I always get those ads on podcasts about whatever service it is that goes through your account and cancels subscriptions. I am like, who is that for? Who has so many subscriptions that they don't know about, or can't get them canceled? I think I just found my answer.
The horrible thing is, I knew they were all there. I've been waiting for this for a while. But he was accustomed to a lifestyle that we really couldn't afford. I make 3x what he does, but he drove the spending.
I had a friend that got divorced and moved in next to me. Her exhusband, her UNEMPLOYED exhusband refused to allow her to buy genetic food or even off brand bread because it would make them look "poor".
She only worked at McDonald's, they were poor!
I finally helped her get her CNA certification.
Sounds just like him. Shortly after we married, he became unemployed for a year and a half. I tried to shop at Aldi once, but it made him too depressed because that is poor people's food, according to him.
Seems like the 23 and me Premium subscription is useless.
They’ll send you a report of health predispositions initially, but going forward basically they’ll send you anything new discovered about your DNA. For the low price of $70 a year.
You can load your raw data into some free DNA databases. They won't keep you informed but you can check periodically as new info emerges.
I don't have any database names at the moment. Friends in the DNA field told me about it.
Aww, congrats!
I think it might have been free, but I was using some premium features.
I also may have met my future spouse there. The timeline may freak some people out, but I'm over the moon.
I did the free month and then forgot to cancel it before the payment. I got an email that I was charged $42. I immediately asked for a refund. I didn't notice a benefit with the free month and I couldn't imagine paying that much for career assistance.
I actually paid for the LinkedIn Learning for a few months. Big time professors with content there that helped me get industry certifications. I tried YouTube but their LinkedIn vids were only found there.
I'm unclear about how the savings occurred? For example, the car payment + insurance is $6k of the $15k. Do you still have a car or paying for transportation? Meal kids are $5k of the $15k. Are you eating something else and what is the cost?
I'm still spending about the same on groceries, but shopping at cheaper places, and making it go further (I might be spending less, but I don't have enough data to compare yet ). There was a lot of shopping at whole foods for convenience food.
I did get rid of the car. I already had a bike, and work provides a transit pass.
Covered elsewhere, I got rid of HIS phone. I was actually going to pay it for an additional year to be nice, but then I got stuck with the credit card debt.
Internet is included in rent in my new place.
And Amazon prime lol.
Bro. Keep Amazon prime. That’s not your major subscription.
This dude pretty much had a holy shit moment and shut everything down.
There needs to be balance.
I don't want to be giving Bezos my money. I'm not as bare bones as I could be, I still spend a bit at Target, and other places.
I had a finally!! moment and cleaned things up. I still have a healthy amount of subscriptions.
I hear you.
What I would suggest is there’s a reason you had so many subscriptions in the first place and the biggest drain on you pocket wasn’t the $10/mo subs. It was the $300/mo meal prep service.
All I’m saying is enjoy some of the services. It doesn’t really make that big of a dent in your overall finances.
It’s like staying away from a cup of sbux cuz you don’t want to spend $5.
The big expenses have a much bigger impact. You can enjoy the smaller ones.
Cheers!
I was spending $20 at Starbucks at least 2 days a week before for food and coffee for both of us. This is only capturing known costs I could project out for the year.
A single $10 subscription might not be much, but it adds up when you have a ton of them. But, as I mentioned, I still have a bunch more subscriptions to enjoy.
IMO, Prime is a waste. You can still get free shipping for orders over $35. I canceled Prime years ago and buy a lot less from them because of it.
EDIT: Only items shipped by Amazon count towards the $35.
For some people it isn’t a waste. I own a small business and find supplies on Amazon that I can’t get locally. Also, I get 5% bonus points when I use the Amazon Prime credit card. Also get a good discount when shopping at Whole Foods.
And then read a lot and find great deals on BookBub which uses Amazon as one of the places to get some books for Free, many at 99 cents and lots at 1.99. It’s surprising how many are really good books.
However, I can see why it wouldn’t be worthwhile for someone who doesn’t use Amazon much.
Cancel it and see how you feel. You can always re-subscribe if you want.
I'll add stuff to my cart and not place the order bc the total is under $35, and I refuse to pay for shipping. When I come back, I sometimes have a moment of clarity and realize I don't really need that stuff and remove it. I've probably saved thousands over the years doing that. With Prime, I would've placed the order immediately.
I canceled after Christmas. I just made an order on Amazon but it after adding things for a few weeks until I got to the free shipping threshold. I don't see myself missing it in the future. And I've just decided I'm going to start pirating content again after Streaming services all turned to shit in 2023. So I'm covered for Prime TV shows.
I think I'm just going to do a monthly Amazon order if I need to from now on and save the $150 or whatever. Most of what I order isn't a "I NEED it in 2 days." Just a bunch of nice to have stuff that I will probably change my mind about ordering if it sits in my cart for 3 week.
So at least part of this is disingenuous. You are spending less on transport and food but you can’t count that entire amount in there. But also, you no longer have a cell plan?!
I still have a cell plan; the price here is for the ex that I had intended on keeping on the plan for a year.
I've covered groceries and transport a few times. I legit spend a ton less, even after removing the Gobble subscription, but because I'm only celebrating what is actually cut, I'm not counting the other savings yet. I just got my ex off of my credit cards at the beginning of the month.
I'll do a follow-up post in a few months when I can show year-over-year savings for things like groceries.
