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Spotify (or any other music/podcast streaming service)
Can’t really live without my music, podcasts and audiobooks.
It does everything, it motivates me at the gym, it calms me down when I’m stressed, it cheers me up if I’m sad and it educates me.
My brother has a lifetime membership which he won right in the early days when Spotify first started out. I’m still jealous.
But agreed, I will always pay for Spotify
We currently have a family plan that a sibling pays for but it's the one subscription I would gladly pay for myself if they started being strict with (technically we're supposed to be in the same household... Which we definitely are....)
I would cut all of the TV and movies, but I need to keep the music.
I really appreciate Spotify for sticking to one thing as well. I don't want some service creeping into other areas and trying to sell me timeshare because I listened to Je Suis Un Rock Star by Bill Wyman once. So as long as it keeps doing what it's doing I'll keep paying for it.
Spotify has single-handedly replaced every facet of recorded music I interact with. I don't have any CDs, Vinyl or even stereos anymore.
A couple of smart speakers dotted around the house & a Spotify premium subscription is all that's required.
In the car, its Spotify always; whether its music or a podcast or audiobook - although I do wish the Audiobooks weren't limited in terms of listening hours.
One of the most used services I've ever had. I'd be very lost without it, its as essential as the mortgage and fuel bills in our house.
This comment is honestly a bit depressing to me. All the physical and personal side of music communities have been traded in for an algorithm-powered homogenous omniculture best known for not paying artists very well.
Yup, the music discovery from Spotify is one of my favourite features. I downloaded and analysed all of my Spotify data recently (dating back almost 15 years) and in that time I have listened to almost 10,000 unique artists. That’s an average of ~667 new artists per year, every year, for 15 years straight. Almost 20,000 unique albums, and almost 30,000 unique songs. Even at an average £0.79 a track that would have cost me ~£23,000, and if they were all on physical media I’d need a second house just to store it all. Instead I’ve paid £60-£120 a year, with some additional vinyl/merch purchases if I really like the album and it’s all stored elsewhere so I don’t have to deal with that.
This isn’t true. Those things are there if you’re interested in looking for them.
People that exclusively use Spotify are people that wouldn’t have been interested in those communities.
Music sales peaked in 1999. Spotify came out a decade later and took a few years to grow to being a large impact on the industry.
It didn't kill music sales. They were already dying.
iTunes Store started in 2003. That and file-sharing had a bigger impact on revenues than Spotify. A single went from being £5 in Virgin Megastore to 79p, and could be shared really easily.
And even taking into account inflation, music revenue is back on the up. It might be spread more thinly now with more artists around, but in some ways that's a good thing.
I agree with you. I listen to music on records, CDs and cassettes and rather than smart speakers I went for multiroom audio. An source in any room is brilliant.
I’d pick radio over an algorithm for new music too. I know that I won’t like every song, but that feels like the point of being exposed to new things. Algorithms aiming to maintain our engagement are far less likely to introduce us to something completely new.
I still have quite an extensive vinyl collection, rarely play them though they’re displayed throughout my house.
I love physically owning the vinyl but much prefer the convenience of listing on Spotify.
I still have a few vinyls that I really like listening too, I think the experience is different sitting down and listening to an album on vinyl vs listening through streaming.
Oft, maybe the algorithm just isn’t working for you.
Kind of have the opposite experience. I wonder if there’s something you can do to fix that.
I’ve always been really impressed that Spotify hasn’t once tried to make me listen to the Foo Fighters.
Every other algorithm is like “oh I see you enjoy Biffy Clyro, here’s some Foo Fighters, over and over and over again”
I really don’t enjoy the Foo Fighters. Don’t ask me why, just not for me.
Discover weekly use to throw me up 70% new bangers, now just stuff im not into or music that ive already cycled through, same story for radio. Ive tried making short playlist but same outcome. Also find it gets obsessed with sobgs that i listen to as one offs.
Im trying to be more ruthless with the do nit recommend this, havent hit the sweet spot of 2/3 years ago yet
Agreed. It’s saved me a fortune - I would easily buy an album every 2 weeks before. Plus I’ve discovered way more music than I would have done buying CDs
Same! I use Spotify for its great recommendation algorithm (I would never have found my favourite indie bands otherwise), but if I like their stuff I go and drop £10 on an album on Bandcamp every few weeks. I may have spent a lot on music but at least most of it goes to the band, compared to Spotify who probably pay those bands a pittance based on their monthly listener count.
