For years, people have been cutting the cord with cable and switching to streaming services as their primary source of TV shows and movies. This has been effective for a while, but with the increase in options available and services like Netflix cracking down on password sharing, the overall cost of streaming is starting to reach the original prices of cable.
This has sent some people back to cable since it felt easier to deal with. However, it’s still not the best option. We’d argue that streaming is still the way to go if you want to reduce your monthly expenses. If you’re unsure how that’s possible, this article is here to help show you the ways you can save money by streaming instead of paying an exorbitant amount for cable.
Be Selective With Your Services
The biggest problem with streaming services is that people feel they need them all—this is far from the case. Even if you’re the biggest TV/movie watcher on the planet, it’s not feasible to use multiple services simultaneously. At most, you probably only use two or three services a month. That means any others you’re paying for during that period are a waste of money.
To combat this issue, be more selective with your streaming services. That means suspending or canceling the ones you haven’t logged into in over a month. Once your suspended services have something that you want to watch, reactivate them, and stop paying for one of your other ones for a month. If you can achieve a perfect balance of limited active streaming services, you’ll notice it in your finances.
Look Into Annual Subscriptions
While some streaming services can easily come and go as you please, there might be one or two that you use constantly throughout the month. If you don’t foresee yourself ever suspending or canceling a service, you should lock it down with an annual subscription.
This will help you save money on the streaming services you love the most. Typically, you can save about two months’ worth of payments by switching to an annual plan, but you could save even more depending on any deals you might find.
Consider the Benefits of Streaming
When comparing the prices of cable and streaming services, many people only look at the shows and movies each option offers them to determine which is better. However, there’s a lot more that goes into this. You need to consider the benefits of each. With streaming, you can watch movies and shows whenever you want. Cable can do that, but you have to pay for a service that allows you to record your programs.
Also, you can watch streaming services anywhere, even on your phone. Cable is typically limited to TVs, and you need to pay more to have it accessible on each additional TV set. On top of that, if you’ve recently been figuring out how to choose a home automation system, you might have realized these services integrate much better with streaming than with cable. Ultimately, this leads to streaming as the best way to save money instead of paying for cable, so stop overpaying and make the change today.
