Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

[captainspoke]

...
- Gym 35640 yen / year, 2970 yen / month
...
Also will sign up for iCloud storage 50GB for 1560 yen / year, 130 yen / month

As long as you're happy, and making your life better like RetireJapan said, it will be money well invested in yourself.

These seem like investing in yourself. Some may quibble with the gym (private vs public/community, if available), but if it's one that keeps you going, then either would be worth it.

And iCloud... photography is a hobby--I've got 13GB of photos on apple's servers.

[sugus]

These seem like investing in yourself. Some may quibble with the gym (private vs public/community, if available), but if it's one that keeps you going, then either would be worth it.

About the gym membership, I was very reluctant to do it and thought about it for a while... That's when a friend told me it would be a good investment in my health. Also, compared to other gym memberships that cost 10,000 yen or more, I found it to be pretty affordable. It's not a super fancy gym, just a few machines and a lot of treadmills but still okay.

And iCloud... photography is a hobby--I've got 13GB of photos on apple's servers.

That's great, I am also taking more and more space on iCloud... quite convenient

[Petronius]

I work as a freelancer so some of these subscriptions are both for Personal and professional use:

- Apple One family (1850 jpy/month->22,200jpy/year)
- Amazon Prime (Included with my Amazon gold card, ~4400 jpy/year)
- Microsoft 365 (594jpy/month ->7128/year) provides my professional email. Will soon cancel as Apple now implemented custom domain with iCloud+ and I pay for Apple One
- Office 365 (~5,000jpy/year, I buy the personal version one year at a time on eBay or other market place when I find a good deal)

I should be able to go with just Apple One + an annual license of Office 365 so ~ 27,000Jpy/year

I used to have Netflix but I now either buy on the apple store or sail the high seas
My MMA gym is 130,000 jpy/year but this is the last thing I would cut

[jcherni]

(TL, DR: I paid the HIkari TV receiver rent for years without noticing/remembering)


Subscriptions are very dangerous, and you definitely need to be paying attention.
Please keep a list of every service you are subscribed to.


Recently I noticed that I had been paying the rent for the HIkari-TV receiver (500 yen a month) for years without noticing (or rather, I forgot I was paying it).

I got the HIkari TV pack many years back, and it was paid embedded with my NTT Flets bill for the internet.
I did cancel the HIkari TV after a few years, but decided to keep the receiver, for whatever reason (it was long before I start thinking about my finances, so probably I thought that 500 yen a month was nothing to worry about)

Skip to last year, my apartment started offering internet through the TV cable, so I canceled my NTT internet.
A few weeks later, I received a letter from Hikari TV asking me to pay the month's rent.
I actually thought that someone had stolen my ID or something and subscribed to the HIkari-TV, because I couldn't remember for the love of God of ever having subscribed to it myself.

Thankfully, I called them and they were nice to investigate the reasons, and then we did discover that, because I canceled the NTT, the bill for the HIkari-TV receiver rent was then sent separately. I did cancel it soon after and returned the receiver (which was luckily stored in the back of my closet for years).
But yeah, a lot of my 500 yen coins went to pay someone's salary on HIkari-TV...

[nickr]

Recently I noticed that I had been paying the rent for the HIkari-TV receiver (500 yen a month) for years without noticing (or rather, I forgot I was paying it).

Ah, I know what that's like. I somehow signed up for a UK Amazon Prime subscription without realizing, and didn't notice for two years!

[goodandbadjapan]

Recently I noticed that I had been paying the rent for the HIkari-TV receiver (500 yen a month) for years without noticing (or rather, I forgot I was paying it).

Ah, I know what that's like. I somehow signed up for a UK Amazon Prime subscription without realizing, and didn't notice for two years!

I did that too but noticed after about 6 months. They are sneaky at the checkout.

[mighty58]

I paid for SkyPerfect for about a year and a half after moving without noticing. I thought I had cancelled it, but it must have gotten lost in the list of to-do's during the move. I also thought I was smarter than to do something stupid like that, but life has a way of humbling you sometimes.

[7-seasons.com]

It helps to check your credit card bill once in awhile, or cancel it and see how many companies come asking.

It's tough to stop the ones that you need... for the last couple of years I would just take the 1-month free subscription of Netflix and then quit before being charged, did that 2 or 3 times. I was able to watch everything that I wanted in those days but I think that the content has gotten better. And for video streaming I just have one service at a time - like Netflix for awhile, then cancel and switch to Hulu for example.

I have a basic Apple photo backup, Netflix, news, hobby subscription, all fairly low tier plans. They probably add up to around 4,000-5,000 JPY per month. I don't have a TV (yet), using Mineo for the cheap phone plan. But even just typing this out makes me want to cancel something

[MajesticSoup]

The only subscription services I have are:

- Gym - 96,000 a year (OUCH) / 8000 yen/month
- Netflix 17,880 yen / year, 1490 yen/month

Trying to stop myself from getting more until my income increases.

I should probably cancel gym and do at-home workouts, but it's very difficult to get myself to do anything at home, so maybe it's a worthwhile investment.

[7-seasons.com]

The only subscription services I have are:

- Gym - 96,000 a year (OUCH) / 8000 yen/month
- Netflix 17,880 yen / year, 1490 yen/month

Trying to stop myself from getting more until my income increases.

I should probably cancel gym and do at-home workouts, but it's very difficult to get myself to do anything at home, so maybe it's a worthwhile investment.

I would stick with those, nice. Health trumps as long as you are going there. Only thought would be to find a cheaper gym if possible, or those outdoor free ones but you wouldn't want to disrupt a good routine!