Virtual subscriptions
There's a tendency for me to want to try to find the new perfect thing to replace a whole host of things. I've now understood for a while that "nothing" is a very good replacement. Much much harder said than done. For instance, do I need a full fledged file management and syncing system? Or is just having a good photo backup service and using the very basic file storage in Fastmail good enough?
While my dad was still alive, he would time and time again caution us about "re-occurring revenue". This was back when you still owned your music, having a cell phone wasn't a given and most homes had cable. We actually "cut the cord" well before Netflix was a thing, just watching over-the-air programs.
I hate to say it, but my dad was right. Everything that comes out automatically becomes the price of what we need to live. I think that I haven't been spending too much one month on coffee -- and maybe that's true -- but it doesn't really matter because my floor has been set by the decisions I committed to months before.
Where I want to draw the line is on "virtual subscriptions" or things that don't result in anything tangible. Apple Music is intangible as I'm not getting sent a CD that I can hold nor own anything on there. Transit pass is tangible because it's physically moving me.
In an ideal world, I would have no virtual subscriptions.
My recurring payments of of this writing
This is literally everything that comes out of my personal or joint account on a regular basis
- Kagi
- Fastmail
- Apple One
- iCloud
- Apple TV
- Apple Fitness (Rarely use)
- Apple Music
- Apple News (I don't use this)
- Apple Arcade (I don't use this)
- Communauto
- Carshare
- TTC Monthly Pass
- Koodo (dumb phone)
- Fizz (iPhone)
- SpinCo (gym)
- Various donations
- Set App
- The Globe and Mail
- NYTimes Games
- Bear Blogging
- Posthaven
- Bikeshare
- Transit App
- Google Drive
- Renters insurance
- Pet insurance
- VPN
- Ente
- The Verge
- Betches Media
- NPR+
That's a long list
I've been working on this post for a while because every now and then I'd remember something else. It's all so... automatic, it's a feature and the issue. Personally, I don't struggle with forgetting to cancel things I don't want. I audit this list fairly often but I do struggle with feeling like I need all of it.
But not everything on that list is the same. Let's break it down
The Basics
- Hydro
- Transit
- Renters Insurance
- Pet Insurance
- Cell phone main line (Koodo)
Work expenses I get an expense fund through work, these are things I use for work and personal. If I didn't need them for work I probably wouldn't subscribe to these things at all.
- Kagi
- Setapp
- I'm actually getting rid of this one and instead purchasing lifetime memberships to the few apps I do use
- The Verge
- Keeping up on tech news
- NPR+
- Again, news
- The Globe and Mail
- Once again, news
Non-essential, tangible
- Gym (SpinCo)
- Fizz (iPhone)
- Donations
- Bikeshare
- Communauto
- Carshare
What's going soon
- Posthaven
- To be replaced by Bear, need to migrate things
- Google Drive
- Started using Linux and this is easier to use as a holding place while I migrate between Mac and Linux. Plus there was a first year promo. Gone after this year.
- VPN
- Got it for a bit, thought about trying my hand at sailing the high seas but decided against it, gone in Feb
- Transit App
- Great app! But I'm using my iPhone less
- Bear Blogging
- I'm not actually getting rid of Bear, just going to buy the lifetime membership
- NYTimes Games
- Not renewing
- TTC Monthly Pass
- Cheaper to just pay as I go
- Apple One
- Getting rid of everything except for a smaller iCloud Drive tier
- Most storage will move to Ente for photos, trying Fastmail for the few documents I need to keep backed up
Virtual Things Left
- Fastmail
- Ente
- Betches
- My guilty pleasure, U Up? Podcast, ad-free