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What do you spend on recurring subscription fees?

senseless

senseless

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 23, 2008
1,890
260
Pennsylvania, USA
The new business model seems to be capturing consumers wallets with regular monthly fees. We now have cable fees, cellphone, cellphone data, satellite radio, device protection insurance, streaming music, streaming movies, software, gaming and others I'm sure I overlooked. This is really starting to add up. How much do you think you spend on regular monthly charges for entertainment, media and other things?
 
$40 Internet
$120 Cell Phones/iPad
$10 Gym membership
$12 Netflix

You're right they do add up. I guess it's a pretty clever business model to syphon off money from the consumer monthly rather than a larger upfront fee. So far I've been able to avoid most of them. Considering dropping Netflix as well.
 
$60 - internet
~$30 - cell phone (ATT mobile share with wife and her parents)
$8 - Netflix
$10 - Google all access music

And I piggyback off my parents' cable subscription for HBOGo and Showtime Anywhere.
 
I don't have too many subscriptions I personally pay for...
- $95.00/month - Comcast Cable/Internet: includes extended basic, HD, HBO, showtime, and 10mbs internet. It's a very good deal, but Boston has such a competitive cable/internet market
- $45.00/month -Gym/Pool Membership (somehow I'm still on the college kid plan)
- $0.99/month iCloud storage
- $75/month Boston MBTA LINK Pass (unlimited subway + bus)

I also have these that are paid by others
- Verizon Cellphone - paid for by parents on family plan
- Sirius/XM Sat radio - paid for by my father, I could do without it honestly
- BMW Assist - paid for by my father (similar to OnStar program)
- iPad (VZW) Data - paid for by my employer
- Pager - paid for by my employer (yes, I have a pager in 2015)
- Netflix & Hulu - I use my girlfriend's account :D

Things I pay for that I do not receive:
- $15/yr - Better Home & Garden Magazine (for my mom)
- $12/yr - Smithsonian Magazine (for dad)
- $30/month - Unlimited Carwash Membership for my dad (split with my sister)

Regular donations processed through my debit account:
- $100/month to American Red Cross
- $50/month to the Alzheimers Association
- $50/month to the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

Subtract rent, electric, heating/cooking gas, gas for the car, food, and money put away for savings, and I'm just about broke... one more year until this residency and its meager pay are over.
 
Last edited:
Phone - $16
Netflix - $12ish
Internet - $99
PSN Gold - However much that is ($89/year?)

Then of course there are the non-entertainment things like power, rates, water, insurance, car rego... plus I have a website or two that I'm paying a hosting provider for, one of which I want to cancel this year when it expires. I also still need to decide whether to continue with HBO Now once the free month expires.

(Prices in NZD)
 
Evernote - £35/yr
Apple iCloud - £2.99/mo / £35.88/yr
Netflix - £5.99/mo / £71.88/yr
Dropbox - £79/yr
Adobe CC - £190.55/yr
Amazon Student - £39/yr
PrivateInternetAccess - £26.45/yr

Total: £477.75/yr

I'm a university student in the UK. Used to pirate everything I wanted, now everything goes through my business. Trying to keep things legitimate.
 
The only things I subscribe to are periodicals, or publications. I have no subscriptions to any form of social media, although, obviously, I pay a monthly fee for high speed broadband & wifi internet access with what used to be the State telephone company.

I have a paid subscription to The Economist, and to Foreign Policy. Both of these allow for hard copies (to be delivered) and for online access.

Re mobile phones, I used to have a paid subscription, and found it an utter nuisance, as I have often been sent abroad (to the sort of places where that company could not provide any sort of mobile coverage) at short notice for months on end, and thus, had no use whatsoever for it.

Suspending the various mobile phone contracts, with a view to renewing them subsequently, proved impossible, as did arranging any sort of flexibility in these contracts. Anyway, at work abroad, I always had an official work phone, and so didn't have to use my own.

These days, when I am home, I use a pay-as-you-go system on my personal mobile.

For my mother, we have cable TV, which includes the main terrestrial channels and a few cable channels. I am not particularly happy with the service and range, but, as I don't watch much TV, and as my mother (who has dementia) is perfectly happy with it, for now, I have done little except for some desultory research into what other options may be available to us.
 
Monthly fees:

Cable/Internet/Phone bundle plus HBO - $125
Cell phone - $60
Gym membership - $10
Sirius/XM - $30 for 6 months. I get same deal each time renewal comes around.
Charity - Automatic charges to credit card from UNICEF, Wounded Warriors and Boston Children's Hospital.
 
Monthly:
>Spotify
>Netflix
>Crunchyroll (need to cancel, hardly use)

Quarterly:
>Financial Times (I have free digital access via my university, but like having the weekend paper delivered)

Annually:
>PSN+ and Xbox Live

Nothing too excessive, though things like Crunchyroll need to go. Only £4.99 per month but I don't even remember the last time I used it :confused:
 
Comcast Internet - $50/mo
AT&T Wireless - $70/mo (but fully reimbursed by my company)

All my other recurring expenses are related to my condo and car.
 
Per month*:
  • $11 for cheap, bulk shared hosting
  • $30 for a high speed VPS
  • $40 for assorted SEO tools

*not counting internet (Cable @ like $70 or something), cellphone (AT&T @ $8), and stuff like that. I used to pay $0.99 a month for iCloud, but canceled that because I only ever used 1.5GB.
 
If we just stick with media/entertainment then for me it would be...

- Att Uverse ($125)
- Spotify family account ($14.95)
- Netflix ($8)
- Amazon Prime ($99/year)

We do have a family gym membership, but I don't really consider that entertainment... seriously, for me it's hard work! There's nothing entertaining or fun about a hour on the elliptical. ;)
 
Monthly
icloud 200 GB 3.99
hbo now 14.99
myfico 21.99
Adobe production cc package student pricing 21$

Yearly
Chase Sapphire Preferred 95$
Amazon prime student 39
Citi Bike 149$
 
Last edited:
  • Internet/voice/tv: $120
  • Cell phone: $80
  • SiriusXM: $10
  • Spotify: $10
  • Netflix: $8
  • Gym: $35
 
A.Goldberg said:
- Pager - paid for by my employer (yes, I have a pager in 2015)
Click to expand...

Wow.

I have about 600/mo in recurring non- utility/loan/mortgage payments... Internet, cell, personal webhosting, netflix, newshosting, gym, audible, magazines, etc...
 
Things I pay for:
  • Spotify Student (£4.99/month)
  • Three Phone PAYG (£15/month)
  • iOS Development Programme (£79/year)

Things I partially pay for (shared):
  • Virgin Media internet, phone, TV
  • The Times subscription
  • Netflix
  • Roomie Service
 
zmunkz said:
Wow.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Pagers are still very common in healthcare. Most of the hospitals want to avoid the confidentiality and security issues. I suppose the best benefit of the pager is that they don't use cellular network prone to failure during emergencies or disasters. My pager's AA battery lasts about a month too.
 
Every month I have to pay the following "subscription fees"
Electricity - $80
Gas - 100
Cable (internet) - 40
Satellite (tv) - 120
Cell phone - 150
Landline - 40
Adobe (Lightroom + PS) - 10
Microsoft (office) - 10
Gym - 40
Subway pass - 40
 
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