Subscriptions vary from different things, such as streaming services, sports, shopping, or your favorite hobby. Many companies now have monthly subscriptions just for you to be able to do simple things, especially the ones you could do for free, just a few months ago. While some subscription services may be worth it depending on the price, most services will overcharge these fees, leaving you with plenty of subscriptions that are not even worth it.
1. Cable TV
Many believe that cable television is a good option in today’s world but a very outdated entertainment source. With cable TV, you sign up for packages that last long and cannot be canceled immediately. To pair with that, you are forced to pay for channels you do not even use, so if you want to watch sports, you are also paying for nonsense channels that you may have no interest in.
2. Gym Membership
Gym memberships are one of the most controversial subscriptions you could have, with many people either outright not going or not getting their money out of the gym. A better alternative would be to set up a home gym; although the costs may be high, it will pay off in the end since you do not have to leave for the gym, plus you get to pick what equipment you would like. While buying the equipment is expensive, purchasing the weights used is a great way to save money. Keep in mind that they may need a repaint.
3. Music Services
Paying for music in 2024 is just a plain old waste of money. Music is free across many platforms, so paying for it is quite a waste of money. While many of these platforms may give advertisements during the songs, you are clear as long as you are not paying for the music streaming service. Even though the cost of music may seem cheap initially, that will build up quickly.
4. Meal Prep Plans
Meal prepping is extremely simple, and paying for the meals to be shipped to you monthly is just for convenience, with being able to make simple meal preps right at home. The cost of shipping meal containers to your house is outrageous, costing hundreds of dollars a month when you could spend a day making your meals for the whole week for a fraction of the price. The meal prep companies may try to bait you in with a decent deal, but it is hard to unsubscribe once you are in.
5. Newspaper
The newspaper is an outdated way to receive news nowadays, with so many choices that are either free or cost half the price. The newspaper does not come with the most recent news, sometimes a few weeks or months late. Many online options provide the daily news but for zero costs.
6. Pet Box
Treating our pets brings a warm feeling to your heart, but is it worth it in the end? Receiving a box full of pet toys once a month may seem like you are being efficient with the toys being bought, but they are not. When you sign up for one of these subscriptions, you do not even know what you are precisely getting, and the toys you thought your dog would love to go to waste within a week. A better idea is to go to the store as a reward for your animal so they can pick out the toy, so you know they will love it.
7. Video Game Service
While it may seem fun and cool to buy, a video game does not bring any helpfulness into your life. Video games may be a fun hobby to tend to, but they are a waste of your time daily, and if you are putting money into the game, that is a colossal waste of money. A monthly subscription to a game service to get monthly gems, benefits, or other in-game activities is a flat-out throwaway of cash.
8. Tanning Bed
More for the girls, a subscription to get tan whenever you want may seem like an excellent investment to stay good and tan, but you could go outside instead to get an accurate tan. While it may be challenging to go out and get a tan during the colder seasons, going to a tanning bed can harm your pockets and seriously damage your skin.
9. Dating Apps
Dating apps you must pay for are just outright wastes of money, with many other and better ways to find a date. The best way to find someone would be to venture out into the world for a free cost and more effective. Paying for these sites does not come with many benefits, only a few, such as unlimited swipes, no ads, or other small features.
10. Monthly Food Box
Like meal prep, a monthly food box service wastes paychecks for several reasons. The food box is not guaranteed to have food you like, and with that, you have to prepare all of the food on your own, having to come out with recipes for the random food you have received. These companies try to bait you into paying for a subscription by saying they sell exotic foods when you can buy them from your local grocery store.
11. X
Paying for X, formerly known as Twitter, does not come with worthy benefits. While the price isn’t awful, the benefits that come with it include reduced ads, verification tags, and other features like ad revenue sharing. Spending money on this premium option is not worth it, even for the price.