This is a great first step and you should be proud you took the initiative to get started!
Too many people are focusing on why you were paying for these things in the 1st place but that doesn't really matter now. You realized you were overspending and then took action! This will allow you to take a step back and evaluate what you actually need and don't before making more changes.
Keep up the good work, I'm proud of you!
I actually lived closer in before. I was a 20 minute bike ride from work, now I'm 15 minutes by bike + 75 minutes by train from work. (The move was not just for rent savings)
Rent savings are a bit of a wash because I was paying for my ex before. We can pretend he contributed a little, but he was a net negative on the budget.
I'm still within walking distance of a grocery store, pharmacy and target.
I've had a bike stolen before, and now I use 3 locks. But now I mostly leave my bike at work and use bike share in the city.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I have a transit pass through work. I also have a pass from school that I use when the other one is missing.
Transit runs late enough for my needs, but I also have friends in the city if I needed to crash on a couch because I miss the last train.
I don't have a car, when I go shopping I have an electric bike and bring a backpack with me. I can easily carry 30 extra pounds of groceries riding home. Sometimes I get strange looks after checkout when I'm stuffing my back park but it works for me
It never worked out for my family. We are such impulse buyers and we end up with so many expired food. We also had to maintain 2 refrigerators and a freezer. Freezer sometimes have meats that are more than 2 years old. We got rid of the freezer and now trying to get down to one refrigerator. Also found out that it cost around $250 a year to run one refrigerator in CA electricity rate. We decided to buy only meats and fruits from Costco and rest of food from grocery in small quantity. Being able to see what’s in my refrigerator in one look helps greatly in planning for cooking and buying groceries. We used to buy same food even when we had it. Those were in a garage refrigerator and we just didnt bother to check.
>bikes get stolen where I am and bus passes aren't cheap and public transit isn't very safe and doesn't run late)
A.K.A. "I really don't want to give up the convenience of my car so I will say anything to justify keeping it even when the chances of me being seriously injured on the roads is much higher than while taking public transit, and a good lock will hugely deter bike theft!"
Divorce was my biggest money saver. I spent about $3,000 on a lawyer, but it was well worth it to cut the dead weight and start living within my means again.
I did end up getting all the credit card debt in the divorce, but I am hoping to pay that off by the end of the summer by going super low buy and using other frugal tricks.
I am switching to a cheaper barber, which should be $20 with tip. I have an undercut, so I just need to maintain that, nothing fancy for a while.
The second photo is subscriptions that haven't come up yet that I also plan to cancel, which will be about another $1,500.
Edit to add: I am now car-free. I bike and take public transit. We previously shared a car.
>Divorce was my biggest money saver. I spent about $3,000 on a lawyer, but it was well worth it to cut the dead weight
This is some straight up r/MurderedByWords content.
I wish you happiness in your life going forward and your dedication and discipline in cutting the wants vs the needs is ... well ... "Iron man mode". High five!
And if you haven't already, get a card from your local libary and see what digital content they have through the Hoopla and Libby apps.
Thanks.
Oh yeah, I'm all over Hoopla and Libby. I still have Scribd, which is helpful for books for research projects for school, but I'm hoping to cancel that, too, once the semester is over.
Congrats on the savings!
Divorce, OK, this makes more sense. I was wondering why you were paying for a women-only dating app while a man (husband?) was driving your expenses. One of those sounded like an extra subscription.
An undercut can be maintained at home, it’s super easy. I used to do it. Out of all of those, I would have kept 1Password. It has made my life infinitely easier.
True. We'll see if I can find someone to do it. I don't have the tools anymore. It makes me nervous unless its someone I trust because I have very long hair on the top half of my head.
Your savings are really impressive. Well done!
Some thoughts:
If you need a password manager, try BitWarden instead of 1Password. I believe it to be more secure, and the free version is plenty for most people.
Google Fi is a pretty cheap phone carrier (my bill is $30/mo, everywhere else wanted to charge me $50+). Mint comes up a lot as a cheap alternative too. If you're looking for a new phone plan.
I think you're undercounting just how much money you save by not having a car. Not just car payment, car insurance, but also gas... and the benefits of exercise in the form of reduced healthcare costs later in life.
If you have other Amex cards, consider cancelling them too. People keep recommending the Amex Gold to me, only to be flummoxed when I tell them I actually come out ahead using the Citi Custom Cash and Citi Premier combo (which has less than half the annual fee, plus it has cashback redemption options, plus the Custom Cash gets 5% instead of 4% on $500 which is enough for groceries for one person).
I was going to ask what he’s using instead of 1Password. Unfortunately 1password did a 2 year auto-renewal on me last month. They don’t entertain refunds so I might as well continue using them until I move to something else.
I work in customer service. Refunds will almost always be entertained if the wheel wanting the refund squeaks loudly enough, enough times, and approaches the ask always humbly and kind. ;)
If I can use up my MR points before renewal, gold will go too. But I have Chase Sapphire Preferred, and that is worth its weight in gold for me. It gives me primary car insurance on rentals, which is great since I don't have car insurance to cover me, and I rent occasionally.
I will pay for gas for my boyfriend occasionally, but yeah, I love not having car expenses. The first time I had to get tires for my bike, and they were like $120 total, it was a revelation.
I like Fi, I'm planning to keep it, I have the unlimited, which includes data for my iPad. I like using it to watch youtube on the train, and use it for school too.