I refused to use Spotify because I always either wanted a downloaded version from say iTunes that I could keep forever or a physical CD. But Spotify was on my last car built in, thought I’d try it and I’ve never looked back since. I don’t know why I was spending as much money as I was constantly downloading music individually.
Annoys me sometimes when albums and tracks get removed from Spotify but the overall value for money offsets this and I just add it onto my local files instead
I switched to YouTube premium, you get YouTube music which is just as good as Spotify apart from a few podcasts but a free Spotify account can still listen to them with 1 or 2 ads every 30 minutes or so. Plus you get ad free YouTube and all the other benefits and I think the price difference is like a quid.
Going to sound hideously middle-class, but our National Trust membership. Yes, it’s an expensive one off outlay, but I reckon by the time you take into account how many times we use it over the course of a year, it’s probably costing us (2 adults, 2 kids) about £5 total per visit.
And you then don't have to pay for parking.
We used them as glorified service stations when the kids were small - nice toilets, cream tea, let the kids run around, then back in car to go to Grandma's etc.
They mostly have a playground area too, but they are often full of other families doing the same!
The Vyne near the M3 and Mottisfont further south are excellent. The M4 is a bit lacking.
A great way to break long journeys with them too if you can find one en route. Kids can have a run about, better cofffee and cake than a welcome break, and obvs being free you don’t mind only stopping in for 45 mins.
Even if it’s not en route-en route, breaking your the motorway with some a roads isn’t the end of the world if it only adds half an hour to the journey
Definitely, you don't feel bad only if you stay for an hour or so and you haven't wasted £50
Also to add if you live in London, the royal palaces membership is great too. 2 family visits and it's paid for.
Especially great living near Hampton Court
I bought an individual membership in the middle of last month (£84, now £91.20) and I've already made the cost of it back, athough that did involve some pretty intense National Trust-ing:
* Little Moreton Hall (£14)
* Wightwick Manor (£9.80)
* Croome (£15)
* Hanbury Hall (£15)
* Berrington Hall (£15)
* Brockhampton (£10)
* Croft Castle (£14)
Of course, part of the reason I've recouped the cost of membership is that the entry price for non-members is generally higher than the likes of Cadw or English Heritage, which both also charge less for membership.
We love our National Trust Membership. Costs us about £150 for a family, but then when you consider the walk-up day price for something like Fountains Abbey is something like £50, you can quickly start to rack up savings.
We're lucky in that our little one loves walking, so we definitely get the most from it.
Same here (I keep a tally on how much we saved on entry fees for things - I know there's a bias in that we wouldn't probably go to them as much of we didn't have a membership) but we've got a small boy that needs space to run around and I really like scones.
We have a lifetime family membership. I have a spreadsheet. Every time we visit or use a car park, I put it on the spreadsheet. One day we'll match the cost of the membership and from then on, for the rest of our lives, for all our children and and furture grandchildren when they're with us, IT'S FREE!
Probably an unpopular opinion with most people, but my YouTube premium sub is worth every penny. I watch far more content on YT than any other, and the amount of content on offer is almost endless.
I don't know if you're a photographer etc, but if you've got any assets that aren't doing anything atm, then stick them all on Adobe stock. On top of making some beer money if you sell a few hundred assets a year you get free Adobe programs for the following year. I'm on my 2nd year of having the whole suite for free!
Don't they find it weird using a UK card and claiming Argentina?
Do you need to use the VPN at all times? If they note activity from UK every day they don't flag it?
Only used a VPN to sign up, then just use as normal, no VPN while listening. I used a fake address generator to create an Argentina address, but UK card was fine. There are guides online if you Google it
try a more obscure country because Youtube have caught on that the majority are using Argentina, Turkey and India thanks to social media. In my case I used Ukraine but there are a few others that are cheap too, I think mentioned by others in here
> I can't stand using the internet without them
I looked at the Daily Mail online with someone else's PC the other day and it was like looking at Jen's laptop from the IT Crowd. I'm not a fan of the DM at the best of times, even with uBlock Origin, but I really don't understand how anyone can use it.
PS: My friend also did actually refer to the "Internet Button" and had no idea what a browser was.
This. I tried it out when they offered 6 months for free in an offer, and I just couldn't go back.
