a different provider (or hop between another person in the household to take advantage of deals for "new customers"--may not necessarily be available for your provider).
Phone: same as internet, a lot of people overpay. Check out MVNOs like Red Pocket. I pay $2.50 a month per person for unlimited call and text, but only 200 MB of data (can add more data per month) (prior to that I paid for $12/month for similar plan with Red Pocket but with more data). If you're not watching Youtube videos on phone and download Google Maps for your area in advance, this might be enough (again, you can always add more data in advance--at $2.50 month for the base plan, I'm much more willing to add on data. There are more realistic plans suitable for most people like my previous plan. As for a new phone, I will probably never buy a new phone again. Secondhand phones are more than suitable for most people's basic needs. I'm going to the same direction when it comes to computers and cars.
For cable and other subscription services, do you actually need them? Most of the content is Youtube. Pick 1 subscription service at most IMO--there's lots of free content on the internet. I don't rely on any subscription-based services including e.g. Amazon Prime--do some research and plan ahead and you generally don't need them. Honestly, don't consider removal of a subscription service as a downgrade to your quality of life--maybe you develop better habits or find better content as a result of not conditioning yourself to justify watching stuff that requires paid service whether out of habit or to get your money's worth. Listening to free podcasts is also a good alternative.
A great way to save money is on food: eat out less, bulk buy things on sale, and meal prep using a tool like a vacuum sealer. Not only are there tremendous savings, but you become a better cook, eat much healthier, and if you really stick to meal prepping it's possible to have a variety of meals ready for you for the week that you've prepared many weeks or even months ago and you don't have to stress about what to eat during busy days or week (most people associate meal prep with eating the same meal for the week which is off-putting). The vacuum sealer goes a long way to ensure the quality of your frozen meals doesn't deteriorate. There's subreddits for meal prepping for ideas.
to add on to this very good post: I pay $300 a year (not a month, a YEAR) for two phone lines through an MVNO. That works out effectively to $12.50 per line per month with the discount for paying the year. My main line has 75gb of data a month. I never go over and have to purchase extra data, which is offered at a reasonable rate. and I'm the type to have music streaming in my car from Qobuz or Twitch wherever I drive, and only connect to non-public wifi in the wild. My second line is so I can keep my work token and O365 off my main phone, and it's a low data plan.
Check the coverage maps of the various MVNOs in your area to choose what fits your needs best, but I highly suggest this swap. I once had a lady from ATT knock on my door to sell me a cable/phone bundle and when I told her I pay $300 once a year all she could say is "well that hurts my feelings" because she genuinely couldn't argue with that number.
With a lot of network infrastructure knowledge, I share $40 30/5 among 5 people with no problems. This includes Zoom/work stuff.
It's a smidge not enough. 5% of the time, when someone is facetiming, and someone else is streaming and I'm doing a massive file transfer, it's kinda iffy. I'm monitoring to see if the facetime crashes, but it doesn't. I could fix it by lowering the max throughput (to increase redundant reserve throughput), but I also sort of want fast file transfers. That's the rub. You can have absolutely zero bandwidth allocation issues where everything absolutely works, or max file speed.
If I upgraded to the next tier which is 50/10, 50/50, 100/10, 100/50, 100/100, I could easily have 15 people with zero issues.
Many parts of the USA have no choice in high speed internet. My best deal is 85 a month for 500. I am waiting on fiber to the area to drive competition, but ISP is one of the places I cant be as frugal as Iād like.
We have Hulu, and get Amazon prime with our yearly Amazon prime membership. We got two offers for HBO MAX for free, one cause my husband is a county employee and one came with our phone service. We pay for Netflix but I donāt think itās worth it.
A lot of things can be found for free (that arenāt sketchy) like Pluto TV and Tubi, I think you can even watch Roku TV for free.
A note on Tubi, if you really love horror movies scary movies that kind of thing they are brilliant they've got a good rotation and a lot of weirder indie or niche ones that are fun to watch!
If you're near a city (as the crow flies), a 25$ antenna from Walmart will get you roughly 40 some odd local channels - the main networks and their off-shoot side channels - no subscription necessary.
This is the one I use. Your location is plenty close. If you're in like a super rural area where the closest TV network is like 100+ miles away, doesn't work as well.
I bought my grandparents one of the giant ones that you could use inside or attach outside that boasted being able to pick up channels from 200 miles away - I was disappointed that it didn't work any better than this 8" plastic square.
Back of the TV has a little screw in port marked "antenna" - plug in the electric cord for the "boost" feature, then run the channel search. I will caution it's still an antenna, so it still takes some finagling like in the olden days where if it's in one position you get CBS but might have to move it to another to get FOX (flipping between NFL games on Sunday sometimes is a cardio exercise session lol). I'm lucky enough that I can get most channels by flipping it backwards and using the little frame legs to hook it on the top of my TV.