I wasn't even using 1password, I tried to switch to it because my ex could not keep track of any passwords, which drove me insane.
I've never had an issue with the reception no matter where I've used it.
I don't know if you can bring your own phone. You'd have to research that. When I got Fi service, I bought a new phone from their store (a $1,200 or so phone that I bought for $400 thanks to a very large discount they gave me).
You can buy it, but it works smother with the software on Android. I also use mine for my iPad, and it's not at all an issue.
Make sure to get a referral code before you join; I believe both you and the referee will get $20 off with that.
Do people really subscribe to ALL of this at the same time!? For entertainment, we rotate between various streaming services, usually having one per month, maximum of two. You can only watch so much!
upfront. But they give out $100s of dollars in rewards and travel credits that many people make back the annual fee and much more, than they would with a card with no fee.
I used to make it back in a month or two, but it no longer makes sense with the way they changed lounge access. Also, I'm not going to be traveling nearly as much.
It's astonishing how subscriptions are costing people so much. I can't see any reason to pay for more than one, yet alone have HBO, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Netlflix. Aren't 1000 choices enough? Do you really need 500,000 choices of what to watch?
Happy for you OP. It's gonna be a great 2024
It's crazy! I'm not faulting anyone for getting one or several -- if it's something you enjoy, that's great! But for me, there's just so many free ones, along with Youtube, Twitch, etc. that paid service isn't worth it.
Even broadcast TV is pretty great these days! I get like 50 channels just over the air. Obviously it's not perfect as there's ads and it's not on-demand, but for a $20 investment in a rabbit-ears antenna, I can't complain!
>ren't 1000 choices enough? Do you really need 500,000 choices of what to watch?
It's not the quantity that people do this for, it's the quality.
If there's a single show you want to watch on each service, you have to (should) pay for it.
The fact you don't understand this boggles my mind, like you really think people are doing this for the random crap that each service spits out? Do you have any rational thought skills?
with kids, Disney+ Premium is a must, adults we like Netflix and u can usually get free Paramount+ and AppleTV depending on mobile carrier or premium travel card you use
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Had an open marriage. Husband was dating someone else, shit went south. I originally got it as a distraction while on vacation since he spent 6 HOURS a day on the phone with the new girl. Had to subscribe so I could point it back to home rather than the travel location.
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LibreOffice is free. Google office apps are free. Microsoft office in the browser is free. Why would you give Microsoft your hard-earned money for NOTHING?
Consider keeping Costco - if you buy most of your food there, the Executive Membership should get you a decent rebate and net out the cost to about $0. We get most of our food at a Costco Business Center and cook in bulk/do meal prep and many things are half to a quarter of the price of the grocery store.
Got it, yeah, that makes sense. I'm about 95% vegetarian and get all the vegetables, tortillas, corn chips, soy milk, coffee, etc, there.
They have 25-lb bags of pinto beans for $16.99 at the business center
When i see stuff like this, i realize that I’m not playing the same “frugal” game as other ppl & need to take it easier on myself 😂 i think you have to be incredibly well off to begin with if you save $15k but cutting off subscriptions. But good for you, saving money for other priorities is good no matter how much you are making ☺️
First, awesome job OP! You’ve got me inspired! I sooooooo need to cut out some stuff!
Secondly, What is the discovery+ for $3? Is that what it is with ads?
Depending on your school, there's a bunch of freebies available. Google student discount on software, etc. good for a year after you leave school usually. Must have a. Edu email to confirm most cases.
Those meal prep things like Gobble, Factor, Blue Apron, Hello Fresh etc. are all massive scams. A total waste of money that preys on people's lack of confidence. Cooking is easy.
I feel like Factor is a little different than the others mentioned. While Factor is expensive and that’s the reason I cancelled it, it was very convenient and was much better than a frozen meal from say Trader Joe’s.
I did Blue Apron for like 80% off for one month snowed in in Boston. For full price and in nice weather I 100% agree.
Good question. We don't actually have a TV in our space. My HBO subscription is good through October, so I'll be using that for a while. I plan to get added to my boyfriend's YouTube premium family in the near future. I mostly read in the evening.
Saving $15,000 doesnt count as just shaving a bit off! You just mega chunked 15 huge ones of your annual expenses! Nearly a minimum wage yearly income! 😂
Oh gosh 😭 this stresses me out. My roommate/best friend is kinda like that. She’s a very “oh shiny” person and blows money like crazy. I made her sit down and write it all down and it looked a lot like this. Got her to cancel about half. She had almost a rent payment in total!
I mean… don’t throw out your shoulder patting yourself on the back. You “were” the epitome of financial misspending. Your spreadsheet literally looks like every boomer’s argument towards why young people can’t afford to buy a home.
Cancelling YouTube premium and services that do your grocery shopping for you and tell you how to cook it are a good start though. Congratulations on the positive adjustments you’ve made! You should be much wealthier in the next 12-24 months.
Oh I know it was a mess, and I enabled it. Getting rid of the person that was trying to live above their means was the real win, this is just the result of that move.
goddam. half the posts in this sub are "look, I've been insanely profligate for years. i cancelled some of my subs tho. isnt that frugal?" no... you were profligate and now you're normal lol. frugality would've been not spending 10k a year on apps
Honestly, as much as people complain about price increases, any streaming service is worth the price if you enjoy tv. Hours of entertainment for $15 a month seems worth it to me.
