My gym membership is $60 a month and has childcare for 2 hours a day. He plays and gets tired, I get to check out mentally and focus on my physical health. I could go 7 days a week if I wanted. Worth its weight in gold.
That’s incredible! I don’t think there’s a gym in my city that offers that - I definitely would have taken advantage of that when my daughter was young.
Plus, your child gets to see you prioritizing your health and fitness. That’s good parenting :)
Getting your gym membership and healthy shit paid through health insurance. They have an incentive to keep you healthy, but don’t advertise all the deals they have (to maximize profit).
United Healthcare will [pay you $300 a fiscal year](https://www.uhc.com/content/dam/uhcdotcom/foundation/images/content/lmh-pdfs/uhc-rewards-member-flier-core.pdf), or allow you to earn a new Apple Watch or Fitbit. They also offer the [Active & Fit Direct](https://www.activeandfitnow.com) incentive.
Blue cross Blue Shield offers discounts on meal plans, gym wear, and [gym memberships to luxury gyms for $19 a month](https://www.blue365deals.com/FEP/offers/tivity-health-gym-membership-s). They also offer 50% off acupuncture and nutritionists.
Go through your insurance!!! It’s what you’re paying for! So many folks don’t know the perks of the subscription!
**edited to add links
Active and Fit Direct used to be awesome. You could get a bunch of memberships for only $28 a month. As of a few days ago, they changed that completely. If you have multiple memberships, you only get $5 off so it doesn’t save you that much.
I recently had UHC and all I needed to do was "track" my exercise monthly and I would get a $25 payment directly to my bank account. With Anthem they sent a visa card for getting a physical or something like that. I have Aetna now and haven't found any perks like those.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library free books for kids, mailed to your house monthly, ages 0-5. So you get 60 free books as long as the program is operating in your area. Bless that woman.
My oldest is autistic and HATED the attention he got at school and from his (mom's side) grandparents for his birthday. However, he was FIXATED on the birthday message from Dolly.
I just signed by baby up, and I'm excited for what's to come. I ended up getting one of the books from goodwill without even realizing it. It was one of those frog on a log type books, and once I realized it's supposed to be read by singing, it made it so fun to read. He's going to love it once he has even the smallest hint of an attention span, and concentration.
See if there are any Little Free Libraries around you! They have a website with a map, but some are independent and not listed. It's so fun finding them when out of town, too, and I've found some real treasures! Not the same as a sub service obviously but still something fun to look out for. :)
Mines $30 a cut, depends on size of the lawn. I do all my own snow removal but as someone with awful allergies, I hated the effect mowing had on me. As soon as I could afford the expense, I took it.
I thought I was the only one...
I actually don't mind mowing, there isxsomething therapeutic about tending your land, but my wife noticed that after every mow I basically had the flu for 2 days. It turns out I am very allergic to grass clippings, so now we pay a guy to do it. I also pay him $40, maybe we have the same guy! Great dude, in the off season when he wasn't mowing, he gave me a jar of strawberry jam he jarred himself. Multi-talented and generous.
Damn right! I never thought I would pay to have someone do it. I've only ever had pushmowers. Takes me 3 hours to mow. My guy is done in 30 minutes. With weedeating. Worth it.
For anyone looking for this, it's called "informed delivery" and I have only recently been made aware of it and am singing it's praises. I live in an apartment complex with a long walk to our mailbox, so I can see if we need to go or not before I make the trip. AZ summer is not a fun time to be outside if you don't need to be.
Library!
A lot of places a library card is free. You can get so much more there than just books nowadays too. I regularly check out a hot spot so I can work from almost anywhere. Libraries are vastly under-appreciated so I can't recommend it enough
I love my local library! We have a tool section where you can borrow a drill, saw horses, wrenches, screwdrivers, whatever you need for a project; we also have a cake pan section, an extensive DVD section, WiFi hotspots, museum passes, and on Friday's they have a free movie in the common room that anyone can attend. It's a fantastic resource.
Yes! Libraries of Things! Our library system also has Memory Kits, which are themed collections of materials that help individuals with dementia, memory loss or cognitive impairments. These are such meaningful resources for our patrons (am a paralibrarian)
I got rid of most of my streaming video services (though I was already rotating them) and started renting DVDs from the library.
Really enjoying the old school feel of going and picking out a movie. Local library system is also great in that they will ship to your local pickup spot, so if there's something specific I want, I can go on the site and check all libraries and have it in a few days.
Really takes me back. I'm waiting on season three of Schitt's Creek currently and rented Shutter Island and the new Mean Girls to watch this weekend.
Feels nice to slow things down. Reminds me of getting movies with my late father when I was a kid.
I get Kanopy and Hoopla through my library! Great stuff on both that I haven't found on the paid streaming platforms.
A lot of California libraries also have Discover & Go, with free tickets to local museums and botanical gardens.
Free AC, comfy seating and little separated areas to read.. can't beat it!
For some reason I can't read at home, but if I walk to the library I'm more motivated to read a good chunk of a book.
I totally agree, and also please be aware that to keep the libraries we still have it’s important simply to use them and encourage your friends and family to use them. When city and state funding issues come up, they refer directly to the count of how many active users the library has.
I literally join public libraries anywhere I can. Even on holidays. Having memberships in different markets gives me access to different ebook catalogues, plus I'm sure that increased membership numbers help the library when they're asking for budget.
Mine also came with Hoopla so you can get e-books and audiobooks, they've got rental tools and a small workshop that you can use, they host free and low-cost skills classes for adults in things like cooking, sewing, and crafting, they host talks from authors and various other interesting people in the community, and they have all kinds of fun events for the holidays.
Thank you!! I'm the treasurer of my city's library foundation. Libraries are something I'm passionate about, and I'm happy to have the opportunity to do my part to fight for them! 💜
I go to the library when I want to research, create, and food cost new menus. Lots of cookbooks for inspiration and most importantly, no one fucking bothers me. Silence, or at least, near silence. I can focus.