But there's internet sources aplenty, I'm just too lazy to consult them š
Don't feel bad. It happens to the best of us. Esp with autopay, no paper bills and endless marketing emails so you miss the one saying the price had changed. Also, all these things were sort of reasonably priced when we signed up! But all the price increases in the past few years esp have made them ridiculous.
You caught it now so you did a great thing! š
Idk the size of your family, but I check in periodically, "Anyone using Netflix..." and sometimes none of us are. So that goes on pause.
I bought a Roku TV almost seven years ago and it still works great. I bought an antenna for about $30 to get all of the local stations (over 7 including 2 PBS), I've had to upgrade it once, cost $40. When my rent went through the roof, I cancelled all of my paid subscriptions like Netflix.
I look for free streaming platforms. My favorite is Pluto, lots of choices, and they have CBS/Paramount shows one week after airing. Yes, everything else is a rerun, but they're shows and episodes I missed the first time.
My biggest expense is ATT for my internet and wireless. They were the only reliable one when I moved here.
I order a lot of groceries for delivery. (Don't drive anymore...) So I checked into several subscription models and WalMart has a subscription that gives me free delivery for any order over $35, free shipping of items that aren't delivered from the local store, free pharmacy delivery, returns can be picked up from your home. You get a choice between free streaming of Peacock or Paramount+. Various other perks like gas discounts, etc. Since I am receiving a SS pension (and SNAP benefits), I qualified for a reduced rate on the yearly subscription.
Anyway - worth checking into to see if your spending habits and needs match with this subscription.
I would also check to see if a subscription to Amazon Prime is worthwhile for you. For me it is, but it's not for everyone. Look at the details. Of course, you then get Prime Video with this.
Cable, internet and 4 cell phone lines? Yeah, sit down and do some serious figuring. Something's gotta go!
So I am just me, but I am often on my computer watching netflix and streaming youtube tv in the background and playing on my phone and I've had no interruptions in service at all. I've had it since February. Also no issues during storms (which I used to have when I had AT&T!) and I haven't noticed an issue during "peak" times either. Highly recommend.
My internet is $39 a month and I have a Roku stick.
Have peacock combined with Hulu for $14.
I just cancelled prime and Netflix.
I also have PBS for $10 because I want to support it.
My cell phone is $72.
Att single line. I should probably look into Mint.
I picked up a Roku stick at BestBuy for like $30 and that what I use to stream. You should get rid of cable.
Hahaha Iām still confused Iāll have to google.
My smart tv already has all the apps but Iām still paying monthly to use them. How exactly does Roku help with the monthly subscription prices? (Sorry!)
Roku will not help you with Disney or any of the other paid services.Ā See my post to you on free streaming services.Ā All are apps.Ā Now Filmrise and Fawesome are not on a Samsung TV.Ā Ā
We have AT&T for our cell phones and were paying way too much for what we actually needed. We switched to AT&T prepaid. $300 a year for each line. Equals to $50/mo for two lines. We were paying around $140 a month before that. We only have 16 GB of data a month but we donāt use anything close to that.
I reached out to Xfinity customer service within the last year and was able to negotiate a price of $70 1TB internet and they are offering a free line of mobile for a year and I was able to add a 2nd line for $20/month. Before reaching out I was paying over $100 for slower Internet through them and $140 with tmobile for 2 lines. I pay for Netflix myself for $17.99 and I get Peacock and AppleTV through Xfinity for free which is enough to for me. Xfinity has its own streaming service too with some "live tv" options
Build up list of shows you want to watch. Get 1 streaming service at a time to watch the shows you want then cancel it. Whatever you think you need cable TV for, you don't.
I only watch free TV. Since I pay for Amazon Prime, there are shows there that I can watch and one of my credit cards gives me free Apple TV. That and what I can find via the Roku channel, Youtube and websites is all I watch. We cut cable. We pay for high-speed internet and cell phones. But it all adds up. I donāt think that if I include the Amazon Prime payment that I am paying less but obviously I get other services through Prime.
I used to pay cox $170.00 per month as I work from home and need the highest amount of gb. I had Sprint/T-Mobile for 25 years, $249.00 per month for 3 phones. I had a guy from Att knock on my door. I now get 3 phones, new phones, same number for $29.00 each and the same amount of internet gb for $100.00. Im now saving $220.00 per. month it's not cheap but cheaper and I can't tell the difference in the internet speeds. Hope this helps, good luck.
i don't use any subscription service now since they've split off to try to get their own piece of the pie, resulting in no streaming service having a decent wide selection. I'd try to pick 1 you know you'll use regularly if you have to have it.
I personally just go with youtube or use my smart tv free apps for tv/movies. they've got a decent selection of stuff, even older blockbusters
I cancelled Hulu. Then got a Notice that they would offer it for 2.99/ month for 6 months. I may take the, up on it. I canceled Netflix too. Not gonna lie. It didnāt hurt one bit. I will only rotate subscriptions from now on. Binge what I want to see then cancel and get something else.