12. Radio
A premium feature is offered for many radio show programs, which wastes most people’s money. Unless you are a constant radio listener, the benefits that come with paying this price will not effectively benefit you. Most premium radio subscriptions will include no ads, which is a big deal to some people; others may not care about listening to a few ads.
13. Cooking Show
Learning to cook can be challenging, but not enough to pay someone else to show you how to cook. With so many free ways to learn what you are cooking, paying for someone else’s information may be helpful but not valuable enough to pay for it. Instead, go online to ask your question or find a recipe that works for you!
14. Audible
Many avid book readers claim that Audible is not worth the money, with having to pay around fifteen dollars per month to listen to books when you should be reading them anyway. Many people end up paying for this monthly subscription do not even end up using the app, with the subscription just going to waste.
15. YouTube Premium
YouTube premium starts at fifteen dollars a month, although you receive some benefits. While these features you get are excellent, they are still not worth your money. The premium offer includes no ads, being able to shut off your phone and still hear, and offline viewing. So unless you watch YouTube a lot more than the average person, this subscription will not be worth it for your pockets.
16. Hulu
Hulu has many options for paying for a subscription; the more you pay, the better the benefits. If you are a college student, you can get Spotify premium and the base Hulu subscription for just five dollars a month, which is worth it if you have the money. Since Hulu does come with many different plans, depending on the one you choose or have, it is probably not worth it since, after all, you still have those long ads.
17. Snapchat Premium
A newer premium feature to the social media, Snapchat’s premium subscription includes a handful of what people think are useless things, such as being able to replay a snap more times, see how many times people view your story, and also being able to customize more things on the app. Many people believe this is not worth it, gaining access to features that do not benefit you in ways that make you think you should purchase this.
18. VPN
Purchasing a VPN is a waste because you can get one for free that still works well. Gaining access to a VPN is a brilliant idea, so you will have your computer protected and not be able to be seen from your computer. So, while purchasing a VPN may be a bright idea, you should not overpay for one, especially if you do not have a monthly subscription, because they can cost up to hundreds of dollars a month.
19. Car Wash
For those who love getting their car washed, whether for the satisfaction of having a clean car or being able to get the vehicle washed whenever, many people have a monthly bill to have unlimited car washes for that month. When you spend the money to be able to get a car wash, you may seem like you are saving money, but you end up not even going as much as the valued month had been, leaving you with a bad deal.
20. Coloring Books
Something many of us did not even know you could have a monthly subscription for, having coloring books delivered right to your door every month, may sound silly to many of us, but to those who love to color or have kids, it may seem worth it. Although it may seem worth it initially, the build-up of those monthly payments is fast, especially for coloring books. To pair with the high cost of having them shipped to your door, many of the coloring pages end up not even getting used, which adds to the waste of money.
21. Netflix
What used to be an excellent streaming service for most of us has quickly become one of the worst, with having to pay at least fifteen dollars a month for this service. Netflix is limited to many movies but fewer shows, and it also removes many fan favorites. To pair with removing the shows people loved the best, Netflix will implement ads into their shows, making them worth even more, but having ads is cheaper than paying for the ones without the ads.
22. Stitch Fix
A unique service, Stitch Fix is a personal style company that customizes handpicked clothing for its customers. Although Stitch Fix has been a massive help to many, it is just a significant waste of money to others. You are charged a twenty-dollar styling fee, but that fee goes towards other credit in the store, which many have argued is not worth it.
23. Amazon Prime
Over the past years, the subscription for Amazon Prime has become a waste to many people. When people sign up to get Amazon Prime, they receive many benefits, such as free shows, free and quick shipping, and many other things. People begin to lose their money because they think they need to purchase Prime to get faster shipping when they do not even use Amazon enough to need the fast shipping.
24. Adobe Software
The Adobe Software programs provide many resources and information to any industry professional, so this may be worth it to them. Many individuals find themselves paying for this subscription, but similar to Amazon Prime, end up not even using it as much as you would for your money’s worth. So, while the cost of it is not outrageous, this may only be worth it to those who will utilize this daily.
