I canceled my Paramount+ subscription on Saturday, just before the renewal day yesterday, and I’m thinking of dumping a few more. I canceled Apple TV+ a few months ago. There are TV programs I like on both, but I just can't justify it anymore. These subscriptions are like vampires, siphoning a few dollars here and there until my budget is bled dry. These little charges are starting to eat away at my budget.

There have been numerous articles about how our society is turning into one big rental/subscription economy, where we don’t own anything—we just rent it. To keep track of my expenses, I now maintain a spreadsheet of all my subscriptions, noting whether I pay monthly, yearly, or on a fixed term. Whenever possible, I choose yearly payments since they usually come with a small discount.

I've also started investing in a couple of Raspberry Pis to self-host as much as possible. But there are some services I won’t compromise on. One of them is my managed Mastodon instance from Masto.host. The service removes the strain of maintenance, even for a single-user instance, and it’s actually cheaper than my previous setup using the smallest available DigitalOcean server. Choosing Masto.host was an excellent decision—Hugo Gameiro does a fantastic job with managed Mastodon hosting.

Another service I wouldn’t think of cutting is Micro.blog. I only recently started using it, but I’m already very impressed. Manton Reece, like Hugo, runs a tight and reliable service. I don’t mind paying for superior service and time-saving convenience.

That said, there are plenty of subscriptions—or as I call them, leases—that I don’t mind cutting. I hate car leases and have never had one; I’d rather own my stuff than rent it. My parents, brother, and sister-in-law all tried leasing a car once, and they learned their lesson, too.

Tags:  #CutTheCord  #SmartSpending