How I Cut My Family’s Cable and Streaming Bill by $170

Next came deciding what streaming services to keep.

Mr. Willcox suggests making a list of the shows you and your family want to watch and then matching them with the appropriate streaming service. Set a limit on what you want to spend. “It’s a lot more work than it used to be,” he said.

To keep the total cost under a target of $250 a month (a savings of at least $150 from my current bill), I had $65 left.

I prefer advertising-free viewing, so I’m planning on paying a bit more than I would for ad-supported streaming options. Even so, my savings should cover the cost of monthly subscriptions to Netflix (currently $13.99 for a standard plan), Paramount+ ($9.99 for premium) and Amazon Prime video ($8.99; if you pay for a full Prime membership, video is included). I learned that we can keep Disney+ bundled with two more services free — Hulu (shows include “Only Murders in the Building,” with Steve Martin) and ESPN+ — as part of a promotion from Verizon, our mobile phone company. The Hulu option in the deal has ads, but I’ll take them — for now. Finally, we can add HBO Max ($11.99) and watch acclaimed shows like “Station Eleven.”

(Our Apple TV+ subscription is free for six more months; we’ll re-evaluate it when the promotion expires.)

Grand total for streaming and cable: $230.

With the overall savings (about $170 a month), maybe we can even buy other things (hopefully, more books).

Still, that’s a lot of television — and it’s probably unnecessary to pay for all of those subscriptions year round, Mr. Willcox said. You could instead pay for a month here and there because most streaming services currently allow customers to join and cancel at will. (Just remember to cancel.)

For instance, if you don’t care about watching a new show right away, he said, you can simply wait. When an entire season of a show that you want to watch becomes available, you can join the appropriate streaming service, watch it for a month, then cancel — and sign up again later if something else catches your fancy. (Some people even binge watch their selections during free trials.) It takes some planning but can save you money.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/your-money/cable-streaming-bill.html