How does this happen though? I don't even pay a single subscription, I can't imagine just signing up for loads and just throwing my money away.
this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2026
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A lot of them are set up to automatically charge monthly or renew annually.
Me: These subscription costs are really getting crazy. We should cancel any that we don't use regularly and just resubscribe when we have something specific that we want to watch.
My partner every couple of weeks ever since: I would still cancel [service that you use at least once a week but I rarely do].
Me: And I would cancel [service that you use once every few months but I never do].
And here we are, with subscriptions for most services.
Cancel subscription, the headline:
Millenials are killing subscription-based businesses!
😛
Easy to do considering subscriptions are out of control. The US is getting to a point where people will have to start paying a subscription to breathe air. The good news is there will probably be 3 different tiers of air subscription.
Oh you want air without ads?
So 1.5 trips to the grocery store.
Where is this cheaper than Aldi market?
Those are rookie numbers.
Oh no, with those savings they could pay a month of rent in 5 years or so!
Hey if they cut out the avacado toast it would only take 4.5 years
$250/year starting investing in 2020 into the regular S&P 500 would be worth $3,703 today. So maybe as much as a month and a half of rent depending on where you live. However the point being is, if the subscription is unused, you're not getting any value for it. A free month (or more) of rent is something you'll actually use.
would be worth $3,703 today. Or perhaps $250 tomaro when the AI bubble pops. An investment in the market is obviously worth more to those high-living traders, of course (and those fee-loving brokers), so they concur.
Yeah, I was just taking the piss. Honestly I would love even an extra spare $20 a month!
I might not just know "ThE vAlUe Of A dOlLaR!!¡" but 20 dollars would make no difference a month.
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A common insurance co-pay to see a Primary Care Physician (regular family doctor) is $40. That could mean going to the doctor or not for some folks.
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$20 would pay for five different 30 day prescriptions of common generic prescription drugs.
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$25 ($5 short) would buy more than a month's worth of insulin.
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$20 will by 35lbs or rice. That's well over 2 weeks worth of meals (at 2000 calories a day).
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$20 will pay for one month of mobile phone service with unlimited talk and text along with 4GB of data (as well as hotspot functionality)
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$20 would pay for 100 full charges on a very large ebike battery. Thats enough to go 7500 miles of range on average.
Yeah, but it would make a marginal if almost unnoticeable dent in any bills I'm actually stressed/worried by.
What is the dollar figure of your highest interest bill and its interest rate?
While I agree $20 doesn't go far, a $20 bill at least makes sure I have enough to give my kid if he says he needs a couple bucks.
Which as always is a fair answer. I do get feelings of joy remembering asking my parents for something and them actually saying yes for like a book/video game/flash drive. Hell, I remember being excited exactly that way getting an 8gb flash drive so I could finally burn dvd's to something other than physical DVD's.
Hope your kid gets that too!
Working as inteded. The whole move to subscriptions is because people tend to forget about them. They stop using a service but don't cancel it.
Which is why I'm careful. That is why I always reject the "no payments or interest for 6 months" offers stores sometimes have - I "know" they won't remind me to pay it off in 6 months and then I'm paying more.
Money they should have spent on vasectomies
If it’s a subscription that should really be a one-time purchase, best to look for alternatives. Especially with software subscriptions, there’s often an option that is completely free that does the job well enough, if not better.
I'm surprised it's that low.
Suspect if they looked at subset of adults with families it would be even higher.
adults with families have more money, so yeah it would be higher.
That's how gym memberships have worked forever.
Once a year, I make a spreadsheet of my transactions and sort them by name to review subscriptions.
But honestly, just scrolling through your transactions once a week it easy to catch and cancel stuff you don't use very often
Just wait until you see how much they waste on unused life insurance!
Just wait until you see how much they waste on unused life insurance!
I know you're joking, but lots of people buy really bad life insurance products (whole life, universal variable policies) that are a horrible waste of money in 99.9% of people's situations.
A large-ish term life insurance is fine if you have a family that needs to replace your income if you die early. Other than that, you only need enough money to get your remains put in the ground without burdening your family. Estimate $10k or so for full funeral and burial plot if that is your desire. If you just want cremation and spreading of ashes is much cheaper. If you've got the cash for that, you don't even need a small term policy for that.
Not really comparable things though
I think they were joking.
There is a one in a thousand chance that they weren't, let's spread the odds around to share the burden.
My ex had three separate Amazon prime subscriptions going at once for three separate accounts and only used one of them. It was a lot of money wasted for no reason. I'm convinced most people never actually look at their bank account. Once a month I go through the expenses and make sure they all add up, it's really not hard to do and catches weird stuff like this
which is 20 a month.
not a huge economic loss. that's two drinks at a bar, our four coffees at starbucks.
people are spending a lot more than that other places. I have known plenty of people who are pay $2400-3000 a year on gym memberships they never use, because they had to get on to a 'good gym with a steam room' or something utterly absurd like that. who also whine about how broke they are and how expensive everything is... the same folks who ask you why you don't have the newest iphone that just came out and talk about how 'old' their 1 year old phone is.
or just the habit of eating out a few times a week, will easily run you $300 a month or more.
$20 for two drinks at the bar? Must be some cheap drinks, hell I haven't seen cocktails under $15 in a couple of years now, and craft beer pints are $10+. Wild how much prices have ramped up, but our paychecks sure haven't.
cocktails are expensive because they take time to make. $15 cocktails is pretty cheap for me, where I am they are often closer to $20 unless you're at a dive bar. $10 is a domestic beer or a house wine, which is what most folks drink when they go out.
That's $20 a month. Not really a huge amount. Compare that with how much is spent on gas that could be saved with an EV, it's a drop in the bucket
Yeah, I was gonna say, that's like a single Netflix subscription for the year these days. That's not a lot at all.
Nothing in comparison to 200 bucks per month for a Claude max subscription from Antrophic.
Are 'normal' people paying for that? I can see coders and those who's companies are paying for it, but I can't imagine a lot of individuals are. I use my own LLM at home, and while not as 'amazing' as Claude, it get's 90% of the tinkering I want to do done pretty easily.
Not this household.