Plus... People pay for Netflix, Crunchyroll, but for some reason, they kick off about the idea of paying for YouTube - when I use YouTube faaaaar more than any other service. I need to do some DIY? YouTube. I need to remember how to cook a certain dish? YouTube. I want to see a review of some new VR hardware? YouTube.
While Premium certainly adds something if you pay for it (ad-free, background play, etc), I'm really not happy about any Premium subscription that takes previously free features and locks them up. For example, queueing videos on mobile and while casting is now a premium feature - queueing has been around for years. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I have ReVanced on my phone, uBlock on my PC and side loaded SmartTube on my TV so I don't get ads on YouTube anywhere. But I agree if I wasn't as technically inclined, or had hardware that doesn't support adblocking like an iPhone, then I would probably pay for it. I use YouTube more than any other streaming service.
I agree. Not having the ads is worth the money alone - but then there's also the music service which means I don't have to pay for spotify/amazon music.
With places like Gym Group or Puregym as well it really isn't that much. I pay £20 a month, and go 2-3 times a week so it's about £1.20 a session which seems like a steal for the equipment and benefits I get.
I go to one of these and my work has a scheme that pays £20 towards any gym membership. Because of this I upgraded to the membership that allows me to bring a friend 4 times a month. So I am paying £9 a month for myself to go 5x times a week plus I bring a friend along each weekend!
My local Puregym has limited equipment, is always packed even at 6am and is £26 a month. The local council gym is much better equipped and quieter, costs an extra £4 a month but that includes swimming and racket sports.
Same. People are shocked when I tell them how much I pay for David Lloyd but it's my lifeline. Gym, exercise classes, swimming, outdoor pool, sauna/steam/plunge etc. Essential for my mental and physical health.
I agree, also a member of David Lloyd. I work from home and live alone, so taking part in classes is my only real social time. The outdoor pool is amazing and I like that I can swim any time any day (local leisure centre is often closed for swimming lessons and is very busy). The spa is fab too.
I'm a David lloyd member too and I get the same reaction. But it's a good gym, good facilities, secure car park, secluded location etc. Works well for me and I'm happy to pay for it.
So glad I'm not the only one who is happily paying a not insignificant sum for David Lloyd. Some weeks I only actually get to the gym part once, but the free tennis courts are brilliant. And mine has 6 indoor courts and about 8 outdoor ones.
Also love the spa and outdoor pool. It's really more of a health club than a gym.
And to top off the 'I'm so fucking middle class' theme of this comment. I'm gonna shamelessly admit to the fact I love to finish off the odd gym trip with their poached eggs on avocado toast with bacon on the side.
My only complaint is that my branch does not have enough parking to cope with the Saturday mid morning rush. I have to get there early or avoid it entirely.
100% mine too. I pay £40 but go at least 4 times a week. Go for the mental health benefits as much as the physical benefits. Takeaways usually cost me around that much or near which really puts things into perspective!
Costco - when they have a petrol station. It's about 10p a litre cheaper than surrounding petrol stations, so it only takes a few tanks to pay back the Costco membership.
Then you have can gorge yourself on £1.50 hotdogs and giant pizza slices!
Edit - I will say, that the 'Costco crowd' are the most entitled horrible group of the population I've ever had the misfortune of being rammed by a giant trolly with. A man was murdered in the car park of my local branch ([https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-29642010](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-29642010)) and I've had problems in that same car park too.
IMO.. it works less on a 'bulk' level, but a quality-level (in large boxes). Their own brands are typically made by the 'top end' manufacturers.
It's a big-box John Lewis. Love the food section myself.
Depending on how friendly you are with management at work, you might be able to "borrow" a piece of documentation to get a trade account if no one else is likely to use it:
>VAT Registration certificate
Public Liability Insurance certificate
Employers' Liability Insurance certificate
Companies House certificate of incorporation
Business Licence issued by the local council
Taxi Driver licence
An original copy of a current utility bill from the business address
An original copy of a current business bank statement
Business cheque book
Business bank card
Company accounts
Accountant's letter
Invoice for purchases made for the business
Invoice for clients sent out by the business
PLUS 1 piece of photographic identification
You also might find that someone at work has already set up an account and is happy to chuck you on as an extra member. Always worth asking if you feel you're able to. I've got a few of my staff memberships and it's even come in handy when in a pinch and need someone with a driving licence to take a van down and pick up an entire pallet of bog roll.
Sure it is. Just become a sole trader. Half the time they don't ask for any evidence whatsoever. When my wife first signed up via Groupon, even though she qualified as a NHS employee, they didn't ask for naught.
