General Discussion How do you keep track of all your streaming services and their renewal dates? (1 Viewer)

[Clark Green]

We sat down the other evening to talk about what streaming plans we have and what we're paying and when will the plans renew. We soon realized we weren't doing the best at keeping track. We wrote down everything and keep the list on the fridge to keep watch of things. One other reason we need to keep tabs is because many services we signed up for were "half price deals" and when they renew they could go from $50 a year to $99 a year and want to be sure to cancel before then.

How do you keep tabs of your services?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

We only have two right now, so it's pretty easy for me -- and one of them is Amazon Prime, which I have more for its other benefits than streaming. I did put a reminder in my Google calendar for when our Paramount+ subscription was going to end so I made sure I canceled it (I rely on that calendar for most things). I do need to add a reminder for Disney+, too, which comes up for renewal in November -- I am not sure whether I will be renewing that, or maybe even moving to the bundle with ESPN+ so I can watch out of market NHL games again.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I started doing something similar w/ reminders, except I put them in my iPhone's Reminders app.

_Man_

 

[Malcolm R]

Like Scott, we only have two: Netflix and Amazon Prime, so it's relatively easy. I have no intention of signing up for any more. There's already more than I can ever watch on those two, especially when considering my large library of physical disc media as well.

 

[jcroy]

Write it down on the calendar and/or on post-it notes attached to the month/day in question.

Same reason why I write down the phone numbers of individuals who phone me more than once a year, and keep the list next to the telephone at home.

 

[Chris Will]

I'm old school and still use a "Quicken" like program on my computer (well iPad now) called Banktivity. All my bills have reminders and schedules set in that program, not just streaming bills, so I don't ever miss a payment date. Everything is auto-paid anyway but, I still know the dates they will be processed.

 

[Desslar]

Write it down on the calendar and/or on post-it notes attached to the month/day in question.

Same reason why I write down the phone numbers of individuals who phone me more than once a year, and keep the list next to the telephone at home.

Must be a lot of extended car warranty salespeople on that list.

 

[jcroy]

Must be a lot of extended car warranty salespeople on that list.

I don't get those type of telemarketing calls these days.

My phone list is primarily people I know whose phone calls I'm willing to answer. Basically if I don't recognize an incoming number and it is not on my list, it goes to voicemail. It's basically like the inverse of a weedout list.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I'm old school and still use a "Quicken" like program on my computer (well iPad now) called Banktivity. All my bills have reminders and schedules set in that program, not just streaming bills, so I don't ever miss a payment date. Everything is auto-paid anyway but, I still know the dates they will be processed.

That wouldn't really help for keeping track of when to cancel/suspend (and/or reactivate) streaming subscriptions (whether because of some expiring deal or some other reasons).

Some of us are indeed juggling when best to do such, especially if we're only interested enough in particular services for a month or two at a time for once or twice each year (although the OP only mentioned expiring deals).

_Man_

 

[Bartman]

We have Prime & Netflix permanently. We've sampled Acorn, Britbox & Showtime with $1/month specials. If TCM was available streaming independently I'd go for that.
I use mainly Justwatch to check for movies etc, ReelGood is not as good as Justwatch.

 

[mackjay]

I set up email reminders for a week before a renewal would come due and then I consider cancellation. I've got 3 services currently covered by T-Mobile for a year, they cover Netlfix all the time

 

[Dick White]

I have everything on auto payment and then put notes on my calendar a week or two in advance if a deal is going to expire or I think I may not want to renew for some other reason. I have Amazon Prime permanently (had it before they added all the streaming services), and YouTube TV is my main streaming service for sports and other live TV that I don't get OTA with my antenna. I have YTTV paused for 8 weeks because of a lack of sports right now (don't care for baseball).

I have used some special interest services like Marquee (a gift) and Broadway HD, and right now I have short term deals on Epix, Starz and Hulu. (My "short term" deal with AMC+ was for 2 years in advance at 97ȼ a month.) I did a trial of Netflix (as well as some YTTV competitors) when I first cut the cord with DirecTV. I thought I would eventually go back to Netflix, but I have more than I can watch on other services.

With all the switching of services, I definitely need a way to keep up. For myself, I keep confirmation emails in a folder and make the calendar notations. (For my survivors, I have a document that shows all my financial transactions, including the streaming services. Never know when I might croak.)

 

[Briton]

For a lot of these plans, if you know you aren't going to keep them longer than you've already paid for, you can go ahead and cancel them immediately. It will stop them from rebilling you, but you'll still have access till whatever time you already paid for is up.

 

[ScottHM]

How do you keep tabs of your services?

How difficult is it to keep up with an Amazon Prime subscription?
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[ManW_TheUncool]

For a lot of these plans, if you know you aren't going to keep them longer than you've already paid for, you can go ahead and cancel them immediately. It will stop them from rebilling you, but you'll still have access till whatever time you already paid for is up.

That's true, but if you're on some (still ongoing) specially discounted monthly deal you don't expect to cancel yet after this month (as the OP indicated), you'll still need to wait to cancel. And sometimes, you might have a discounted offer that would expire as soon as you cancel and you're not sure you want to lose that offer just yet -- this may or may not coincide w/ the former.

Sometimes, I also wait for the best time to make use of an offer that'd expire a few weeks or month-plus from now (or whenever I became aware) and could use a reminder to subscribe/reactivate, eg. I recently did just that for Paramount+ as I had an Amex offer (more or less) specific to me.

_Man_

 

[Jason_V]

Per paycheck (I get 24 a year), I am paying $24.73 for Amazon Prime ($5), Paramount Plus ($3.31), Hulu/Disney+ ($8.05) and Netflix ($8.37). We get HBO Max through our internet provider, so I'm not counting that.

These numbers are the monthly cost (annual for Amazon) divided by the 24 checks I get every year. Most recent Amazon Renewal was $120. That amount divided by 24 checks is $5. I put that money aside from paycheck and then pay from that account when the bill is due. Same with the other providers. I have Google Sheets which have all this set up, along with a Google calendar reminding me of bill dates. I don't bother hopping from deal to deal or service to service. I don't have the patience with it.