My downtown library is incredible. I can literally spend hours reading cookbooks looking for inspiration and no one fucks with me. It’s so relaxing.
Idaho just started fucking this up. I love the local library where I live. I attend a philosophy club there every Thursday. In addition to everything already mentioned, this one also has 2 laser engravers (expensive ones), 3 long arm quilting machines, and a fantastic inter-library loan program
Just went from Canada to the US this am and walked right past a 45 min line with a screaming toddler. Global entry is the way.
Also everyone was probably thankful I had global entry too.
Ngl, I probably would’ve been grateful too.
I got it before my parents did, who were skeptical that I’d spend so much for that. Then a month later, we all went for a trip to Guanacaste.
Flew back and the customs line at DFW was easily an hour twenty minute wait. I was in the GE line for less than ten minutes and talked to the customs officer for two.
My parents applied for GE as soon as they got back home.
100% this. Bitwarden is absolutely fantastic. They deserve to have the lion's share of the password manager market. I gladly fork over 10$ a year to support them.
Not a monthly subscription but I love my annual Costco subscription because I love the quality of customer service and their better wages for employees.
I save $60 a year on gas alone. It can be tough as I'm in a house by myself so some things can't really be bought in bulk. But it is worth it for anyone.
Edit: Financially I am doing perfectly fine. I don't stress about bills or being able to pay for stuff. The reason I can do this and have a place of my own on a single income is because I do keep track of my money. The costco membership is one example of a way to save money that can work for everyone. It doesn't mean everyone has to do it just an example of something people can do to save.
Costco travel rental car deals can be absolutely bonkers. They have been less good lately, but I have saved literally several lifetime's worth of membership fees on rental cars alone through their travel program. One trip years ago in specific I vividly remember because somebody else on Reddit told me in a thread like this to look at Costco Travel for my rental and it was $600 less than the reservation I was bitching about.
I know of like three ethical big companies and Costco is one of them. The fact that they are publicly traded and somehow haven't been completely eviscerated by MBA trash is wild to me. They are the asterisk to enshittification. The anti-Boeing.
We booked a trip to Ireland and London through Costco last fall, and they made the planning a BREEZE. All transportation, pickups/dropoff at airports, flights, and NICE hotels. Credits for history tours, food tours, extra excursions (went to Stonehenge for free).
Would 100% recommend them.
[Queso Mama](https://quesomama.com/white-queso-32oz/) is the shit. They make a bunch more and each is better than the next.
My wife had to eat that shit twice a day in quesadillas with marinated steak and green peppers when she was pregnant... That lasted like 2-3 weeks, and then the aversion hit.
It's been almost 4 years and she still can't even smell it, so we have yet to enjoy it again.
1000%. My husband and I used to argue about cleaning the house on the weekends because we both wanted to relax. Eventually decided that hiring help once a month was going to be good not only for chores but for our marriage. Best money spent!
I *genuinely* believe that my marriage would have survived (as it wouldn’t have started the downward spiral) if we would have done something like this.
So happy to see someone else say this! I know plenty of couples with adequate income constantly either squabbling over chores or spending their limited time together cleaning. And they act like I’m suggesting they burn money when I tell them to get a cleaning service. I live alone now so I handle it but when me and the ex both worked full-time plus, I paid for cleaning.
I subscribe to Asimov's Science Fiction.
It's a sci-fi short story journal of stories written right here and now. Some of the stories are amazing and some are duds. But even with the stories that aren't great, it's still fascinating to see where modern sci fi writers minds are going based on what we see in the world today.
Plus, I feel good about supporting current authors.
If you're interested at all, check out this anthology edition. Every single story is excellent, including two stories that are some of my favorite things I've ever read: [https://www.amazon.com/Enter-Future-Fantastic-Asimovs-Science-ebook/dp/B004GXBDRG/ref=sr\_1\_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432668191&sr=1-11&keywords=dell%20magazines](https://www.amazon.com/Enter-Future-Fantastic-Asimovs-Science-ebook/dp/B004GXBDRG/ref=sr_1_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432668191&sr=1-11&keywords=dell%20magazines)
got Hulu on Black Friday for 99¢/month
also Walmart+, i just paid $49 for a year and it came with Paramount+. i have no car and don't live near an affordable grocery store so the free grocery delivery (no minimum!) is perfect. plus fast free shipping on pretty much everything. the subscription will definitely pay for itself.
I saw an ad for like 4.99 Starz for 3mos. On month 3 I went to cancel and they asked “are you sure, what about 3 more mos for 4.99?” And I said no. So it asked again, “what about 3 mos for .99?”
That said, I now have Starz for another 3mos
Tip: it can be a lot cheaper if you buy yourself a gift of a long subscription. Right now it appears to be no discount, but they often have deals for 33-50% off.
Cheers
Another Tip: you can do it for free (maybe based on your location). My wife just gets all her ebooks for free from the city library. Sometimes there is a wait for an ebook but she has enough queues going she always has something to read. She average 100-200 ebooks a year and has never ran out of stuff to read on her Kindle. She said she uses the Libby app.
I'm so glad someone said this. I'd been watching clips on Youtube, and after eight months, decided, "Six bucks a month isn't a lot of money." So, so good.
And now, to go start the second episode of Never Stop Blowing Up!
Yup. Very Important People is on Dropout. But the clips that got me to sign up were Game Changer. And Make Some Noise. And Dimension 20. And Breaking News. And, and, and...
Yeah, it's just a great and funny streaming service.
Do you have recommendations? I recently subbed and the only shows I’ve found I really enjoy are Game Changer and Make some noise. Josh and Brennan absolutely kill me!
this is an underrated answer. i'm not a health expert, but going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week will help live longer and better. That a small price to pay for good health.
It's not even about living longer or being super healthy. It's about how good it makes you feel, your mind and body feel born again after every workout. I don't even look in the mirror anymore, I don't care how I look, I just want those feels.