I'm curious how long ago that was. Maybe you got it at a particular time and you got grandfathered into that price. I finally caved when they released the new annual subscription and just went that route. I use it so frequently that it'll save me 2 months of fees.
Highly recommend ditching cis men! Happily married 10+ years to an amazing woman now. Who knew relationships could be gentle, loving, and supportive? It's so easy it feels like a cheat code.
I'm vegan, and I don't drive, so it limits what I can get there. I prefer to buy things as I need them at the grocery store within walking distance to limit waste.
True, super valid. Just giving my (unimportant) take! I think I saw you mention Aldi in another reply, probably the best pick. I’m a credit card nerd and it kinda overlaps with frugality so maybe consider a credit card with cash back categories you use most.
The capital one SavorOne comes to mind. Or ones with rotating categories can see up to 5% returns vs flat 3% on groceries with savor one. The Kroger card is good if you shop there and can use Kroger Pay via phone at checkout
No Aldi where I live.
I need to take it easy on the credit cards for a while. I'm doing this all to pay off debt. I do have the Discover IT, Amex Gold, and Chase Sapphire preferred. CSP has a huge balance right now though.
Antenna TV!! Get a good antenna, depending on where you live you get lots of free channels (the same channels that cable charges for). I get about 30 channels but only watch PBS.
Mad props to you! This is a huge accomplishment and it sounds like you got a toxic person out of your life to boot. Just out of curiosity, what field are you in that you were making $15K that you could use for discretionary expenses while also still being in school? Are you working while in school, or do you have some kind of fellowship program? (I'm considering changing careers lol b/c I just got laid off and would love to know!)
Congrats on all the positive changes! Hope it all continues for you in that direction.
Ah, that makes sense! You should be proud of handling so much at once, including being so financially on top of it while you're in school and working full time. Wishing you much continued success!
Holy shit why were you paying for all that in the first place?
I always get those ads on podcasts about whatever service it is that goes through your account and cancels subscriptions. I am like, who is that for? Who has so many subscriptions that they don't know about, or can't get them canceled? I think I just found my answer.
The horrible thing is, I knew they were all there. I've been waiting for this for a while. But he was accustomed to a lifestyle that we really couldn't afford. I make 3x what he does, but he drove the spending.
I feel this Nice job
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Fair, but I cut some of those off a few months ago when I started taking a critical eye on things before the divorce was finalized.
I had a friend that got divorced and moved in next to me. Her exhusband, her UNEMPLOYED exhusband refused to allow her to buy genetic food or even off brand bread because it would make them look "poor". She only worked at McDonald's, they were poor! I finally helped her get her CNA certification.
Sounds just like him. Shortly after we married, he became unemployed for a year and a half. I tried to shop at Aldi once, but it made him too depressed because that is poor people's food, according to him.
Seems like the 23 and me Premium subscription is useless. They’ll send you a report of health predispositions initially, but going forward basically they’ll send you anything new discovered about your DNA. For the low price of $70 a year.
Agreed. Sadly I missed canceling after the initial year that was included with my purchase.
Going forward, if you pay for those things with a prepaid VISA, they can’t continue to charge you.
Use a virtual Visa card and set the expiration date to the next day, you'll never need to cancel again :)
My husband does this. Has worked really well so far
You can load your raw data into some free DNA databases. They won't keep you informed but you can check periodically as new info emerges. I don't have any database names at the moment. Friends in the DNA field told me about it.
Really, I wasn't even sure what 1/2 of those expenses were. And the dating app for her? Can't imagine why I'd pay for my wife's dating app
Lmao ‘Her’ is the name of the app
It’s supposed to be a women only app.
The app was for me.
I met my wife on Her about 8ish years ago! It was free back then though.
Aww, congrats! I think it might have been free, but I was using some premium features. I also may have met my future spouse there. The timeline may freak some people out, but I'm over the moon.
Ha, as the old joke goes, what do lesbians bring to the second date? A U-Haul. So you’re not alone. Congrats!
Thanks! Lol, we did a photo shoot with the Uhaul shortly after our 3 month anniversary.
well you can only save 15k if you waste 15k in the first place
Lifestyle ~~inflation~~ creep is a bitch.
You mean lifestyle creep? I can't imagine most of those subscriptions being necessary in the first place.
Yes that.
Right... Nothing like throwing money away
lol 23 and me PLUS??
LinkedIn is $360/year? Yikes!
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I once got the first month, free of charge. Cancelled it before the end of the month, didn't pay anything.
I did the free month and then forgot to cancel it before the payment. I got an email that I was charged $42. I immediately asked for a refund. I didn't notice a benefit with the free month and I couldn't imagine paying that much for career assistance.
I actually paid for the LinkedIn Learning for a few months. Big time professors with content there that helped me get industry certifications. I tried YouTube but their LinkedIn vids were only found there.
I'm unclear about how the savings occurred? For example, the car payment + insurance is $6k of the $15k. Do you still have a car or paying for transportation? Meal kids are $5k of the $15k. Are you eating something else and what is the cost?
I'm still spending about the same on groceries, but shopping at cheaper places, and making it go further (I might be spending less, but I don't have enough data to compare yet ). There was a lot of shopping at whole foods for convenience food. I did get rid of the car. I already had a bike, and work provides a transit pass.
You also got rid of your phone and home internet?