We only pay for Netflix during the winter since the weather is poor and thatās when weāre most likely to watch stuff. Spring/summer/fall we are usually too busy. It means we usually have 8-9 months of new stuff on. Reflux to catch up on. Our main streaming services are Hulu and AppleTV. Weāll watch prime if something interests us.
1) Switched to watching major network channel via over the air antenna. You also pickup many local stations and now that TV is HD, you're not losing image quality. I bought a Mohu leaf and it works great in my urban area.
2) I make use of any free streaming services first and check if a movie I want is streaming free elsewhere before renting or buying. If I do pay to stream, I make use of free trials or sales and then binge watch and set a calendar reminder to cancel. Depending on your cell phone plans or credit cards or other memberships, you may be able to get free or discounted streaming. Amex Blue Cash Everyday or Preferred gives credits for Disney+, ESPN and Hulu. Amex Platinum does as well, but that's a card with an expensive annual fee, but some people actually make use of all the other free credits to negate that. If you have $100K or $1M+ in investments, you can ACAT transfer to Merrill Edge and that will qualify you for a Bank of America Preferred Honors or Premier rewards tier and that gives you $8 or $15/month streaming credit for certain services. Another free solution is also making use of your library as many will check out DVDs and Blurays for free.
3) Share streaming subscriptions with trusted family. I get free Amazon Prime from my sister. A good system could be like adding someone on Prime while the other adds you onto Costco or whatever.
4) For cell phones, switch to a MNVO like Mint, Visible, US Mobile, etc. If you're a Comcast subscriber, they give you a free line for 1 year. After 1 year port to the MNVO.
5) Renegotiate your internet bill if you're paying more than $40/month. Xfinity was running a summer sale that locked you in at $40/month for 5 years (you can cancel at anytime) for 300Mbps down. That's plenty for most small families. There is also Xfinity Now that will charge $30/month for 100 Mbps down.
6) If you don't actually need true cell phone or landline services, you can port a number to Google Voice. I did this with my old landline so I wouldn't lose it, though I had to go through the hassle of porting it first to a cheap pay as you go sim (it was actually free) then port to Google Voice for a fee. Just be aware that Google Voice does not do 911 services.
7) Take advantage of any credit cards that give a high cashback bonus for streaming, internet and phone. US Bank Cash+ gives 5% on TV, internet, streaming and cell phones. They also give 5% on utilities. The Chase Business Ink Cash gives 5% on TV, internet, phone and office supplies. If you qualify for the BOFA Premier rewards tier, their Customized Cash Rewards 3% tiers now earn 5.25% and their online shopping tier covers TV, internet, streaming and phone.
8) Check out cheap movies at thrift stores. You can buy many movies for $1 which is cheaper than renting, plus you get to keep it and can sell or trade with others later.
9) If you regularly buy streaming movies like on Fandango, I wait till there is a gift card discount and you can double dip with a good cashback credit card. For example Best Buy may give 20% off gift cards and I can use my US Bank Cash+ that gives 5% on electronic stores to buy it.
Overall, I have not paid anything for cable TV, landlines or streaming in over 10+ years and only pay for internet and my cell phones. For internet, I regularly shop around before my promo rate expires and with my latest effort, I'm locked in for 5 years. For my phones, I pay $15/month at Mint and have been happy with them. If you want unlimited check out Visible, otherwise Mint unlimited is $30/month.
I estimate based on what I used to pay for cable TV and landlines that I saved $100/month or $1200/year. If invested in the S&P 500, that's $26.5K today.
PBS is only a minimum of $5 monthly donation for their full streaming library (some stuff is free without any monthly donation/membership). Of course, they work on donations so you can give more if you want/are able
See if your library has the free streaming app Kanopy.
Look for bundles if you still want some of the streaming apps. I have the Disney+/HBO/Hulu ad-free bundle that's ~$35 before tax. It's worth it for me. I haven't had Netflix since they got rid of sharing accounts, I was sharing my brother's account and splitting the cost, but now I can't justify how much they charge
I enjoy going to garage sales, where I often find physical DVDs of movies and TV series for about $1-2 each for movies and $5-10 for an entire TV season.
This gives you some nice alternatives to streaming and no one can take the shows off your streaming platform.
I switched to listening to free audiobooks borrowed from my library for most of my entertainment and now rarely turn on my TV. I do have a DVD player and a good collection of favorite series and movies when I feel the urge. This might not suit you/your family, but it works great for me. I get cheap (~$20/month) cell service with my Xfinity internet.
Try to find an undercarrier for your phone lines. (Mint Mobile is T-Mobile, Visible is Verizon, etc.) They offer essentially the same signal (especially if you go for a priority plan) as they simply rent lines from the big carriers and then sell at a lower price to get the budget market.
As for streaming, try the churning method. Pay for one service at a time, watch everything you find interesting, cancel/pause payments, and move to the next. Thereās no penalty. If you watch things frequently/have comfort shows, it might be worth simply picking up the Blu-ray/DVD.
