Hello Grasshoppa,

Have you ever calculated how much you spend on all of your monthly subscriptions? It can be from your Netflix, Astro, Unifi, mobile apps & many other subscriptions. Some of it can be considered as compulsory to some of you & some may not. It depends on your priority & what is important to you. Personally, my recent goal is to cut off some unnecessary expenses & my monthly subscriptions are one of them.

Over the years, I’ve been subscribing to various subscriptions such as UFC Fight Pass, e-book, mobile apps, broadband, Spotify, Perk Coffee, Yoga for BJJ, Google Drive & I even manage to subscribe some for free by using the free trial such as WWE Network. Secretly, I’m a fan of WWE since I was 5 years old & I have never missed watching their program since young. Since 1-2 hours program can be heavy with my busy schedule, currently I only watch their highlights on YouTube & yes I know, professional wrestling is fake. LOL. Imagine accumulating all those subscriptions together, how much would it actually cost?

You can by doing this exercise, take a piece of paper & list down your current monthly subscription from your internet bills to other subscription such as Netflix. Calculate how much you spend a month & multiply it by 12. How much are your total expenses per month & per annum? Some of these subscriptions are cheaper when you are paying annually. You may also add annual subscriptions if you have any. Looking at those expenses, are you shocked by how little or a lot your subscription expenses are?

Once you know your total expenses, you can either choose to cut it down if you find it to be too high or you may choose to continue your current subscriptions. If you choose to cut down some expenses, what is the best action plan?

1. Weigh On How Much Time Do You Spend On Using It
There is plenty of subscription that I have cancelled due to short usage such as Yoga for BJJ & UFC Fight Pass which I am paying around RM150 for both per month. The frequency of you using it determine how much value it brings to you or you are just paying for unnecessary expenses.

2. Which Is Important For You?
This can be very subjective as some people find Netflix to be very important for them. Currently, I am subscribed to only Spotify & Google Drive. Both are worth it for my personal & business use.

3. Any Cheaper Options?
I used to subscribe for Perk Coffee as well but I cancelled it on the 3rd month as I can get coffee beans for a cheaper price locally. Spotify & Netflix are also offering a family package where you & your friends or family can share on the package. If there is no family or friends package, you may also survey for a downgraded package if you are not using it frequently.

Conclusion :

These are some of the expenses that we may overlook as the single subscription may cost little but the accumulation will actually cost you a lot. To be honest, I was also overlooking these expenses until the pandemic has opened my eyes to how much I need to save. We often hear people mentioned that we need to have 6 months worth of savings for us to survive any potential economic downturn. Thankfully I have my job that I am able to still have my monthly income but imagine for those who lost their job since the MCO. It’s been more than 6 months since we are on various stages of MCO we won’t know when will it be over. Aside from saving more money, it is equally important to cut down on unnecessary expenses.

OSS!