Streaming subscriptions: the math that finally made me cancel four of them
I added up what I actually watched and the number was embarrassing. A simple way to kill your subscription bloat without canceling everything.
I had six streaming services and watched maybe eight shows a month across all of them. Let me show you why that's a terrible deal.
The math nobody wants to do
The streaming companies love this. They know you keep the service "in case" you want to watch something. The "in case" is why they make billions on dormant accounts.
The fix that works
Cancel everything. Yes, everything. For a month. Then take note of the only one you genuinely missed, the one where you went to open the app out of habit and actually found something to watch. That one comes back. The rest stay gone.
- Keep the service you watched on purpose, not on autopilot.
- Rotate the rest: one month here, one month there, to binge what you want.
- Never keep a subscription you haven't opened in 30 days. That's not a library, that's a donation.
The uncomfortable truth
You don't miss the content. You miss the idea that it's available. Cancel the idea and your bank account thanks you. Re-subscribe in a month if you have to, but I bet you won't.
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