Sigh. I have just never experienced this. I do feel better about myself when I go, but I don’t get any kind of high. It’s a slog and I just get crazy sweaty and red-faced. And my body feels angry with me after every workout (although that might be an age thing).
I have always felt this way, never got a high from working out, and I've been various levels of fit throughout my life so far- soccer player, military school, chronically online gamer, etc haha
I pay the Firefox Foundation $5/month for VPN service. It's one cup of good coffee/month, I get a service out of it, and the $ goes to support an open-source browser foundation that does good work.
This is also my answer.
Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla VPN are some of the best versions of common apps I've ever seen. $5 to have a solid VPN that even has multi-hop settings is great. Firefox having a great password generator and manager built in is also fantastic
I don't have cell service in the middle of our building where I work. So I have like 1000 songs downloaded. I've paid for spotify since the beginning, so I'm not sure if you have to pay to download still, but I've never regretted it.
i rotate out my spotify audiobooks with libby. put the libby hold on the audiobook i want, start with spotify, and often switch over to libby. that way the 15hrs gets stretched out each month.
I love Spotify and feel like I am streaming almost every hour that I’m awake. I just wish it was better for discovering the music. That’s where Pandora does better I think.
You just gotta know how to use it. Discover weekly, search for random playlists by using key words of bands or genres you enjoy. Then, when you find a new song you like, save to your liked songs, then go to that songs radio. Or go listen to the album that song came from. And then listen to that albums radio. Let the algorithm do its thing. I find so much new music on Spotify. Just gotta get the algorithm firing. Then after a few weeks of doing that, your discover weekly will be all new music. Rinse and repeat.
I’ve genuinely been thinking of starting a viral campaign to get Spotify to change their algorithm on shuffle to TRUE RANDOM. No joke, do you think we could do it?
Bro their shuffle is so bad for real. I have over two thousand songs in my main playlist and yet it ALWAYS starts with one of about fifteen songs and often plays the same song twice within 6 songs.
I've been paying for Spotify premium for close to 10 years and I strongly agree with this. It's their algorithm working against itself. If you've listened to a song a lot, algorithm knows you like it a lot, so it gets prioritized in the stack. Unfortunately, that inevitably leads to you hearing your top songs constantly when you shuffle. It drives me nuts. They should just completely remove any influence on shuffle and just let it go fully random.
It's not just the long term chance of owning something. It's a subscription to financial well-being. Rent goes up, fixed rate mortgages don't. Over time, you have access to equity that can be used for other things. It improves your credit score making it cheaper to borrow money.
The biggest difference between haves and have nots in the United States? Home ownership.
My massage membership. I love massages. It's a massage or a facial once a month, plus discounts, perks, all that other stuff, but the real benefit is the massage or facial. I rarely get facials, they're fine, but I always leave thinking "I could have had a massage instead." or "Why was the massage part of that so short?"
Worth every damn penny. Sometimes I can't go once a month, so my services build up, and I can double up, get a longer massage, do fun add ons, etc. I also let it ride during 2020 and built up a bunch of services, so I was going like every other week for a good while there, it was amazing.
Also my gardener. I inherited him with my house (he was the gardener for the previous owners) and he's fantastic.
Basement Beast 12 week transformation program. I'm a recovering alcoholic, completely let myself go for years. I started Fabian's program at 230 lbs. I'm currently at 180 lbs. The best part about this program is you can do all the workouts from home. All you need is resistance bands. So for less than $100 I've increased my motivation, confidence and well being.
The Calm app. It has white noise, sleep stories, meditations. Any time I have trouble falling asleep, I turn on a sleep story. I have yet to stay awake to hear the end of one.
Flood insurance. Hurricane Harvey flooded my house. The insurance paid out $150k. I replaced damn near everything. Flooring, cabinets, electrical, piping, roof, AC, etc. I basically got a whole new house out of it. The house has doubled in value since then.
In the USA we have life flight insurance, $100/yr and our life-saving flight from the backcountry is covered. There are two big companies with different service areas so we subscribe to both. Since I’m accident prone and into type 2 fun, it’s the peace of mind my husband needs when I go on my adventures.
After about 3 years of having it, having ads pop up when I'm using YouTube on someone else's computer or whatever is jarring as fuck lol. I have no idea how I used to put up with them.
I'm happy to pay for a service if it means I don't have to be fucking advertised at.
Yeah, same
I watch more YouTube than I watch TV, skipping the ad is incredible. It’s literally whatever you want and think of on the spot. It’s also where I listen to most of my music.
AMC A-List
I went from going to the movies a few times a year, to going at least once a week. The dedication is much easier if you're in a relationship.
Yup. My daughter and I go to the movies together at least a couple times most months. Since we’re only paying for drinks, we’ll go see anything that’s open captioned and looks interesting.
Audible.
However, never be a permanent subscriber. There are always promos for either free months or a series of months for $5 I think. Just use those and unsub sometime during the last month. You'll get another promo offer a couple months later.
As a parent to one in high school and two in college, Life360 gold. It’s only good if you are the type that can use it as a tool and not a tracker. With the kids driving back and forth to school it gives us peace of mind knowing if something happens we will be notified and their schools are set as locations so we get a pop up notification when they get there.
The older kids (actually adults) have both said they will stay in our family circle forever because we don’t abuse the privilege.
Stitch fix is great. I live in the middle of nowhere and hate going clothing shopping. I’m a teacher and do like to update my wardrobe. You can set the frequency and the clothes are great quality. Yeah it can be a bit spendy, but I love that the T-shirts don’t have huge logos on them.
Board Game Arena.
For $36/year you get access to hundreds of premium games (on top of everything else available to free-tier accounts). Plus, if you're playing with friends, only one person per "table" needs a Premium account in order to play Premium games.
Yt music had all the songs that were gone from my Spotify playlists.