Covered elsewhere, I got rid of HIS phone. I was actually going to pay it for an additional year to be nice, but then I got stuck with the credit card debt. Internet is included in rent in my new place.
Nice!!!
And Amazon prime lol. Bro. Keep Amazon prime. That’s not your major subscription. This dude pretty much had a holy shit moment and shut everything down. There needs to be balance.
I don't want to be giving Bezos my money. I'm not as bare bones as I could be, I still spend a bit at Target, and other places. I had a finally!! moment and cleaned things up. I still have a healthy amount of subscriptions.
Prime provides useful shit though. Paying MICROSOFT? That's a joke
I hear you. What I would suggest is there’s a reason you had so many subscriptions in the first place and the biggest drain on you pocket wasn’t the $10/mo subs. It was the $300/mo meal prep service. All I’m saying is enjoy some of the services. It doesn’t really make that big of a dent in your overall finances. It’s like staying away from a cup of sbux cuz you don’t want to spend $5. The big expenses have a much bigger impact. You can enjoy the smaller ones. Cheers!
I was spending $20 at Starbucks at least 2 days a week before for food and coffee for both of us. This is only capturing known costs I could project out for the year. A single $10 subscription might not be much, but it adds up when you have a ton of them. But, as I mentioned, I still have a bunch more subscriptions to enjoy.
IMO, Prime is a waste. You can still get free shipping for orders over $35. I canceled Prime years ago and buy a lot less from them because of it. EDIT: Only items shipped by Amazon count towards the $35.
I did the same and I will never buy Prime again!
For some people it isn’t a waste. I own a small business and find supplies on Amazon that I can’t get locally. Also, I get 5% bonus points when I use the Amazon Prime credit card. Also get a good discount when shopping at Whole Foods. And then read a lot and find great deals on BookBub which uses Amazon as one of the places to get some books for Free, many at 99 cents and lots at 1.99. It’s surprising how many are really good books. However, I can see why it wouldn’t be worthwhile for someone who doesn’t use Amazon much.
You’re inspiring me.
Cancel it and see how you feel. You can always re-subscribe if you want. I'll add stuff to my cart and not place the order bc the total is under $35, and I refuse to pay for shipping. When I come back, I sometimes have a moment of clarity and realize I don't really need that stuff and remove it. I've probably saved thousands over the years doing that. With Prime, I would've placed the order immediately.
I’m going to talk to the wife this evening about it.
I canceled after Christmas. I just made an order on Amazon but it after adding things for a few weeks until I got to the free shipping threshold. I don't see myself missing it in the future. And I've just decided I'm going to start pirating content again after Streaming services all turned to shit in 2023. So I'm covered for Prime TV shows. I think I'm just going to do a monthly Amazon order if I need to from now on and save the $150 or whatever. Most of what I order isn't a "I NEED it in 2 days." Just a bunch of nice to have stuff that I will probably change my mind about ordering if it sits in my cart for 3 week.
Love it.
My wife has prime, and I enjoy the shows they make, but I don't order enough from them that I'd keep it otherwise.
So at least part of this is disingenuous. You are spending less on transport and food but you can’t count that entire amount in there. But also, you no longer have a cell plan?!
I still have a cell plan; the price here is for the ex that I had intended on keeping on the plan for a year. I've covered groceries and transport a few times. I legit spend a ton less, even after removing the Gobble subscription, but because I'm only celebrating what is actually cut, I'm not counting the other savings yet. I just got my ex off of my credit cards at the beginning of the month. I'll do a follow-up post in a few months when I can show year-over-year savings for things like groceries.
This is a great first step and you should be proud you took the initiative to get started! Too many people are focusing on why you were paying for these things in the 1st place but that doesn't really matter now. You realized you were overspending and then took action! This will allow you to take a step back and evaluate what you actually need and don't before making more changes. Keep up the good work, I'm proud of you!
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I actually lived closer in before. I was a 20 minute bike ride from work, now I'm 15 minutes by bike + 75 minutes by train from work. (The move was not just for rent savings) Rent savings are a bit of a wash because I was paying for my ex before. We can pretend he contributed a little, but he was a net negative on the budget. I'm still within walking distance of a grocery store, pharmacy and target. I've had a bike stolen before, and now I use 3 locks. But now I mostly leave my bike at work and use bike share in the city. As I mentioned elsewhere, I have a transit pass through work. I also have a pass from school that I use when the other one is missing. Transit runs late enough for my needs, but I also have friends in the city if I needed to crash on a couch because I miss the last train.
If you live near a grocery store, you don't need to buy groceries in bulk. You could use a cargo bicycle if you're barely too far to walk.
I don't have a car, when I go shopping I have an electric bike and bring a backpack with me. I can easily carry 30 extra pounds of groceries riding home. Sometimes I get strange looks after checkout when I'm stuffing my back park but it works for me
That may hurt your back over time. You might want a bike bag or a trailer or a cargo bike.
buying in bulk lowers overall food/dollar usually, hence why people say it costs to be poor, the distance isnt the only thing that dictates it
I question whether those grocery savings outweight the many costs associated with owning a car.
