Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Tips to save money in Japan, life better for less, etc.
Viralriver
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Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2020 5:58 am

Re: Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Post by Viralriver »

Necroing to add mine here.
  • Hot yoga: 117,600 JPY per year (ouch, but I have back problems and it's been helpful)
  • Japanese lessons: 108,000 JPY per year (1 lesson per week)
  • Portable wifi: 56,280 JPY per year (company covers this)
  • Mobile: 42,800 JPY per year (company covers this)
  • Spotify: 31,000 JPY per year (family plan, and my entire family is on this, but I pay)
  • DAZN: 19,000 JPY per year (will probably cancel in a year due to the price hike)
  • OCN internet: 14,520 JPY per year (we get 回線 provided, but need the provider. We went for this but now realise we could probably have gotten someting else for free...)
  • Amazon Prime: 6,000 JPY per year (as I move to Rakuten I wonder if I can remove this..)
  • Costco: 4,840 JPY per year (I don't use this enough to really warrant it, but it gives me access to food that I crave lol)
  • Credit card: 2,750 JPY per year (I'll be upgrading this but knowing I'll get the cash back in points)
Will be joining a gym soon as well, but Anytime Fitness as they're a little cheaper than average. Hot Yoga is a large dent in my wallet, and I stupidly spent a year on it without going even 5 time, at a higher price.. I've lowered it to a 4x per month plan which is the price above, still expensive but will improve my motivation. If I don't go 4 times every month for the next 3 months, I'll cancel. I think we're also paying monthly for a carbon monoxide detector.. need to look into this. We do have Netflix but someone else pays (small yay).

It's been pretty carthatic to add this here - I know I've been overspending and this makes it even more obvious. It's a monthly spend of ~40,000 JPY and I'd like to reduce this. Hot yoga is a pain. I should probably see if I can just do stuff at home instead.
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RetireJapan
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Re: Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Post by RetireJapan »

Viralriver wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:23 am Hot yoga is a pain. I should probably see if I can just do stuff at home instead.
The Down Dog app is really nice. I haven't made a habit of it, but might try to restart.
English teacher and writer. RetireJapan founder. Avid reader.

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Beaglehound
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Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:21 pm

Re: Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Post by Beaglehound »

Hadn’t realised that DAZN is about to increase its prices by over 50%. That’s a brave move, but I suppose they think they know what they are doing…
zeroshiki
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Posts: 881
Joined: Thu May 27, 2021 3:11 am

Re: Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Post by zeroshiki »

I read that they're increasing internationally as well so the company itself might be in trouble. Would be interesting what happens to those sports contracts they own now. Skapa and Wowow must be licking their chops.
kawasemi
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Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2022 8:59 am

Re: Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Post by kawasemi »

I cancelled a bunch of subscriptions about two years back by picking up a Synology NAS (Network Attached Storage) and two hard drives to go in it. Highly recommended. This eliminated a few subscriptions:
  • Flickr Pro Storage for my Photo Library
  • iCloud and Google Drive, both of which used to continually remind me, "You're almost out of storage" but I no longer am
  • Netflix (I try to only do one streaming service at a time)
Subcriptions I still have:
  • Hulu
  • Online ukulele lessons
  • Minecraft Realm for the kid
  • Notabli private social network to share my kids photos to family back home (after I quit the Facebook)
  • Fastmail
  • Amazon Prime
zeroshiki
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Joined: Thu May 27, 2021 3:11 am

Re: Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Post by zeroshiki »

For online streaming, I actually find U-Next to be excellent because they have (maybe?) the largest collection of American TV shows and HBO stuff are exclusive to them. This plus the ability to create 4 accounts and 1200 points for free each month which you can exchange for movie tickets (1500 points per ticket so 2 tickets per 3 months). I think for those of you with wives/children, it would be a cheap date.
7-seasons.com
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Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:15 pm

Re: Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Post by 7-seasons.com »

RetireJapan wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:59 am
Viralriver wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:23 am Hot yoga is a pain. I should probably see if I can just do stuff at home instead.
The Down Dog app is really nice. I haven't made a habit of it, but might try to restart.
My favourite part of Hot Yoga was opening the door to leave.
Isodora
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Posts: 44
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:41 am

Re: Subscriptions: Keep or Cancel?

Post by Isodora »

Interesting thread, unless you count Mobile phone and Wifi, we never had any subscriptions at all. We don’t even have a (functioning) TV anymore. Some of what you mentioned I have never even heard of. While this saves money of course, it is not the main reason, I just don’t find it necessary. Although, when our son for a short time subscribed to Netflix I occasionally watched a film there. I do spend money though attending a class for one of my hobbies, but you only pay when you go and can choose the time as it fits your schedule.
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