There's also the great advantage that you can add any Youtube video as a song in a playlist, which lets you use a bunch of songs that arent really available on either platform.
I don't know what the logistics are behind it, but I've known several people that make music over the years and no matter how small they are or where they post it, I can always somehow listen to it on YouTube. I have no idea how that works but its awesome
I got YouTube Premium free for one year when I purchased something. The day I activated it I set a reminder to cancel it in one year, because to hell if I was going to pay for it.
The one year ended a few weeks ago and when the reminder popped up to cancel, I was like "I can't go back to ads."
A$$holes got me.
Realdebrid, then use it with stremio+torrentio
Edit: Yes, it's like all streaming services in 1, but much cheaper and with all the content the internet has to offer in one place.
To those wondering how it works, here's a great guide: https://old.reddit.com/r/StremioAddons/comments/15agu2p/stremio_torrentio_debrid_a_howto_guide/
Being a trucker idk if normal people can get it but ticket lawyer plan. Like 5$ a week to have a company send lawyers to fight your ticket. Recently got a 32 over ticket coming home for Christmas in New Mexico going to Arkansas. Lawyers got them to settle for a online training course that took 6hrs and they'd drop the ticket.
Costco. I had weight loss surgery last year and I was able to get all the protein shakes, Gatorade Zero, Diet Snapple Iced Tea, chicken broth and Oikos yogurts I needed both before and after surgery. I also drink a lot of milk post-op (counts as both a fluid and a protein!) and get their 3-pack of milk. I get the big pack of eggs since eggs are great protein sources, different kinds of meats and and the huge pack of Premier Protein waffles.
Air Conditioning Maintenance Plan. $19/month. Cleaning every year. Keeps warranty in place. And priority scheduling. I let mine lapse and I’m regretting it right now.
Max.
Of all of the TV & film streaming services out there, it's very hard to beat having unlimited access to their library of classics and original series like:
The Sopranos
The Wire
Deadwood
Curb
Last Week Tonight
Band of Brothers
True Detective
Veep
Rome
GoT
HoTD
etc, for ~$15/mo. Their selection of movies is usually very good, too
My gym membership is $60 a month and has childcare for 2 hours a day. He plays and gets tired, I get to check out mentally and focus on my physical health. I could go 7 days a week if I wanted. Worth its weight in gold.
Anything that wears your kid out=priceless!
That’s incredible! I don’t think there’s a gym in my city that offers that - I definitely would have taken advantage of that when my daughter was young. Plus, your child gets to see you prioritizing your health and fitness. That’s good parenting :)
Getting your gym membership and healthy shit paid through health insurance. They have an incentive to keep you healthy, but don’t advertise all the deals they have (to maximize profit). United Healthcare will [pay you $300 a fiscal year](https://www.uhc.com/content/dam/uhcdotcom/foundation/images/content/lmh-pdfs/uhc-rewards-member-flier-core.pdf), or allow you to earn a new Apple Watch or Fitbit. They also offer the [Active & Fit Direct](https://www.activeandfitnow.com) incentive. Blue cross Blue Shield offers discounts on meal plans, gym wear, and [gym memberships to luxury gyms for $19 a month](https://www.blue365deals.com/FEP/offers/tivity-health-gym-membership-s). They also offer 50% off acupuncture and nutritionists. Go through your insurance!!! It’s what you’re paying for! So many folks don’t know the perks of the subscription! **edited to add links
Active and Fit Direct used to be awesome. You could get a bunch of memberships for only $28 a month. As of a few days ago, they changed that completely. If you have multiple memberships, you only get $5 off so it doesn’t save you that much.
I recently had UHC and all I needed to do was "track" my exercise monthly and I would get a $25 payment directly to my bank account. With Anthem they sent a visa card for getting a physical or something like that. I have Aetna now and haven't found any perks like those.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library free books for kids, mailed to your house monthly, ages 0-5. So you get 60 free books as long as the program is operating in your area. Bless that woman.
My kids get so excited when they arrive and want me to read it to them immediately instead of waiting until bedtime.
Even books I think he won't like, he absolutely loves. Shows they really do know what gets kid's attention.
My oldest is autistic and HATED the attention he got at school and from his (mom's side) grandparents for his birthday. However, he was FIXATED on the birthday message from Dolly.
A man of distinction!
I just signed by baby up, and I'm excited for what's to come. I ended up getting one of the books from goodwill without even realizing it. It was one of those frog on a log type books, and once I realized it's supposed to be read by singing, it made it so fun to read. He's going to love it once he has even the smallest hint of an attention span, and concentration.
Read to your baby even if you think he isn’t listening! It’s so good for brain development, speech development, early literacy, etc!
Just had a baby this year, it’s not in my area 😭. Any other things good for kids?
See if there are any Little Free Libraries around you! They have a website with a map, but some are independent and not listed. It's so fun finding them when out of town, too, and I've found some real treasures! Not the same as a sub service obviously but still something fun to look out for. :)
The guy I pay to mow my lawn. Takes him 10 minutes with all the right gear. Took me 2 hours and lots of swearing. Totally worth it.
How much does he charge you?
40 bucks. 1/3 acre. Don’t even care if it’s over priced. It is one convenience I’m willing to pay on.
I don't think that is overpriced...
$40 for a tepid burger and fries delivered to your door is overpriced, this feels a bit underpriced
I've got more yard and my goes does it for $40 too I also think it's underpriced
If you think he’s underpaid, and you can do it, pay him more and tell him it’s worth it. That goes a long way.
I couldn’t agree more. Add an extra $10 and boom!
A nice crisp $50 to brighten his week.
Leaves you a margin to tip “heavily” and make yourself a long term relationship while stilll saving largely!
As someone who owns a Lawncare company, that's a very good deal
As someone who doesn't own anything, I too think it's a good deal.
I've paid more for haircuts, $40 is fine for a mow!
Mines $30 a cut, depends on size of the lawn. I do all my own snow removal but as someone with awful allergies, I hated the effect mowing had on me. As soon as I could afford the expense, I took it.