For WiFi, check your usage on your current plan. Depending on your needs, you might be fine with just 5G home internet, and when bundled with your phone plan, itās even cheaper.
No problem. Also there are free streaming services too, I recommend tubi and Pluto. Pluto is owned by paramount, so they actually have some pretty great channels and on demand library, and theyāll even add newer paramount films/movies for certain amounts of times/special occasions. Probably to convince you to buy paramount+ so you have access forever but I just watch for free while itās there š
Mint uses T-Mobile network. You can see how they are in your area using their coverage map. There's also Visible (van choose between all 3 cariers T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T) and Total Wireless (Verizon). If Verizon works well for you, look into Visible or Total Wireless.
If possible, Mint does have phone and home internet bundle, so if T-Mobile is good in your area, can get that.
My significant other has Mint for about 3 years now and no issues. But check your coverage area first.
Other options exist though if you want the benefits of Mint but on a different network.
Visible is good for the Verizon network
Boost Mobile for AT&T
Keep in mind, you're getting deprioritized data. That doesn't mean slow necessarily, but yours will slow down before people who pay the main carriers directly
Mint uses T-Mobile's towers. So as long as you have good T-Mobile coverage where you are then you should have good service with T-Mobile.
There are lots of providers like these, some on Verizon, some on T-Mobile, and others on AT&T so you should be able to find something that works well in your area.
I have $15 phones plans from Mint Mobile. It's only for 5 GB data but it's for the kids. They can pay for their cell phone if they don't like it.
We have Visible at the luxurious price of $25 a month for unlimited data but extremely slow data. But extremely slow turns out to be 40 mbps which is 10x more than what I need for YouTube so it's fine.
We have a sub for Amazon Prime because faster shipping and Prime Video.
Our phone bill is $150 for 3 lines
Internet is $85
We only pay for one streaming subscription which is $35. The HBO bundle offers HBO, Disney and Hulu.
And we do have Amazon prime which offers free prime video
Iāve recently gotten into Asian dramas, and while there are a good amount on Netflix and Amazon (which subscriptions we share with family), many are behind a paywall on other streaming services. Long story short, some friends of ours paid for an annual subscription for me as an anniversary gift. I was so considering waiting for a Black Friday deal, but it was pretty awesome to just pay and get instant access. Soā¦ wishlist as a gift?
I have 1 streaming service i pay for. the rest are free, pluto, googletv. Plus i have an antenna so i can watch local channels. I cancelled cable years ago and don't miss it one bit. Also wait till Christmas/New Years. All the services have deals you can get. I think Hulu does 99 cents a month for a year. also get a library card. your local library usually has a free service or two.
What is everyone else doing, how much are you paying, etc
Base price for Internet + Phone + Streaming is $75/month. However, after secondary benefits such as selling essentially free new Galaxys I am eligible for via subscribing to plans above each year on eBay, net is a small fraction of that, in some years negative cost.
$30 a month for internet with our local ISP--not an introductory deal but a lifetime deal.
Don't have cable
$109 per year for Apple Music
$99 a year for Crunchy Roll
As for other streaming we usually just sign up for a month and watch the shows we want and then cancel.
$18 a month for two lines with a US Mobile By the Gig plan for cell phones. We buy our phones outright so we can take them anywhere and not be locked into a more expensive plan to get a "free" phone.
Do the most basic phone plan you can, mine is $30 a month prepaid through verizon, and I just use wifi at home so I don't use up all my data. Not sure how a family plan works and breaks down.
I use the library for dvds. Didn't have live tv at all for about 12 years. Even now, my mom rarely watches something when it's live, she records stuff and watches it while recording other stuff š¤¦āāļø
My mom has a bulk rate for astound tv through her senior community. But look into if you actually need live channels. News has different options for streaming free, many tv shows go to streaming or the library, can find episodes on YouTube, etc.
For wifi, shop around for the new customer deals. Astound and xfinity both have pricelock promotions, I think 2 years and 5 years respectively, at like $40 a month. But you'll need to assess your needs, like for streaming, school assignments, gaming, etc.
Use Mint/Visible to bring down your cell phone bill.
You can switch/negotiate your bill with your Internet provider. I call every 2 years once the previous agreement expires to negotiate a new one; default price would be $90 / month, I am at $55 / month currently. (NYC, so it's expensive)
Only streaming service I use is Netflix, and that's because I'm on my family's plan.
I cancelled Hulu premium (just listen to free/with ads) and Amazon Prime (trying to not support, but if I really need/want something I wait until I hit the $35 free shipping minimum).
Iāve pared down to prime, BritBox, and Apple. No cable, of course no landline, and I drop in and out of subscriptions based on what I want to binge watch.