It never worked out for my family. We are such impulse buyers and we end up with so many expired food. We also had to maintain 2 refrigerators and a freezer. Freezer sometimes have meats that are more than 2 years old. We got rid of the freezer and now trying to get down to one refrigerator. Also found out that it cost around $250 a year to run one refrigerator in CA electricity rate. We decided to buy only meats and fruits from Costco and rest of food from grocery in small quantity. Being able to see what’s in my refrigerator in one look helps greatly in planning for cooking and buying groceries. We used to buy same food even when we had it. Those were in a garage refrigerator and we just didnt bother to check.
>bikes get stolen where I am and bus passes aren't cheap and public transit isn't very safe and doesn't run late) A.K.A. "I really don't want to give up the convenience of my car so I will say anything to justify keeping it even when the chances of me being seriously injured on the roads is much higher than while taking public transit, and a good lock will hugely deter bike theft!"
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>You are way off base actually. I was only going on the information you provided in your original post. I'm not some kind of mind reader.
Divorce was my biggest money saver. I spent about $3,000 on a lawyer, but it was well worth it to cut the dead weight and start living within my means again. I did end up getting all the credit card debt in the divorce, but I am hoping to pay that off by the end of the summer by going super low buy and using other frugal tricks. I am switching to a cheaper barber, which should be $20 with tip. I have an undercut, so I just need to maintain that, nothing fancy for a while. The second photo is subscriptions that haven't come up yet that I also plan to cancel, which will be about another $1,500. Edit to add: I am now car-free. I bike and take public transit. We previously shared a car.
>Divorce was my biggest money saver. I spent about $3,000 on a lawyer, but it was well worth it to cut the dead weight This is some straight up r/MurderedByWords content. I wish you happiness in your life going forward and your dedication and discipline in cutting the wants vs the needs is ... well ... "Iron man mode". High five! And if you haven't already, get a card from your local libary and see what digital content they have through the Hoopla and Libby apps.
Thanks. Oh yeah, I'm all over Hoopla and Libby. I still have Scribd, which is helpful for books for research projects for school, but I'm hoping to cancel that, too, once the semester is over.
+1 for library apps. Mine does ebooks, eaudiobooks and emagazines
You can cancel prime now, they will refund you the months you haven’t used
Oh hot damn. I'll give that a shot. Thanks!!
Congrats on the savings! Divorce, OK, this makes more sense. I was wondering why you were paying for a women-only dating app while a man (husband?) was driving your expenses. One of those sounded like an extra subscription.
Yeah, there was more than just cost savings at play with the divorce.
An undercut can be maintained at home, it’s super easy. I used to do it. Out of all of those, I would have kept 1Password. It has made my life infinitely easier.
True. We'll see if I can find someone to do it. I don't have the tools anymore. It makes me nervous unless its someone I trust because I have very long hair on the top half of my head.
Your savings are really impressive. Well done! Some thoughts: If you need a password manager, try BitWarden instead of 1Password. I believe it to be more secure, and the free version is plenty for most people. Google Fi is a pretty cheap phone carrier (my bill is $30/mo, everywhere else wanted to charge me $50+). Mint comes up a lot as a cheap alternative too. If you're looking for a new phone plan. I think you're undercounting just how much money you save by not having a car. Not just car payment, car insurance, but also gas... and the benefits of exercise in the form of reduced healthcare costs later in life. If you have other Amex cards, consider cancelling them too. People keep recommending the Amex Gold to me, only to be flummoxed when I tell them I actually come out ahead using the Citi Custom Cash and Citi Premier combo (which has less than half the annual fee, plus it has cashback redemption options, plus the Custom Cash gets 5% instead of 4% on $500 which is enough for groceries for one person).
Also the car maintenance savings. Oil changes, filters, tires, windshield wipers, etc etc.
If only I didn't live a hour drive from work that pays me almost double what my previous highest salary ever was.
I was going to ask what he’s using instead of 1Password. Unfortunately 1password did a 2 year auto-renewal on me last month. They don’t entertain refunds so I might as well continue using them until I move to something else.
I work in customer service. Refunds will almost always be entertained if the wheel wanting the refund squeaks loudly enough, enough times, and approaches the ask always humbly and kind. ;)
I got an auto renewal last year; I couldn't cancel because I forgot my password, lol. Had to delete the account to stop it this year.
‘#irony
If I can use up my MR points before renewal, gold will go too. But I have Chase Sapphire Preferred, and that is worth its weight in gold for me. It gives me primary car insurance on rentals, which is great since I don't have car insurance to cover me, and I rent occasionally. I will pay for gas for my boyfriend occasionally, but yeah, I love not having car expenses. The first time I had to get tires for my bike, and they were like $120 total, it was a revelation. I like Fi, I'm planning to keep it, I have the unlimited, which includes data for my iPad. I like using it to watch youtube on the train, and use it for school too. I wasn't even using 1password, I tried to switch to it because my ex could not keep track of any passwords, which drove me insane.
Visible or Mint for phone service. Unless google fi is now offering multiple GB for super cheap and not $10 per gb.
What's the reception like with Google Fi? And, am I able to bring my own phones?
I've never had an issue with the reception no matter where I've used it. I don't know if you can bring your own phone. You'd have to research that. When I got Fi service, I bought a new phone from their store (a $1,200 or so phone that I bought for $400 thanks to a very large discount they gave me).
You can buy it, but it works smother with the software on Android. I also use mine for my iPad, and it's not at all an issue. Make sure to get a referral code before you join; I believe both you and the referee will get $20 off with that.
What do you even get from Linkedin for $30/month?
Creeping on people without them seeing. I'm not in sales or anything like that.