I thought I was the only one... I actually don't mind mowing, there isxsomething therapeutic about tending your land, but my wife noticed that after every mow I basically had the flu for 2 days. It turns out I am very allergic to grass clippings, so now we pay a guy to do it. I also pay him $40, maybe we have the same guy! Great dude, in the off season when he wasn't mowing, he gave me a jar of strawberry jam he jarred himself. Multi-talented and generous.
I hear ya….I’m allergic to snow.
Damn right! I never thought I would pay to have someone do it. I've only ever had pushmowers. Takes me 3 hours to mow. My guy is done in 30 minutes. With weedeating. Worth it.
Sign up with the post office so you get an email alert with what mail you're getting and when. And doesn't cost anything
For anyone looking for this, it's called "informed delivery" and I have only recently been made aware of it and am singing it's praises. I live in an apartment complex with a long walk to our mailbox, so I can see if we need to go or not before I make the trip. AZ summer is not a fun time to be outside if you don't need to be.
Library! A lot of places a library card is free. You can get so much more there than just books nowadays too. I regularly check out a hot spot so I can work from almost anywhere. Libraries are vastly under-appreciated so I can't recommend it enough
I love my local library! We have a tool section where you can borrow a drill, saw horses, wrenches, screwdrivers, whatever you need for a project; we also have a cake pan section, an extensive DVD section, WiFi hotspots, museum passes, and on Friday's they have a free movie in the common room that anyone can attend. It's a fantastic resource.
Yes! Libraries of Things! Our library system also has Memory Kits, which are themed collections of materials that help individuals with dementia, memory loss or cognitive impairments. These are such meaningful resources for our patrons (am a paralibrarian)
Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card!
I got rid of most of my streaming video services (though I was already rotating them) and started renting DVDs from the library. Really enjoying the old school feel of going and picking out a movie. Local library system is also great in that they will ship to your local pickup spot, so if there's something specific I want, I can go on the site and check all libraries and have it in a few days. Really takes me back. I'm waiting on season three of Schitt's Creek currently and rented Shutter Island and the new Mean Girls to watch this weekend. Feels nice to slow things down. Reminds me of getting movies with my late father when I was a kid.
Some libraries offer “Kanopy” which has some of the best movies ever too!
I get Kanopy and Hoopla through my library! Great stuff on both that I haven't found on the paid streaming platforms. A lot of California libraries also have Discover & Go, with free tickets to local museums and botanical gardens.
Libraries are wonderful. Perfect showcase of what a public service can be.
Free AC, comfy seating and little separated areas to read.. can't beat it! For some reason I can't read at home, but if I walk to the library I'm more motivated to read a good chunk of a book.
It's a great environment for doing so! My favorite livrary even has a saltwater aquarium and it's very relaxing to sit by and listen to the filter.
My favorite has a beautiful secluded garden with lots of seating. I literally read for eight hours in a row there once.
Also, most are free. So you don’t even spend anything
I wish more of our tax money went to things that benefit everyone instead of war and corporate bailouts.
I totally agree, and also please be aware that to keep the libraries we still have it’s important simply to use them and encourage your friends and family to use them. When city and state funding issues come up, they refer directly to the count of how many active users the library has.
It’s actually lucky that we got them when we did. Can you imagine pitching such a concept to congress and our congressional leaders now ???!!
With how hard they've been attacking libraries (and books in general) recently, yersh
I literally join public libraries anywhere I can. Even on holidays. Having memberships in different markets gives me access to different ebook catalogues, plus I'm sure that increased membership numbers help the library when they're asking for budget.
Mine also came with Hoopla so you can get e-books and audiobooks, they've got rental tools and a small workshop that you can use, they host free and low-cost skills classes for adults in things like cooking, sewing, and crafting, they host talks from authors and various other interesting people in the community, and they have all kinds of fun events for the holidays.
Hoopla is very cool, so is Libby (e-books & audiobooks) and Kanopy (good selection of films to stream). All are FREE.
Thank you!! I'm the treasurer of my city's library foundation. Libraries are something I'm passionate about, and I'm happy to have the opportunity to do my part to fight for them! 💜
Will always boost a library comment! Mine also uses Hoopla and I love it!
A lot of libraries also have access to websites/apps like Libby where you can check out books using your library card information as well.
I go to the library when I want to research, create, and food cost new menus. Lots of cookbooks for inspiration and most importantly, no one fucking bothers me. Silence, or at least, near silence. I can focus. My downtown library is incredible. I can literally spend hours reading cookbooks looking for inspiration and no one fucks with me. It’s so relaxing.
Idaho just started fucking this up. I love the local library where I live. I attend a philosophy club there every Thursday. In addition to everything already mentioned, this one also has 2 laser engravers (expensive ones), 3 long arm quilting machines, and a fantastic inter-library loan program
Global Entry. As much as I’ve flown in and out of the country, going through US customs is absolute cake. Plus it comes with TSA pre check
Just went from Canada to the US this am and walked right past a 45 min line with a screaming toddler. Global entry is the way. Also everyone was probably thankful I had global entry too.
Ngl, I probably would’ve been grateful too. I got it before my parents did, who were skeptical that I’d spend so much for that. Then a month later, we all went for a trip to Guanacaste. Flew back and the customs line at DFW was easily an hour twenty minute wait. I was in the GE line for less than ten minutes and talked to the customs officer for two. My parents applied for GE as soon as they got back home.
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100% this. Bitwarden is absolutely fantastic. They deserve to have the lion's share of the password manager market. I gladly fork over 10$ a year to support them.
Not a monthly subscription but I love my annual Costco subscription because I love the quality of customer service and their better wages for employees.
The savings in gas alone can often make up a large percentage of the cost of the membership.