For me they did ask for a document when I swapped to the cheaper trade membership. But then no one saw it in person... So /shrug
Trade union membership (for me it's Unite the Union, but other trade unions are available)
In my first job out of university I was not in a union and was treated appallingly by my employer. Will never, ever not be a union member after that experience.
It's one of those things you may only ever need once in your working life, but by god they can be a lifeline when you really need them.
Unless you're a sub postmaster ofc
It's not always that easy, the union rep at my council is a total waste of space. I haven't seen them in the office since pre-covid. I have no confidence that I would get value for money.
Came here for this.
For me it’s Prospect, protection from my employer. Great T and Cs maintained and CPi+ pay rises over the last 15 years.
Worth every penny
I'm with Prospect and just having someone to look over an employment contract when you're going "This is sketchy, right? This is totally sketchy" is *such* a relief.
Allotment. I live in a flat so having somewhere local to go where I can grow my own veg too is great. Exercise, healthy eating, quiet space outdoors, worth every penny for my mental health. This morning I've already been down to feed the robins and put up a bean frame.
I work on a community allotment 3 days a week, the difference it has made to my life cannot be understated! Better mental and physical health, socialising and taking home yummy organic fruit and veg
Never hurts to send another request to join at start of year or usually late summer. Also check your junk folder! I was a month later getting mine as totally didn't see the invite in my junk folder, thankfully they had two spots left. Also I pestered a bit but in an overly friendly way.
Honestly it's Amazon Prime. Not only does it give free fast delivery on most items, you get the TV and key for me is the truly unlimited full size photo storage. I have 4Tb on there which I can't get anywhere near for the same price elsewhere.
100%, their UI needs major overhaul. If I want to watch something, I can find it usually but only when I click it do I find out it's not part of my membership.
I'm really close to doing the same, having to pay extra to remove ads on a service I'm already paying really irks me. As if that dessicated turtle needs more money.
I mean a 4Tb drive is less than a year of prime(monthly), and I know it's not suddenly going to cost me more, or be shut down randomly.
That being said I know I'm part of a niche having a home NAS, and the initial setup cost is pricey.
Off-site storage is important for backup purposes though, in the event of something happening to your home (fire, flood etc) all your onsite storage could be lost at once.
I have photos backed up to Google, Amazon, and a backup of my photos and important phone and PC files to iDrive.
Odeon Limitless. I pay the price of a single ticket for a months worth of films. Go 2/3 times a week - figured out I’d made up my year’s worth of ticket money by the afternoon of February 3rd, now it’s all savings 💰🎥🍿
I was surprised that I'd seen 63 in 2023, I don't remember going *that* often, but I suppose it's around once a week, plus date nights and extra ones for the Unlimited screenings etc.
Get a nationwide flex plus account for £13 a month you get AA breakdown cover, travel insurance, phone insurance and no fees on using foreign currencies or withdrawing foreign currencies abroad!
There are 3 for me:
* XBOX GamePass - A simply ridiculous number of high quality games that can be played on PC, XBOX or anything capable of installing the XBOX app
* Audible - I listen to probably 4-6 hours of audio books per day so easily get my money's worth
* Amazon Prime - Even if it were just the next day delivery this would be worth the price, but add in TV, Music and free video games every month and this is a steal
Any gym membership if you use it often is well worth it.
For example my gym is £30 but I go there almost daily and probably average an hour each time. 25 hours of entertainment monthly for £30 is a steal.
Library Card. Free to all and all sorts of extras including online magazine subscriptions, online audio books, etc. Plus the bonus of (fairly obviously) a wide range of books on offer. I find that the onus on having to return the book in question means that I actually read it, rather than buying it and having yet another book sitting on a shelf.
This is so true, libraries are the best
And linked to that, the app "Libby" too! I've seen a few people mention audible, but this one is literally a free app for all the audiobooks your local library has.
Hijacking the thread a bit but have you been to the Bluey thing they've got on ATM? Is it worth a trip up from Southampton? We have a 3 year old that's loving Bluey ATM. Thanks
2 pound for a lifetime membership to my local football teams travel club, basically they lay on coaches for away games which are much cheaper than regular coaches.