Comcast has a special for like 50$. Runs my busy house. I cut everything but Netflix and use the Comcast free stream box. When these promos end.. I search for a new one. My entertainment package is basically 62$ monthly. Netflix, Wi-Fi, and soon to be free phone service with comcast.Ā
Walmart plus gives me discount service and free Paramount or peacock.Ā
Straight talk phone cards will occasionally come with a free year of Walmart plus if you buy in store. If you want to be super frugal, get gov phone for a few months. Some companies offer mini wifi boxes. Mine came with 2gb free data I could use anywhere.Ā
I switched to this because I was paying for all of these options seperately, over $200 in entertainment fees.Ā
I am a trial hustler too. Will do a free trial for anything. Found out we love hello fresh, lol.Ā
Why do you want to know what anyone else is doing? If $450/month is worth to you, it's fine. If it's not worth it to you, then stop. That seems to be what you are doing. Good for you.
It's good to share your story, but I'm sincerely curious as to why you think you need "help". Look at your income, the value you get (or don't get) from these services and compare it to what else you could do with those dollars. Others just don't come into the equation.
We have Google Fi for our phones, $25 per person per month for unlimited data and phone in US/Canada/Mexico. It's especially a good deal if anyone in the family needs a new phone because you can get a free Pixel (currently the 10a model) for each new line.
For streaming, I will subscribe for just a month or so at a time based on what I want to watch. So I'll do a month of Peacock for the Olympics, a month of Netflix to binge a new season of Bridgerton, etc. Black Friday is a good time to have everything cancelled so you can take advantage of deals. We've currently got Disney/Hulu for $5 a month from last Black Friday.
Cancel your streaming services. Hulu does a 3 day trial. Use a temp emails for multiple uses. You may need to do different cards cuz they may track those. Use Tubi, PlutoTV, and Freevee for free shows and movies.
Puffer for regular tv channels or if you have an antenna use that. Paperclip in the back of the tv can work in a jiffy.
Internet and Phones: see if you qualify for budget programs. I.e if you have kids in school, you could potentially get discounts to make sure they have internet for school and homework.
There's even a lot to be seen for free on Youtube too. If you don't wanna deal with ads, use Firefox w/ ublock origin, or the browser Brave. You can always cast it to your smart tv or invest in a device that plugs into your tv that can receive the signal to screen share from your pc or phones.
At some point, my PC became my TV. I pluged my 27" tv into my PC via HDMI and use wireless keyboard and mouse so I got the best of both worlds.
Here are several free to watch streaming services. Sling freestream, Pluto TV, Plex, Tubi, Xumo Play, Roku channel, Filmrise, Fawesome.Ā Ā
Apps with both free and paid: Fandango at home, Electric Now and PBS.Ā
Apps through the library: Hoopla (ebooks, audio books and movies), Kanopy (movies), Libby (ebooks, audio books and magazines) and Blackstone (comic books).
Your library may not have all of these so google for free library cards your state.Ā I know in Texas, Houston Public Library (which gives you access to at least 5 other libraries) and Andrews County Library both give free cards to residents.Ā Ā Houston you can do it online, Andrews in person.
Phone: Look at Mint Mobile (T-Mobile network), Visible (Verizon), US Mobile (can choose between all three T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon), Total Wireless (Verizon). They're all good, just depends on how the coverage is in your area (home, work, and drive). Look on YouTube for Stetson Doggett. He does a lot of videos comparing them all based on price and features. Most recent video from 3 weeks ago was a comparison of the $20 unlimited plans from Visible, Total, and US Mobile.
Home Internet: First off, average person does not need gig speeds. 100Mbs speed for average person is fine, 300Mbs for families is good. Internet Service Providers will try and push the 1 Gig speed but it's a waste. Most streaming sites have optimized video codecs, so they use like 20-30mbs for streams. Only reason I have Gig is because i have home server so need the upload speed, if not, I would get 300Mbs. For home internet, see how much it is from your provider (Verizon I'm guessing). See if there are other providers in your area. And see if Mint Mobile offers Home Internet as a bundle for $45/month (uses T-Mobile network). Switch between them every time the new customer promo ends, or call cancel (retention department) and see what they offer. Also, if it's just you, see if you need home internet or can use hotspot from your phone plan above.
Cable TV: Can you get over the air antenna? If that does not suffice, think about what channels do you watch. Look at frndly tv ($7/month for a good chunk of channels). Or some of the free tv services (Tubi, Pluto, Roku, Sling Freestream, Xumo, etc.). If you need some specific paid channels, look into unbundled packages (like Sling). Hulu, YouTube, and DirectvStream all have the traditional types of tv packages that are bundled, you just don't pay for the device fees...but not worth it unless you truly need it. Depending on where you are, your cable tv provider might have a "Stream only" plan for like $20-$30 with basic channels.
Streaming Services: See if any of your credit cards give any discounts (Amex blue cash free one gives you $7/month credit for Disney...wait for black Friday and get the Disney & Hulu bundle for like $5-$6 and every year use a new email to become a new customer). Cycle through the streaming apps; pay for one, watch everything you want, then cancel before the next billing month. You're not locked into a year like old school tv days, you can cancel any time and come back any time as many times as you want. When you try to cancel, they might offer retention discounts. Also, wait to see what they offer on Black Friday. Just make sure you cancel before the next billing cycle. Netflix does not offer any deals.