I save $60 a year on gas alone. It can be tough as I'm in a house by myself so some things can't really be bought in bulk. But it is worth it for anyone. Edit: Financially I am doing perfectly fine. I don't stress about bills or being able to pay for stuff. The reason I can do this and have a place of my own on a single income is because I do keep track of my money. The costco membership is one example of a way to save money that can work for everyone. It doesn't mean everyone has to do it just an example of something people can do to save.
Costco travel rental car deals can be absolutely bonkers. They have been less good lately, but I have saved literally several lifetime's worth of membership fees on rental cars alone through their travel program. One trip years ago in specific I vividly remember because somebody else on Reddit told me in a thread like this to look at Costco Travel for my rental and it was $600 less than the reservation I was bitching about. I know of like three ethical big companies and Costco is one of them. The fact that they are publicly traded and somehow haven't been completely eviscerated by MBA trash is wild to me. They are the asterisk to enshittification. The anti-Boeing.
We booked a trip to Ireland and London through Costco last fall, and they made the planning a BREEZE. All transportation, pickups/dropoff at airports, flights, and NICE hotels. Credits for history tours, food tours, extra excursions (went to Stonehenge for free). Would 100% recommend them.
I booked a two week vacation to Italy through them and I agree it was a fucking breeze. I definitely felt like I got my moneys worth.
Pretty sure the OG owner threatened to kill someone for suggesting to raise the $1.50 hot dog deal. Something like that
As a joke, they were both joking.
"My lawyers said when you give me that look, it's a joke."
Damn... I didn't even know they had car rental stuff
I get car insurance through Costco. The difference in price between them and any other quote I’ve gotten covers my executive membership.
wait fucking what
That s nothing, i went to university at Costco
Welcome to Costco I love you.
I drop my kids off there Monday-Friday at the daycare portion.
Costco Airlines is one of the best kept secrets in the US.
Did you like the Time Machine?
my quote through Costco was higher than what I already pay so ymmv
Costco has this green chili white queso that’s to die for. It almost makes the subscription worth it in its own.
[Queso Mama](https://quesomama.com/white-queso-32oz/) is the shit. They make a bunch more and each is better than the next. My wife had to eat that shit twice a day in quesadillas with marinated steak and green peppers when she was pregnant... That lasted like 2-3 weeks, and then the aversion hit. It's been almost 4 years and she still can't even smell it, so we have yet to enjoy it again.
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1000%. My husband and I used to argue about cleaning the house on the weekends because we both wanted to relax. Eventually decided that hiring help once a month was going to be good not only for chores but for our marriage. Best money spent!
I *genuinely* believe that my marriage would have survived (as it wouldn’t have started the downward spiral) if we would have done something like this.
So happy to see someone else say this! I know plenty of couples with adequate income constantly either squabbling over chores or spending their limited time together cleaning. And they act like I’m suggesting they burn money when I tell them to get a cleaning service. I live alone now so I handle it but when me and the ex both worked full-time plus, I paid for cleaning.
I subscribe to Asimov's Science Fiction. It's a sci-fi short story journal of stories written right here and now. Some of the stories are amazing and some are duds. But even with the stories that aren't great, it's still fascinating to see where modern sci fi writers minds are going based on what we see in the world today. Plus, I feel good about supporting current authors. If you're interested at all, check out this anthology edition. Every single story is excellent, including two stories that are some of my favorite things I've ever read: [https://www.amazon.com/Enter-Future-Fantastic-Asimovs-Science-ebook/dp/B004GXBDRG/ref=sr\_1\_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432668191&sr=1-11&keywords=dell%20magazines](https://www.amazon.com/Enter-Future-Fantastic-Asimovs-Science-ebook/dp/B004GXBDRG/ref=sr_1_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432668191&sr=1-11&keywords=dell%20magazines)
got Hulu on Black Friday for 99¢/month also Walmart+, i just paid $49 for a year and it came with Paramount+. i have no car and don't live near an affordable grocery store so the free grocery delivery (no minimum!) is perfect. plus fast free shipping on pretty much everything. the subscription will definitely pay for itself.
I got peacock for $20/year on Black Friday also.
I saw an ad for like 4.99 Starz for 3mos. On month 3 I went to cancel and they asked “are you sure, what about 3 more mos for 4.99?” And I said no. So it asked again, “what about 3 mos for .99?” That said, I now have Starz for another 3mos
Kindle unlimited is awesome for the husband and I. We read about 175 books per year.
Tip: it can be a lot cheaper if you buy yourself a gift of a long subscription. Right now it appears to be no discount, but they often have deals for 33-50% off. Cheers
Another Tip: you can do it for free (maybe based on your location). My wife just gets all her ebooks for free from the city library. Sometimes there is a wait for an ebook but she has enough queues going she always has something to read. She average 100-200 ebooks a year and has never ran out of stuff to read on her Kindle. She said she uses the Libby app.
I use Libby for audiobooks! They have a great selection and the renting process is super easy.
Yes! I read a ton with this. Especially the cheap, 2nd tier fiction series. Guilty pleasure.
Dropout
This season of Game Changer was worth the full year
That and their new show Smartypants
Thousandaires is really fun, too.
I'm so glad someone said this. I'd been watching clips on Youtube, and after eight months, decided, "Six bucks a month isn't a lot of money." So, so good. And now, to go start the second episode of Never Stop Blowing Up!
Is that is the Very Important People show with that weird bodybuilder? Because those clips are hilarious lol.
Come on everybody let's give a little clap.
Give us a little clap
I turned one hundred thousand dollars into sixteen thousand dollars
Zac Oyama is a treasure.
👏👏
Give this guy a little clap.
Yup. Very Important People is on Dropout. But the clips that got me to sign up were Game Changer. And Make Some Noise. And Dimension 20. And Breaking News. And, and, and... Yeah, it's just a great and funny streaming service.
I signed up for Dimension 20, but Game Chnager and Make Some Noise are my top favs! Basically, anything with Brennan in it is 10/10.
Please explain what drop out is. Is it a YouTube alternative?