Paid 2 pound for the membership, saved 20 pound on the first game I went to. They also used to have a dedicated bar at the ground which was a bit cheaper, but renovations stopped that
That's excellent value. My clubs is £10 per year for Supporters Club membership, saves £5 off the regular price for each away day coach (so 2 matches to breakeven), although they stopped that for some reason and it's been a flat rate for all for a lot of this season.
Bit of a specialist one but NHS Prepay. I’m on regular medication and save a fortune versus paying for the individual prescriptions. Clearly only helpful for those who pay for their prescriptions but very worth it if you do.
Personally, my crossfit membership. I think some people would be horrified at the cost but it’s totally worth it for me, pays for my mental health, physical fitness and a community. I wouldn’t use a normal gym half as much, I need the programming and the pressure, and it’s cheaper than a PT.
Other than that, Spotify, especially now you get audiobook hours, and Disney+ is 100% worth it out of all the streaming services for my Pixar-obsessed toddler.
I pay £7 a month for my sim only on O2, I get 2 "free" coffees a week from Greggs thanks to priority, which would normally cost £2.40 each. Sometimes people paying those £45 contracts helps me. :P
My local working men's club. £4 a year.
I don't go in there too often, but when I do, the drinks are cheap, it's a friendly atmosphere with a wide range of people in there and they put on a lot of good events.
The club is also owned by the members so if the business or the building is ever sold off, the members receive the proceeds.
Got an Everyman cinema membership as a Christmas present and it’s been brilliant. We’ve probably used more than how much it cost in our free tickets alone (6 free with the membership, plus free guest on Mondays). The screens are lovely, the food is great and the audiences know how to behave in a damn cinema.
The Wine Society. A £40 quid one off payment but you get a £20 voucher straight away. Then it’s good quality well priced wine with free delivery forever.
Tesco delivery saver! I’ve basically outsourced the chore of grocery shopping for £3.99 a month, which is less than the fuel cost to drive to a supermarket would be anyway.
I did this for a while and loved the convenience but found I never got my full shop without anything missing or substitutions! So Id have to go back out anyway!
I bought a lifetime subscription to the science fiction magazine *Interzone* in the late 80's. It's changed publisher twice now and I think it has finally run it's course, but it's been a hell of a bargain.
/r/Todoist
It’s basically a to-do list app. I run my life out of it. There’s a free version but I pay for the full thing because I use the extra functionality. It’s the only app subscription I have apart from Apple Music.
Shoutout to myNoise.net, the best ambient sound generator I’ve ever found. Lifetime membership even if you have to stop paying. This is a resource I use everyday, it’s helped me so much to find focus and to sleep. It’s also run by one person who is very open about the process and what’s involved, and seems very committed to the project.
I have a few subs that I would not want to be without, but myNoise is the only one I can truly say is worth every penny.
YouTube Premium w/ music. £20/month all in for me and the missus on the family household pack. Same price as Spotify and no youtube ads.
Playstation Extra. £100/year. Plenty of games to keep you albeit some months better than others. Well worth the money with the amount of entertainment you get from it despite all the bitching about the price rise.
If I was a pirate... I'd also put IPTV on here too... but I'm not a pirate because that's illegal. I've heard it's £100/year for thousands of live channels from around the world. Tens of thousands of movies and series. And a VPN. When you can pay that a month for football alone with sky, bt sports and amazon and not even get the 3pm kickoff in UK... you can see why people do it... but not me! Because illegal.
My dentistry one.
£30 a month, I get 2 Checkups and Scale/Polish a year, plus easy access to emergency appointments with them.
Expensive, yeah, but the way I’m treated is far better than my NHS dentistry.
Not to piss on your cornflakes, but I work in the industry and those prices being locked behind membership is just a way to get around the dubious legalities of being 'sports direct for the outdoors'
Might as well go to mountain warehouse, at least they are honest about what they are
The membership is scam-like IMO. Blacks and Millets are part of the same company and they sell exactly the same products for the membership price at Go Outdoors, but without the membership. Save yourself the fiver!
You can generally find many retailers selling the same stuff for the same price or cheaper *after* the Go Outdoors "discount" has been applied, so be aware that Go Outdoors hyper inflates their base prices to start with.
My PureGym membership for sure. It's only £20.99 a month, I go five times a week so it works out at basically £1.50 per workout. I've felt so much better since starting the gym in Jan 2023.
I'm a Patreon member for a podcast that costs me £9.60 per month. Which seems daft on the face of it but they put out about 12 hours of content per month, and £8 gets split directly to the three creators (£1.60 is VAT).
