Subscriptions

Let’s be honest, subscriptions are one of those things in life we’d all rather live without. But they’re here to stay and they’re getting more expensive.

The approach I’m taking is to cull as many as I can (duh). Typeform recently went. As did Strava. Notion will be on it’s way soon. But not just yet, as I was heavily invested and there’s much to undo.

These days, if I can pay for software outright, then I will. Balance is great for that, as you can pay once for lifetime access. I switched from Adobe to Affinity, for the exact same reason. Adobe’s subscription fees are ridiculous, whereas Affinity is a reasonable one-off payment. One caveat is that Affinity now charge for updates, so although it’s nothing like the cost of Adobe, you may just be shifting the problem elsewhere.

The truth is, it’s unlikely we’ll ever be able to ditch subscriptions entirely. So the next best thing is to keep them in check.

With that in mind, here’s a breakdown of all my active subscriptions and how much I’m spending in total. All costs are monthly, except for domains which show the individual cost for the year (because I’m lazy), then a total, which includes a monthly breakdown.

Streaming services #

• Netflix (£4.99 / $6.32)
• Amazon Prime (£7.92 / $9.67)

Total: £12.91 / $15.99

Work #

• Figma (£23.65 / $30)
• Fathom Analytics (£9.48 / $11.58)
• Sync (£6.55 / $8)
• Notion (£3.93 / $4.8)
• Accountant (£120 / $146.53)

Total: £163.61* / $200.91

*This doesn’t include expenses which get re-billed to clients.

Domains #

• harrycresswell.com (£8.70 / $10.66)
• harrycresswell.co.uk (£7.74 / $9.48)
• harrycr.es (£17.94 / $21.98)
• practicalhugo.com (£7.40 / $9.06)
• typeservices.co (£23.65 / $28.98)
• locallondon.life (£26.25 / $32.16)
• studioeryn.com (£7.96 / $9.76)

Total: £99.64 / $122.08 per year (£8.30 / $10.17 per month)

Privacy #

• Tuta(nota) (£3 / $3.66)
• NordVPN (£3.66 / $4.47)
• Simplelogin (£2.04 / $2.5)

Total: £8.70 / $10.63

Misc #

• Phone contract (£9.00 / $11.02)
• iCloud+ with 50 GB of storage (£0.99 / $1.21)
• Readwise and Reader (£6.54 / $7.99)
• Duolingo (£4.99 / $6.22)

Total: £21.52 / $26.44

There you have it. All my active subscriptions in one place.

The overall total comes to £215.04 / $264.14 a month, which, to be honest, isn’t as bad as I was expecting. A large chunk of that is the cost for my accountant, which I like to think is money well spent. Another expensive one is Figma, as I currently pay for two design seats.

I haven’t included household expenses, like insurance, utilities and council tax, as I’m currently between places. I’ll try and remember to add these when I move in.

With everything now in check, I’m hoping I’ll consider any potential new subscriptions with a little more thought.