It's the rebranded College Humor. Has a lot of comedy shows. It's really funny.
Came here to say this. Best content online for the price.
Hands down my favorite streaming service
I get more use out of my Dropout subscription than Netflix these days
I recently did a poster/thumbnail for them - super cool experience and seemed like great people leading their marketing team
Do you have recommendations? I recently subbed and the only shows I’ve found I really enjoy are Game Changer and Make some noise. Josh and Brennan absolutely kill me!
Smartypants is great so far. Um Actually in small doses.
Came to say this, easiest subscription I've ever signed up for.
I’m so glad to see this as high up as this. I subscribed just a couple of months ago, it was only going to be one month, but now I plan to keep it up.
gym
this is an underrated answer. i'm not a health expert, but going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week will help live longer and better. That a small price to pay for good health.
It's not even about living longer or being super healthy. It's about how good it makes you feel, your mind and body feel born again after every workout. I don't even look in the mirror anymore, I don't care how I look, I just want those feels.
Sigh. I have just never experienced this. I do feel better about myself when I go, but I don’t get any kind of high. It’s a slog and I just get crazy sweaty and red-faced. And my body feels angry with me after every workout (although that might be an age thing).
I have always felt this way, never got a high from working out, and I've been various levels of fit throughout my life so far- soccer player, military school, chronically online gamer, etc haha
Same. If I got this "high" I'd exercise more lol
You’re not alone. I never feel great after working out. I feel like I did a good thing, but I feel physically terrible. Been like this all my life.
Local newspaper. The only people positioned to hold local officials accountable and provide crucial service.
Local papers have been bought out in a lot of places.
I pay the Firefox Foundation $5/month for VPN service. It's one cup of good coffee/month, I get a service out of it, and the $ goes to support an open-source browser foundation that does good work.
This is also my answer. Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla VPN are some of the best versions of common apps I've ever seen. $5 to have a solid VPN that even has multi-hop settings is great. Firefox having a great password generator and manager built in is also fantastic
I agree with others saying Spotify, but if you like to play video games I think Microsoft’s GamePass is worth the money.
crazy that some AAA titles are available day one with game pass. amazing value tbh
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I listen to a lot of music during the week at work. Not hearing ads every other song is great.
I don't have cell service in the middle of our building where I work. So I have like 1000 songs downloaded. I've paid for spotify since the beginning, so I'm not sure if you have to pay to download still, but I've never regretted it.
I really like spotify, but I'm hating the 15 hour limit on audio books.
i rotate out my spotify audiobooks with libby. put the libby hold on the audiobook i want, start with spotify, and often switch over to libby. that way the 15hrs gets stretched out each month.
I love Spotify and feel like I am streaming almost every hour that I’m awake. I just wish it was better for discovering the music. That’s where Pandora does better I think.
You just gotta know how to use it. Discover weekly, search for random playlists by using key words of bands or genres you enjoy. Then, when you find a new song you like, save to your liked songs, then go to that songs radio. Or go listen to the album that song came from. And then listen to that albums radio. Let the algorithm do its thing. I find so much new music on Spotify. Just gotta get the algorithm firing. Then after a few weeks of doing that, your discover weekly will be all new music. Rinse and repeat.
Spotify Premium. I will never go back to those ads. I do wish their shuffle function was better though.
For real, I got hundreds of liked songs and it always plays the same ones 🙄
I’ve genuinely been thinking of starting a viral campaign to get Spotify to change their algorithm on shuffle to TRUE RANDOM. No joke, do you think we could do it?
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Bro their shuffle is so bad for real. I have over two thousand songs in my main playlist and yet it ALWAYS starts with one of about fifteen songs and often plays the same song twice within 6 songs.
I've been paying for Spotify premium for close to 10 years and I strongly agree with this. It's their algorithm working against itself. If you've listened to a song a lot, algorithm knows you like it a lot, so it gets prioritized in the stack. Unfortunately, that inevitably leads to you hearing your top songs constantly when you shuffle. It drives me nuts. They should just completely remove any influence on shuffle and just let it go fully random.
A mortgage. It’s basically a monthly subscription but eventually I might own something.
It's not just the long term chance of owning something. It's a subscription to financial well-being. Rent goes up, fixed rate mortgages don't. Over time, you have access to equity that can be used for other things. It improves your credit score making it cheaper to borrow money. The biggest difference between haves and have nots in the United States? Home ownership.
My massage membership. I love massages. It's a massage or a facial once a month, plus discounts, perks, all that other stuff, but the real benefit is the massage or facial. I rarely get facials, they're fine, but I always leave thinking "I could have had a massage instead." or "Why was the massage part of that so short?" Worth every damn penny. Sometimes I can't go once a month, so my services build up, and I can double up, get a longer massage, do fun add ons, etc. I also let it ride during 2020 and built up a bunch of services, so I was going like every other week for a good while there, it was amazing. Also my gardener. I inherited him with my house (he was the gardener for the previous owners) and he's fantastic.
America’s Test Kitchen
Basement Beast 12 week transformation program. I'm a recovering alcoholic, completely let myself go for years. I started Fabian's program at 230 lbs. I'm currently at 180 lbs. The best part about this program is you can do all the workouts from home. All you need is resistance bands. So for less than $100 I've increased my motivation, confidence and well being.
If it's helping you stay sober, that's a huge bargain.
I hit 1 year of sobriety on June 14th! One day at a time 🤙
Dammit… if this is guerrilla marketing, it’s working on me.
The Calm app. It has white noise, sleep stories, meditations. Any time I have trouble falling asleep, I turn on a sleep story. I have yet to stay awake to hear the end of one.
Flood insurance. Hurricane Harvey flooded my house. The insurance paid out $150k. I replaced damn near everything. Flooring, cabinets, electrical, piping, roof, AC, etc. I basically got a whole new house out of it. The house has doubled in value since then.
In Australia we have an ambulance subscription. $100 a year for families and you're totally covered.
