My 2025 Subscriptions
I saw a couple posts that go over what subscriptions they use, and I like the idea of reflecting on your purchases. So, here we go!
My list is mostly pretty short:
Spotify
I've been using Spotify since 2023. I will confess, before that, I was mainly using mp3 or FLAC rips which are fairly easy to find online for most music. Then, I moved on to using a modded APK on my phone. However, after a while, I did find it cumbersome when the mods broke or when I had to keep updating the version. And a part of me felt guilty not listening on an official platform.
I was asked by a friend if I wanted to join their Spotify family as they were looking for one more person to fill up a spot. It was 6 people per family then for MYR24.90 (or 5.53USD) per month or MYR4.15 (or 0.92USD). And I've basically been on this plan since then. Recently, Spotify changed their family plan to only include 4 people, but fortunately, they sent an email to mention that that only applies to new subscribers. Phew!
This is unfortunately still the most economical music platform that you can use here in Malaysia.
Google Drive
I pay for the 100GB per year plan and I share the account with my boyfriend so he can upload some of his pictures. He only uses about 20~ GBs, so I have a fair amount of space left over. This is the subscription that I think could be removed eventually. This one is MYR89.90 (or 19.98 USD) per year, and I've been on this Google One plan for two years! Unfortunately, this seems to be the cheapest option as well. I've tried looking at MEGA, but, that could only make sense for me if I'm looking for way more storage than what I need.
I do intend to go through a lot of the files, as most of the space-consuming ones are multiple takes of pictures, videos, etc. I would love to be able to compress the files and maybe move them to a physical drive as a backup. Or multiple probably haha as I don't know if I can fully rely only on one.
Another alternative I've been thinking of is to create a new blog of some sort to get some of my pictures on there so that could be another place to back up my photos, as well as have a nice place to showcase my monthly highlights throughout the year.
Headspace
Headspace is one of those apps that I purchased as a 'hopeful' sort of purchase. I love the idea of meditating, and I also know from the multitudes of videos, influencers, and heck, even my lecturers, that it is a great habit to cultivate. This one cost me MYR189.09 (or 42.02 USD) for a year.
Headspace is a very beginner-friendly platform with a clean UI to start off meditating. I've subscribed to this since the end of August last year, and I've meditated for almost 10 hours according to the in-app tracker. I've skipped many days, and I do feel guilty whenever the slump happens.
I'm trying to hop back into it again, but honestly, I might not resubscribe as I think some free alternatives could do a similar job (albeit not in the best-packaged way). Check out Insight Timer.
Bear Blog
Now, to my latest subscription! As mentioned in my previous blog post I've decided to try out the upgraded version of Bear Blog. I've very much been enjoying the ability to use Javascript, as you can see from the various additions I've mentioned in the post.
I'm also looking to explore a potential photo blog/archive area where I can share pictures there every month or so! I feel like this could be a better alternative compared to Google Drive as I don't actually find myself looking back at the pictures I upload there. Unless I need it for a very specific reason.
I also want to support the creator, as an app like this has its overhead, and I'm using it frequently enough that I do feel that it's worth the month MYR11.25 (or 2.50 USD). I'm considering the lifetime version, but don't know if I should pull the gun yet.
Netflix
I don't exactly pay for this as this is actually my sister's subscription, but she did give me access to it whenever I want to watch anything. I use it maybe 1-2x per month, unless I have a specific show that's on Netflix that I want to watch. This one is only MYR10 (2.22 USD) per month as she is in some sort of now-defunct family promotion that her friend invited her to.
I would probably look for other ways to watch shows and movies if she does end up letting go of this subscription. It's not as enticing as it once was.
Thank you for reading, and if you would like to share any thoughts or if you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a comment :)
[11/100] for #100DaysToOffload