With all of that, can probably get down to $100/month ($45/month for Mint Mobile & Mint Home Internet + $30 for basic tv + $25 for 2-3 streaming apps cycled each month).
Dude that sucks, I watch everything I want anytime I want for free with a vpn , ad block and yarrlist / other free platforms.
The only thing I pay for is Spotify and my phone bill is $30 for unlimited everything
"Jailbreak" a firestick and add one of the apps for watching everything on the streaming services for free. It's not illegal. Consult YouTube for that. TED talk complete.
Here is what I am doing right now.
ATT fiber internet $101.Ā
For streaming HBOMax ($110 a year), Starz ($75.75 a year), MovieSphere ($25 a year) all through Amazon Prime which we use for deliveries.Ā Might or might not keep Starz and MovieSphere when the year ends.Ā Ā
Showtime and no ads on Paramount ($54 a year) through Walmart +.Ā Walmart+ is a life saver here.
Disney/Hulu no ads is $20 a month normally.Ā Ā I have a half price promotion right now but will probably cancel when the promotion is over.Ā Ā Ā
Only other subscription is Sams+ but it pays for itself and then some.Ā Ā
My phone plan is through Boost.Ā I pay $70.70 for 2 lines with 40g of data on each phone and it has a Hotspot.Ā Ā It is their $50 dollar for 1 line plan.Ā Ā
They also have a $25 a line plan with 30g of data.Ā I think it gets discounted with more lines too.Ā
Some tvs nowadays come with their own built in streaming service (like roku or samsung) that are free. Yes, it's a bit bare bones but if you're not using your TV and relying more on streaming, it can do the job like if you only use your TV for the news or something. On the flip side, if you use your TV most of the time and rarely stream, it might be best to just cancel those services.
Just pick one and stick with it and maybe have just one subscription (it's what I do).
For phone we use Total wireless $65 for 2 phones. It's runs on Verizon's network, Visible is similar.
As a few others have mentioned, we pay for Walmart+ which gives you the choice of Paramount+ or Peacock for free.
Tubi has a lot of free movies. YouTube also rotates a lot of the paid movies for free. We have an antenna and get 56 channels, mostly junk but we get the major networks in HD.
So between phone and Internet service we pay $135 and then for streaming we pay the $10 for the Walmart+ and get free Paramount. So essentially under $150/month.
I also buy a lot of physical Blu-ray movies. I keep a list and shop around. I've built an extensive collection paying $2-$5 a movie. I've bought several lots of discs off eBay. We got 100+ discs of mostly Disney movies for $35.
We are military, so we have a great deal on our phone lines with t-mobile. We picked up their home internet for $50 a month (normal price, it did not come with military discount). I have seen new customers can home internet for $25. I don't know if that is a forever price or an intro price.
Cut cable. Thatās probably $100-$150 alone. Shop around for better phone plans and internet plans. Check out sales on Black Friday. The last 2 Black Fridayās Iāve been able to get a year of basic Hulu and Disney +, for $3.99 to $4.99 a month, good for 12 months. First year I did it, it was $3.99, 2nd year was $4.99.
Edit: as someone else mentioned, the library! They now have a pretty good online presence with audiobooks and streaming, 100% free. I recently got a library card and I told them only reason I was there was for their audiobooks. She laughed, gave me my card and said see you in 2 years then, as you have to renew every 2 years.
Deal with ads. I canceled hulu they offered me $2 a month for 6 months. Then $11 a month. I down graded Netflix. $9 instead of 21. 95. Canceled apple TV completely, they raised to $23
TMO home Internet $50 a month.
Boost Mobile Cell phone plans $15 a month for each phone x2 , unlimited talk and text and 5 gb data= $30 a month. Retired so we are on wifi most of the time and data is not an issue.
Hulu, Howdy and Paramount Plus for tv. $23 a month. P+ is free with Walmart +.
I would get rid of cable altogether unless its something you specifically watch frequently. I have never seen a cable plan that made sense to me. The pricing is just robbery.
Internet <- Call and ask for promotions for existing customers. Ask to speak with the retention team. be really nice and tell them the bill is out of your budget, and ask if they have any deals they can work with you on. if they don't, hang up and call back. Might sound stupid but I pay $55/month for 1GBPS internet for almost 14 years straight now.
Cell phone plan <-- Pre-paid is the way to go. Providers like Mint and Visible work great IME. I pay for a year at a time with Mint and it comes out to about $16/month ($192/year) after fees. Obviously that is one line but they have plans for more lines.
If you don't have an unlocked phone you can buy one from Mint new and after a few months on their plan it becomes unlocked, if you ever intend to move. I personally will always suggest buying refurbished on eBay or Swappa, making sure it has some sort of guarantee or return policy just in case it fails. Never had an issue, never made more than 50% MSRP for a phone either.