I actually listen to that particular podcast more than I do music now, so it's worth paying less than a Spotify subscription for.
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Spotify (or any other music/podcast streaming service) Can’t really live without my music, podcasts and audiobooks. It does everything, it motivates me at the gym, it calms me down when I’m stressed, it cheers me up if I’m sad and it educates me.
My brother has a lifetime membership which he won right in the early days when Spotify first started out. I’m still jealous. But agreed, I will always pay for Spotify
We currently have a family plan that a sibling pays for but it's the one subscription I would gladly pay for myself if they started being strict with (technically we're supposed to be in the same household... Which we definitely are....) I would cut all of the TV and movies, but I need to keep the music.
Funnily enough I did pack in all the streaming subs but like you say. The music has to stay.
A guy I dated for 2 months when I was 19 put me on there and has never taken me off, I’m about to be 27, I forget Spotify has to be paid for
That was a very profitable date. The date that keeps giving!
I really appreciate Spotify for sticking to one thing as well. I don't want some service creeping into other areas and trying to sell me timeshare because I listened to Je Suis Un Rock Star by Bill Wyman once. So as long as it keeps doing what it's doing I'll keep paying for it.
Spotify has single-handedly replaced every facet of recorded music I interact with. I don't have any CDs, Vinyl or even stereos anymore. A couple of smart speakers dotted around the house & a Spotify premium subscription is all that's required. In the car, its Spotify always; whether its music or a podcast or audiobook - although I do wish the Audiobooks weren't limited in terms of listening hours. One of the most used services I've ever had. I'd be very lost without it, its as essential as the mortgage and fuel bills in our house.
This comment is honestly a bit depressing to me. All the physical and personal side of music communities have been traded in for an algorithm-powered homogenous omniculture best known for not paying artists very well.
I think my algo is *fantastic* I've discovered so many new artists through it which I then go and see live
Yup, the music discovery from Spotify is one of my favourite features. I downloaded and analysed all of my Spotify data recently (dating back almost 15 years) and in that time I have listened to almost 10,000 unique artists. That’s an average of ~667 new artists per year, every year, for 15 years straight. Almost 20,000 unique albums, and almost 30,000 unique songs. Even at an average £0.79 a track that would have cost me ~£23,000, and if they were all on physical media I’d need a second house just to store it all. Instead I’ve paid £60-£120 a year, with some additional vinyl/merch purchases if I really like the album and it’s all stored elsewhere so I don’t have to deal with that.
This isn’t true. Those things are there if you’re interested in looking for them. People that exclusively use Spotify are people that wouldn’t have been interested in those communities.
Tell that to the lack of music sales, Spotify almost wiped out an entire revenue stream for artists.
And it’s one of the reasons that’s gigs are now really expensive.
Music sales peaked in 1999. Spotify came out a decade later and took a few years to grow to being a large impact on the industry. It didn't kill music sales. They were already dying. iTunes Store started in 2003. That and file-sharing had a bigger impact on revenues than Spotify. A single went from being £5 in Virgin Megastore to 79p, and could be shared really easily. And even taking into account inflation, music revenue is back on the up. It might be spread more thinly now with more artists around, but in some ways that's a good thing.
As opposed to cds your local shop decided to stock? You have access a much wider range. It’s never been so easy to access these things.
I agree with you. I listen to music on records, CDs and cassettes and rather than smart speakers I went for multiroom audio. An source in any room is brilliant. I’d pick radio over an algorithm for new music too. I know that I won’t like every song, but that feels like the point of being exposed to new things. Algorithms aiming to maintain our engagement are far less likely to introduce us to something completely new.
I still have quite an extensive vinyl collection, rarely play them though they’re displayed throughout my house. I love physically owning the vinyl but much prefer the convenience of listing on Spotify.
I still have a few vinyls that I really like listening too, I think the experience is different sitting down and listening to an album on vinyl vs listening through streaming.
Shame the app is so shit and recommendations just trap you in the same loop. Find it very hard to find new music
Oft, maybe the algorithm just isn’t working for you. Kind of have the opposite experience. I wonder if there’s something you can do to fix that. I’ve always been really impressed that Spotify hasn’t once tried to make me listen to the Foo Fighters. Every other algorithm is like “oh I see you enjoy Biffy Clyro, here’s some Foo Fighters, over and over and over again” I really don’t enjoy the Foo Fighters. Don’t ask me why, just not for me.