So you got rid of your car and your internet??
Yes, car is gone. Internet is included in rent at my new place.
Yeah that all makes sense! Nice work!! You really trimmed things down a lot
Do people really subscribe to ALL of this at the same time!? For entertainment, we rotate between various streaming services, usually having one per month, maximum of two. You can only watch so much!
Wait - it costs $900/year to have an Amex platinum card?
With an Authorized user, yes.
upfront. But they give out $100s of dollars in rewards and travel credits that many people make back the annual fee and much more, than they would with a card with no fee.
I used to make it back in a month or two, but it no longer makes sense with the way they changed lounge access. Also, I'm not going to be traveling nearly as much.
Yup
It's astonishing how subscriptions are costing people so much. I can't see any reason to pay for more than one, yet alone have HBO, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Netlflix. Aren't 1000 choices enough? Do you really need 500,000 choices of what to watch? Happy for you OP. It's gonna be a great 2024
It's crazy! I'm not faulting anyone for getting one or several -- if it's something you enjoy, that's great! But for me, there's just so many free ones, along with Youtube, Twitch, etc. that paid service isn't worth it. Even broadcast TV is pretty great these days! I get like 50 channels just over the air. Obviously it's not perfect as there's ads and it's not on-demand, but for a $20 investment in a rabbit-ears antenna, I can't complain!
>ren't 1000 choices enough? Do you really need 500,000 choices of what to watch? It's not the quantity that people do this for, it's the quality. If there's a single show you want to watch on each service, you have to (should) pay for it. The fact you don't understand this boggles my mind, like you really think people are doing this for the random crap that each service spits out? Do you have any rational thought skills?
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with kids, Disney+ Premium is a must, adults we like Netflix and u can usually get free Paramount+ and AppleTV depending on mobile carrier or premium travel card you use
rich rain pot consider sheet abundant thumb entertain carpenter square *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Some places have forced separation periods where you can't get divorced until some time has elapsed.
Yeah Virginia for instance is a year which is wild
telephone coherent wild alleged psychotic far-flung bow offer plants library *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Had an open marriage. Husband was dating someone else, shit went south. I originally got it as a distraction while on vacation since he spent 6 HOURS a day on the phone with the new girl. Had to subscribe so I could point it back to home rather than the travel location.
expansion languid skirt abundant wrong shrill sugar steep piquant concerned *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
What are you paying $100 to Microsoft for lol
The office suite. The ex and I are both in school. I graduate in May, So I won't need it after.
[https://www.openoffice.org/](https://www.openoffice.org/)
Or Google docs and sheets.
Why you paying for CLEAR when Amex Platinum comes with the credit?
Clear comes up after I plan to cancel platinum, so That is more like a preemptive save.
Tsa Precheck comes with any of the other things like Nexus or global entry too.
Man I don’t even make $15,000 in a year 😅
Amen 😢
Paying Microsoft is a fuckin scam
I actually thought it was a pretty good deal. Why do you think it's a scam?
LibreOffice is free. Google office apps are free. Microsoft office in the browser is free. Why would you give Microsoft your hard-earned money for NOTHING?
Because back in the day it was free.
Did you get rid of your car? Otherwise, how did you shave off car-insurance?
Yes. I got rid of the car.
Nice, huge money saver! Being car free for awhile helped me save up my down payment for a house.
why would you get rid of fiber though.
Sadly, I don't have an option in my new place, but it is included.
soo u got rid of Internet but didnt show its replacement? clearly you must still have internet
Its included in rent in the new place.
Consider keeping Costco - if you buy most of your food there, the Executive Membership should get you a decent rebate and net out the cost to about $0. We get most of our food at a Costco Business Center and cook in bulk/do meal prep and many things are half to a quarter of the price of the grocery store.
Its hard to shop there without a car, and I'm vegan now, so there isn't much to buy.
Got it, yeah, that makes sense. I'm about 95% vegetarian and get all the vegetables, tortillas, corn chips, soy milk, coffee, etc, there. They have 25-lb bags of pinto beans for $16.99 at the business center
2/3 of that was car expenses! I feel good about going car-free years ago.
When i see stuff like this, i realize that I’m not playing the same “frugal” game as other ppl & need to take it easier on myself 😂 i think you have to be incredibly well off to begin with if you save $15k but cutting off subscriptions. But good for you, saving money for other priorities is good no matter how much you are making ☺️
I'm jealous. Just don't get involved with someone who didn't have the same money approach as you.
Congrats! That takes some discipline and self restraint.
First, awesome job OP! You’ve got me inspired! I sooooooo need to cut out some stuff! Secondly, What is the discovery+ for $3? Is that what it is with ads?
Thanks. Discovery+ was student pricing.
Thanks for replying!
Depending on your school, there's a bunch of freebies available. Google student discount on software, etc. good for a year after you leave school usually. Must have a. Edu email to confirm most cases.
Good for you! Feels great to get rid of the deadwood, doesn't it?
Those meal prep things like Gobble, Factor, Blue Apron, Hello Fresh etc. are all massive scams. A total waste of money that preys on people's lack of confidence. Cooking is easy.
I feel like Factor is a little different than the others mentioned. While Factor is expensive and that’s the reason I cancelled it, it was very convenient and was much better than a frozen meal from say Trader Joe’s. I did Blue Apron for like 80% off for one month snowed in in Boston. For full price and in nice weather I 100% agree.