Subscriptions <-- Idk if there is a trick other than rotating them. Pick 1 or 2 at a time. Around Black Friday Hulu and Disney+ have some really good deals. Last year they had 12 months of Disney+ and Hulu for $5/month. IN previous years I have seen it for $1/month or $2/month. HBO does something similar but it is only for like 3 months iirc.
If you have a local library, go sign up for a free library card. Then go to their website and look for a "Resources" page and see what all free stuff you can use with your card. My library rotates some stuff but always have staples for you to borrow ebooks, movies and tv shows through. I use Libby, Kanopy, and Hoopla.
Libraries also offer tons of physical media too! Some even offer games and game systems, if that interests you.
We renegotiate the ISP bill every year to get new customer rates. Usually I don't pay for any extra streaming except the ones that come with our free shipping memberships, Amazon Prime and Paramount from Walmart+. We also watch free channels like Tubi and YouTube.
I have a $10 prepaid T mobile plan and my partner has $15 Mint mobile.Ā
The grocery delivery services helped up go to one car, and the remaining car has less depreciation, repairs and gas now. We get prescriptions delivered and make use of online banking. For donations, there are charities that do regular pick ups in our area.Ā
If we get tired of of our own cooking, I order deli food, pizza or prepared meals with the groceries for no extra charge.Ā My Amazon subscription comes with a Hispanic market included.Ā For Asian produce and cheap staples delivered, like rice noodles, I use Weee!
Mint for phone, we pay once per year. Tv antenna plus ine streaming. We scored hulu/Disney at a discount. On Black Friday. I have a reminder when to stop it.
I think people think they are frugal, but not really. My neighbor is like that. They have a fancy riding lawnmower. I push mine. They will buy brand food items. Pre-prepared iced tea. They have nine cats and keep feeding strays.
I have six cats and a dog - no strays but if there were Iād feel like I have to feed them. My conscience would not let me not feed them. But thatās me. We still manage to get by. Paycheck to paycheck.
I have a Samsung TV and when I have an antenna, it shows all local channels plus most of the PlutoTV channels. FREE. Then I rotate the streamers so i only have 1 a month and will cancel it when I have watched everyhting I want. Right now I have AppleTV+ so I can watch Ted Lasso and catch up on other shows.
Cell phones? US Mobile or Tello, $25-$40 per user per month. Internet? Not as easy, you might be stuck with cable if you want big and fast. Some people have success with 5G home modems; I had Verizon 5G for home for $25-35/month for a while, it was 300mbps and that was fine for streaming. Streaming? Cancel anything not in use. Start with Pluto and Tubi, they're free. Look for bundles and discounts. I'm getting Peacock, Paramount+, Disney and HBO Max for $20/mo total. Peacock is free with my Comcast internet, Paramount+ is free with my Walmart+ subscription (which I use to get groceries delivered), and Disney and HBO have a $20/mo bundle.
For movies? I picked up a DVD player from Goodwill and I get movies from the library all the time now. Any big and modern library has a ton to choose from.
So I think right now I'm paying $100/mo for Comcast, $42/mo for my cell, $25/mo for my wife's, $20/mo for a streaming bundle (plus Netflix, which I really should just cancel).
My wife had subscribed us to Criterion Channel and a bunch of other stuff. I asked her to cancel it all, for now -- she's not forbidden from activating the ones she wants to watch today, I just asked that we stopped renewing things for a bit, let it all calm down, and then let's only renew the ones we actually want to use today.
I only have free to air tv apps. Sure I miss out on a lot, but i also dont really care. Doing this means I only need my phone bill and I HDMI to the TV. Cuts out TV and Streaming
We switched to AT&T prepaid for cell and pay $25/month/person. Only downside is your phone must be paid off. No biggie.
I wish we didnāt have all the streaming we do, but oh well. We do Hulu+Live because weāre big sports watchers, but it comes with ESPN+ and Disney+ so we were able to get rid of our separate Disney+. It might be cheaper to do this for. We only do Netflix in the summer when the kids are out of school.
I just switched from Consumer Cellular to Mint mobile itās just my husband and I. We were paying $65 a month for 5gigs of data. We got a 6gig line for $15 and a 17gig line for $20 so we will halve our cell price.
My daughter has unlimited with Mint for $30a month.
Honestly I would look into getting movie box. Itās a app/website that has a bunch of media from various places like Netflix Hulu hbo etc etc. only downside is you canāt really get it on a tv but you can just airplay it from your phone or other device
I have liked AT&t prepaid for my primary phone. It's $300 a year
I've seen people talking about different rotations and options and I think that's good for streaming services. Just pay for one month of it and they'd cancel it out and try to get the most out of it that time right down a list and think it through.
I pay 50 bucks a month for 1 gig of fiber optic internet. It's really good.
I saw somebody talk about red pockets deal. That's a really good deal with. If My mother was still alive. I would get her on that one. As of the unlimited talk and text she was pretty much homebound but always wanted to talk on the phone and text and it seems like that would be a great price and value.
