Road to 100,000 Yen a Month, Part 3: A Deep Clean of the 'Subscription' Trap. The Reality of Our Household Taking Three Steps Forward and Two Steps Back

Our household's roadmap for cutting fixed costs, which has already tackled insurance and communication expenses.

Now, this time, we are going to operate on that modern-day ailment rumored to be 'effortless and quick to produce results.'

Yes, it is time to review our 'subscriptions'.

Subscriptions that are deducted from our credit card without us realizing it, slowly eating away at our household budget.
Since I didn't know where to start, I decided to borrow some AI wisdom and carry out a deep clean using the following 'three steps'.

1. Uncovering the 'full picture' (checking not just credit card statements, but also carrier billing and app subscriptions).

2. Sorting by 'frequency of use' and 'satisfaction level' (everything except the 'essentials' used daily becomes a candidate for cancellation).

3. Immediate cancellation of 'dormant' accounts (deleting anything unused or forgotten without a second thought).

As soon as I tried to uncover our household's 'hidden subscriptions,' a surprising list was completed.

Yahoo! Premium: 500 yen

Niconico Premium: 800 yen

Amazon Prime: 600 yen

Jidaigeki (Period Drama) Channel: 500 yen

Water Server: 6,000 yen

Proactiv for kids: 4,000 yen

Wife's fan club: 500 yen

Wife's contact lens plan: 2,700 yen

[Total: 15,600 yen]

Terrifyingly, over 15,000 yen was being drained away every month...

I'll start examining them right away.

First, '1' and '2' were completely dormant subscriptions that had been left untouched since we used them in the past. '4' was an Amazon paid channel, and it turned out my father had signed up for it without realizing it, and it was being deducted automatically.

The acne care in '6' hasn't even been used by the kids lately. These are being canceled immediately.

Furthermore, for '5', the water server that we were highly satisfied with, we switched to a cheaper water purification type (2,700 yen per month). My wife also happily cooperated in canceling her fan club membership (500 yen).

As a result, all that remained were Amazon Prime, contact lenses, and the cost of the new server.

Before review: 15,600 yen

After review: 6,000 yen

[Savings: 9,600 yen per month!]

I was so satisfied, thinking, 'Zero initial investment, just pressing the cancel button. What a wonderful way to save money!'... or so I thought.

An unexpected rebound. The temptation of subscriptions was strong.

People aren't that easy to reconcile with, after all.

After that, a new 'wave of subscriptions' washed over our home.

Amazon Music Unlimited (Family Plan, annual payment): 1,650 yen (Introduced after the family begged, 'We really want to listen to music')

Netflix (Standard): 1,590 yen (This is mostly,
Shohei Ohtani's fault.
Also, I
really wanted to watch 'City Hunter' and 'Ikusagami'.)

Google One AI Premium (annual payment): approx. 2,500 yen (Our cloud storage as a couple reached its limit. And the AI features are so convenient that, honestly, I'm in a state of 'I can't live without you anymore'... lol)

I've done it now.
It's truly 'two steps forward, one step back'.

In this day and age, it is impossible to live by cutting off subscriptions entirely. However, regarding these three that I added, they have increased my family's smiles, skyrocketed my work efficiency, and are undoubtedly improving our QOL (Quality of Life).

Our final monthly subscription cost landed at 11,800 yen.

The final outcome this time is as follows.

Total before subscription review: 15,600 yen

Current total subscription cost: 11,800 yen

Net savings this time: 3,800 yen

When you add the 'insurance (39,000 yen)' and 'communication costs (18,000 yen)' from the previous installments to this, we have achieved a total reduction of [57,800 yen]!

I feel a bit of regret since it was close to 10,000 yen at one point, but savings based only on endurance don't last.
'Cut what should be cut, and invest in what enriches life.' I realize that this balance is the secret to continuing household budget management for a large family for a long time.

42,200 yen left until the goal of 100,000 yen per month!

One step at a time, but surely, I will keep doing my best.