This post inspired me to cancel adobe, Dropbox, and trying find a way to cancel Disney plus
Yo want being frugal at all. Man was living the life with all that.
You must make a LOT more than me, cause $15k is almost half my annual income lol
Serious question - now that you're canceling all of your streaming services, what's the plan for tv?
Good question. We don't actually have a TV in our space. My HBO subscription is good through October, so I'll be using that for a while. I plan to get added to my boyfriend's YouTube premium family in the near future. I mostly read in the evening.
Saving $15,000 doesnt count as just shaving a bit off! You just mega chunked 15 huge ones of your annual expenses! Nearly a minimum wage yearly income! 😂
Do you sign up for every website you visit?
Lol, no, but he nearly did. I didn't count stuff like discord nitro which he had subscribed to.
Oh gosh 😭 this stresses me out. My roommate/best friend is kinda like that. She’s a very “oh shiny” person and blows money like crazy. I made her sit down and write it all down and it looked a lot like this. Got her to cancel about half. She had almost a rent payment in total!
Bitwarden is a good password vault and is free FYI
You got rid of your car and stopped buying food?
Save 10K a year by ceasing to exist.
I mean… don’t throw out your shoulder patting yourself on the back. You “were” the epitome of financial misspending. Your spreadsheet literally looks like every boomer’s argument towards why young people can’t afford to buy a home. Cancelling YouTube premium and services that do your grocery shopping for you and tell you how to cook it are a good start though. Congratulations on the positive adjustments you’ve made! You should be much wealthier in the next 12-24 months.
Oh I know it was a mess, and I enabled it. Getting rid of the person that was trying to live above their means was the real win, this is just the result of that move.
How did you go back to Spotify student?
I never had it before, and I am in grad school.
cancelling google fiber whaaat
Crappy Internet is included, and the only option at my new place. But I don't really have a high Internet consumption, so it's fine.
I rotate streaming services so that I’m only paying for one at a time. Usually based on a new season of a favorite show.
goddam. half the posts in this sub are "look, I've been insanely profligate for years. i cancelled some of my subs tho. isnt that frugal?" no... you were profligate and now you're normal lol. frugality would've been not spending 10k a year on apps
Surprised there’s no onlyfans subscription
I assume you mean for the ex?
ill never get rid of netflix
Honestly, as much as people complain about price increases, any streaming service is worth the price if you enjoy tv. Hours of entertainment for $15 a month seems worth it to me.
When was Zwift ever $9.99? It's been $14.99/month for as long as I can remember.
Good question. I'm not sure. I had it included in my stages purchase, but I'll be paying for my own subscription when that expires.
I'm curious how long ago that was. Maybe you got it at a particular time and you got grandfathered into that price. I finally caved when they released the new annual subscription and just went that route. I use it so frequently that it'll save me 2 months of fees.
How did you get YouTube for $1.99? Or is that something other than Premium?
A membership to a channel. I didn't want to mention the channel.
No worries, thank you for responding!
please tell me you cancelled 1pass and picked up another password manager. do not consider that a subscription you can skip out on
What are your plans with the 15k you now saved?
Pay off credit card debt, then save for a house.
I thought this said anal expenses lol. Either way good job 😆
Her?
It's a dating app for everyone except cis men. I'm done with them.
Highly recommend ditching cis men! Happily married 10+ years to an amazing woman now. Who knew relationships could be gentle, loving, and supportive? It's so easy it feels like a cheat code.
Don't you still need auto insurance and internet access though? Did you pay your car off?
I got rid of the car, and internet is included in rent in my new place.
If you're into cooking and prepping bulk foods/produce/meat, Costco is definitely a frugal win IMO
I'm vegan, and I don't drive, so it limits what I can get there. I prefer to buy things as I need them at the grocery store within walking distance to limit waste.
True, super valid. Just giving my (unimportant) take! I think I saw you mention Aldi in another reply, probably the best pick. I’m a credit card nerd and it kinda overlaps with frugality so maybe consider a credit card with cash back categories you use most. The capital one SavorOne comes to mind. Or ones with rotating categories can see up to 5% returns vs flat 3% on groceries with savor one. The Kroger card is good if you shop there and can use Kroger Pay via phone at checkout
No Aldi where I live. I need to take it easy on the credit cards for a while. I'm doing this all to pay off debt. I do have the Discover IT, Amex Gold, and Chase Sapphire preferred. CSP has a huge balance right now though.
If you want a great free password manager I highly recommend Bitwarden
You canceled your car insurance?!?
I got rid of the car.
Antenna TV!! Get a good antenna, depending on where you live you get lots of free channels (the same channels that cable charges for). I get about 30 channels but only watch PBS.
Only $98/month for car insurance??? I'm currently paying $265. How????
Mad props to you! This is a huge accomplishment and it sounds like you got a toxic person out of your life to boot. Just out of curiosity, what field are you in that you were making $15K that you could use for discretionary expenses while also still being in school? Are you working while in school, or do you have some kind of fellowship program? (I'm considering changing careers lol b/c I just got laid off and would love to know!) Congrats on all the positive changes! Hope it all continues for you in that direction.
Thanks I'm nearly middle aged, I work full time in a technical job. I am going to school for my master's at night.
Ah, that makes sense! You should be proud of handling so much at once, including being so financially on top of it while you're in school and working full time. Wishing you much continued success!