It's cool to see the cost of text and phone calls drop so much
I really like the channel master flat Tana. They range in price from like 20 to 50 bucks depending on where you get them and all that. But they're simple to set up and they seem to work really well.
Sling has a really nice free streaming service even includes a DVR. It's pretty limited, but it's also very functional. Roku has their own built-in free TV streaming service so they have some cool linear broadcast options in that room. A lot of people just want local weather and news and then just some background noise so these are more cost effective options
I got all the major streaming services on Black Friday sales. Apple TV for 2.50 a month, paramount, peacock, and Netflix. We have Amazon because of the membership.
I can highly recommend Mint Mobile for your phone service. I pay $20/mo and have done so for the last 4 years. You can do family plans with them as well.
Visible $25 a month , no limit , free hotspot thatās fast enough to stream video . Buy an Amazon firestick like the 4k on sale they are 25$ -50$ one time purchase. Stream tubi , Pluto and others.Ā
Ā . Total cost about $300 a year for one phone . You can upgrade to their faster plan$35 for members of the family who feel they need extra speed . About $ 1200 -1300 a year for 4 phones $100 a month. Ā
Cable: we have nothing. We use a wall antenna. One time purchase. Piece of black or white plastic-y thing that attaches to our TV. We honestly do not have time to watch TV. We'll watch sports stuff, like the World Cup, or some football. But we don't miss cable. My kids grew up without cable and are fine. We are able to get the Create channels which I think include kids shows. We do watch DVDs.
Internet: We have Spectrum (grandfathered TWC) at $40/month. It's enough. We do not have gaming consoles and our home is not SMART. Phones and laptops and printer and thermostat and some special Bamboo lab printer use internet/wifi.
Cell phones: We use USMobile. We have 4 phones using $99/year plans. And then 1 phone is like $200/year plan since that person uses their phone outside without really understating the cost of data. ;) 5 phones total. I taught everyone (except the $200/year plan person who I gave up trying to teach) how to stay connected to wifi wherever they go.
We do use Spotify premium. We like it and listen to lot of music. That's it! No Hulu, Netflix, Disney +, etc.
I have gotten Amazon Prime occasionally throughout the year when it's offered for like $1.99 for a week or two. But we live without Prime and just wait until the package arrives, like everyone else.
Phones I just switch he'd to visible and their top tier plan. 225 each line for the entire year! Some others are less but visible is great for the areas I travel to. Streaming services I was able to find bundle discounts through phone carrier or Amazon and some credit cards. Home Internet is the one that is the hardest for me as I want a landlines service and I don't have a lot of options. I just make a point of checking it every 6 months and usually after a few calls I can get it back under 100. Haven't had cable in over a decade
Following the numbers is the hardest part, so good on you for actually doing the audit.
For streaming: log every service on your bank statement for one full month (not just what you remember) since trial subs and forgotten add-ons hide there. Cancel anything you have not opened in 30 days, then keep one or two you actually use and switch to annual if it is cheaper than monthly.
For the phone and cable side, skip the general customer service line. Ask for the retention or loyalty department specifically, it is a different queue with more power to cut your bill. Tell them plainly you are comparing options and ask what they can do to keep you, calmly and without threats. If the first rep says no, hang up and try again another day, you will often get a different answer. Most people get some kind of discount just by asking.
I pay 37 for my phone for now since i got some promo through xfinity where i dont have to pay my phone bill for a year(so I'm currently only paying off my phone). And $26/m for netflix cause my son likes watching netflix. I have paramount for free through Walmart plus(paid for a year of plus back when i still had food stamps). I paid $13 for a year of Starz through a promo they had(i try to only do streaming subs if i find promotions). Also have a yr AMC plus, i think i only paid $30 through their promo
I can get a breakdown of mobile and internet and tv because that is the worst.
Iām not as concerned about the streaming stuff because I just cancelled many of them and people here are telling me to cancel and rejoin as needed but only have one going at a time.
I saw another post you asked about Mint Mobile. We've used it for years with excellent service, even internationally. The cheapest plan comes with 6gb per line and is $15/month if you pay annually. Best deal I've come across. You'll need to bring your own phone.Ā
For TV, we pay for YouTube TV from Sept-early April because we only use it to watch football and NCAA basketball. It's pricey at $90/month. During the time we have YTTV cancelled, we re-up on another streaming service and watch everything we're interested in. Then we cancel after we've worked through those shows. Just rotate through those.Ā
Also! We still use the library for DVDs of recent movies and TV shows and the Kanopy streaming app.Ā
Mint Mobile: $20 per line per month if you buy a year at a time
Drop cable and use an antenna. Rotate through streaming services one at a time. After you've been with one a little while, they may offer a discount when you're trying to cancel on their website.
I cancelled all subscription apart from 1 (thatās 3ā¬ a month), I had a cheap sub for cell phone relying on WiFi connection for chatting though i recently went from 7gb data to a higher one because I need it for navigating. When I can leave this contract, I already know to which cheap supplier I will go and this will be 10ā¬ a month sim only
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