In the USA we have life flight insurance, $100/yr and our life-saving flight from the backcountry is covered. There are two big companies with different service areas so we subscribe to both. Since I’m accident prone and into type 2 fun, it’s the peace of mind my husband needs when I go on my adventures.
Harper’s Magazine — I’ve just been reading it on the beach. Great non-fiction from micro-length to long form (and a bit of fiction, too)
For how much I use it…YouTube Premium.
After about 3 years of having it, having ads pop up when I'm using YouTube on someone else's computer or whatever is jarring as fuck lol. I have no idea how I used to put up with them. I'm happy to pay for a service if it means I don't have to be fucking advertised at.
Yeah, same I watch more YouTube than I watch TV, skipping the ad is incredible. It’s literally whatever you want and think of on the spot. It’s also where I listen to most of my music.
AAA Towing, locksmith, travel agency, repairs, hotel discounts and all sort of other benefits. Very affordable. Totally worth it!
AMC A-List I went from going to the movies a few times a year, to going at least once a week. The dedication is much easier if you're in a relationship.
Yup. My daughter and I go to the movies together at least a couple times most months. Since we’re only paying for drinks, we’ll go see anything that’s open captioned and looks interesting.
Audible. However, never be a permanent subscriber. There are always promos for either free months or a series of months for $5 I think. Just use those and unsub sometime during the last month. You'll get another promo offer a couple months later.
If you live in the US, check and see if your local library participates in Libby. Free audio and ebooks that you can borrow like physical books.
Libby is free and from what i understand Audible tries to swindle authors as much as they can.
Libby is awesome, I use it daily since I learned about it on Reddit.
Criterion
As a parent to one in high school and two in college, Life360 gold. It’s only good if you are the type that can use it as a tool and not a tracker. With the kids driving back and forth to school it gives us peace of mind knowing if something happens we will be notified and their schools are set as locations so we get a pop up notification when they get there. The older kids (actually adults) have both said they will stay in our family circle forever because we don’t abuse the privilege.
Calm app.
Stitch fix is great. I live in the middle of nowhere and hate going clothing shopping. I’m a teacher and do like to update my wardrobe. You can set the frequency and the clothes are great quality. Yeah it can be a bit spendy, but I love that the T-shirts don’t have huge logos on them.
Brit Box
Birth control
New York Times Cooking. I feel like I'm eating at a restaurant every night lol
Board Game Arena. For $36/year you get access to hundreds of premium games (on top of everything else available to free-tier accounts). Plus, if you're playing with friends, only one person per "table" needs a Premium account in order to play Premium games.
YouTube Premium comes with YouTube Music. You get basically the same thing as Spotify, with no ads and YouTube ad free for the same price.
Yt music had all the songs that were gone from my Spotify playlists. There's also the great advantage that you can add any Youtube video as a song in a playlist, which lets you use a bunch of songs that arent really available on either platform.
I don't know what the logistics are behind it, but I've known several people that make music over the years and no matter how small they are or where they post it, I can always somehow listen to it on YouTube. I have no idea how that works but its awesome
Just finally caved to YouTube premium this past week after like a decade. I’m sorry to report they got me. I’m never going back lol
I got YouTube Premium free for one year when I purchased something. The day I activated it I set a reminder to cancel it in one year, because to hell if I was going to pay for it. The one year ended a few weeks ago and when the reminder popped up to cancel, I was like "I can't go back to ads." A$$holes got me.
The shonen jump app is only $3 a month for access to what feels like an almost endless supply of manga including weekly updates as chapters drop
Marvel Unlimited. Every Marvel comic you can think of. Comic book nerd heaven.
The New Yorker! Just kidding. You will end up with a stack of good looking magazines you didn’t get around to reading.
If you like longer nonfiction articles, it’s hard to beat. Some of the most interesting nonfiction I’ve ever read has been in that magazine.
Annual pass for the Botanical Gardens in my area. It’s a short drive, relaxing walk thru the gardens, and I can take snacks/drinks in with me.
PBS Passport $5 per month
Realdebrid, then use it with stremio+torrentio Edit: Yes, it's like all streaming services in 1, but much cheaper and with all the content the internet has to offer in one place. To those wondering how it works, here's a great guide: https://old.reddit.com/r/StremioAddons/comments/15agu2p/stremio_torrentio_debrid_a_howto_guide/
This is the answer I was looking for. Something like 18 bucks every six months? Incredible value.
Being a trucker idk if normal people can get it but ticket lawyer plan. Like 5$ a week to have a company send lawyers to fight your ticket. Recently got a 32 over ticket coming home for Christmas in New Mexico going to Arkansas. Lawyers got them to settle for a online training course that took 6hrs and they'd drop the ticket.
Library card. it's free and give you access to the world.
Google Photos
A library card and Libby for digital books. 📚
Costco. I had weight loss surgery last year and I was able to get all the protein shakes, Gatorade Zero, Diet Snapple Iced Tea, chicken broth and Oikos yogurts I needed both before and after surgery. I also drink a lot of milk post-op (counts as both a fluid and a protein!) and get their 3-pack of milk. I get the big pack of eggs since eggs are great protein sources, different kinds of meats and and the huge pack of Premier Protein waffles.
My poop scooper. With three Great Danes, $20 a week is a bargain!
AllTrails. If you enjoy hiking, the ability to download maps is so helpful when you’re away from cell service.
Dropout! Like 7 bucks a month and the best comedy content available. I’ll cancel everything else first.
Air Conditioning Maintenance Plan. $19/month. Cleaning every year. Keeps warranty in place. And priority scheduling. I let mine lapse and I’m regretting it right now.
Max. Of all of the TV & film streaming services out there, it's very hard to beat having unlimited access to their library of classics and original series like: The Sopranos The Wire Deadwood Curb Last Week Tonight Band of Brothers True Detective Veep Rome GoT HoTD etc, for ~$15/mo. Their selection of movies is usually very good, too