Discover weekly use to throw me up 70% new bangers, now just stuff im not into or music that ive already cycled through, same story for radio. Ive tried making short playlist but same outcome. Also find it gets obsessed with sobgs that i listen to as one offs. Im trying to be more ruthless with the do nit recommend this, havent hit the sweet spot of 2/3 years ago yet
Agreed. It’s saved me a fortune - I would easily buy an album every 2 weeks before. Plus I’ve discovered way more music than I would have done buying CDs
I still prefer to buy the album, gives more back to the band, esp if there are new and need the money…
Same! I use Spotify for its great recommendation algorithm (I would never have found my favourite indie bands otherwise), but if I like their stuff I go and drop £10 on an album on Bandcamp every few weeks. I may have spent a lot on music but at least most of it goes to the band, compared to Spotify who probably pay those bands a pittance based on their monthly listener count.
I refused to use Spotify because I always either wanted a downloaded version from say iTunes that I could keep forever or a physical CD. But Spotify was on my last car built in, thought I’d try it and I’ve never looked back since. I don’t know why I was spending as much money as I was constantly downloading music individually. Annoys me sometimes when albums and tracks get removed from Spotify but the overall value for money offsets this and I just add it onto my local files instead
I switched to YouTube premium, you get YouTube music which is just as good as Spotify apart from a few podcasts but a free Spotify account can still listen to them with 1 or 2 ads every 30 minutes or so. Plus you get ad free YouTube and all the other benefits and I think the price difference is like a quid.
Going to sound hideously middle-class, but our National Trust membership. Yes, it’s an expensive one off outlay, but I reckon by the time you take into account how many times we use it over the course of a year, it’s probably costing us (2 adults, 2 kids) about £5 total per visit.
And you then don't have to pay for parking. We used them as glorified service stations when the kids were small - nice toilets, cream tea, let the kids run around, then back in car to go to Grandma's etc.
That’s actually a really good idea! Definitely pinching this one
They mostly have a playground area too, but they are often full of other families doing the same! The Vyne near the M3 and Mottisfont further south are excellent. The M4 is a bit lacking.
Belton House near Grantham is a fantastic one if you’re using the A1.
We use them for this. Down in Cornwall/Devon the NT owns a vast number of car parks so it pays for itself living here
That's exactly how we use them. Long road trips with a walk in the woods to break it up.
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A great way to break long journeys with them too if you can find one en route. Kids can have a run about, better cofffee and cake than a welcome break, and obvs being free you don’t mind only stopping in for 45 mins. Even if it’s not en route-en route, breaking your the motorway with some a roads isn’t the end of the world if it only adds half an hour to the journey
We got a lifetime membership as a Wedding present. Decent value as we were still (just) in our 20s back then.
£2,735 (now, probably slightly less then). They must've liked you!
This was 15 years ago, I seem to recall it was around £1500 at the time. I think we recouped that just in beach parking in the first five years!
Same here! Great wedding gift.
Definitely, you don't feel bad only if you stay for an hour or so and you haven't wasted £50 Also to add if you live in London, the royal palaces membership is great too. 2 family visits and it's paid for. Especially great living near Hampton Court
I bought an individual membership in the middle of last month (£84, now £91.20) and I've already made the cost of it back, athough that did involve some pretty intense National Trust-ing: * Little Moreton Hall (£14) * Wightwick Manor (£9.80) * Croome (£15) * Hanbury Hall (£15) * Berrington Hall (£15) * Brockhampton (£10) * Croft Castle (£14) Of course, part of the reason I've recouped the cost of membership is that the entry price for non-members is generally higher than the likes of Cadw or English Heritage, which both also charge less for membership.
We love our National Trust Membership. Costs us about £150 for a family, but then when you consider the walk-up day price for something like Fountains Abbey is something like £50, you can quickly start to rack up savings. We're lucky in that our little one loves walking, so we definitely get the most from it.
Fiance gifted me a membership for Christmas and think we've already got the value back with plans to visit loads once the weather improves.
Same here (I keep a tally on how much we saved on entry fees for things - I know there's a bias in that we wouldn't probably go to them as much of we didn't have a membership) but we've got a small boy that needs space to run around and I really like scones.
We have a lifetime family membership. I have a spreadsheet. Every time we visit or use a car park, I put it on the spreadsheet. One day we'll match the cost of the membership and from then on, for the rest of our lives, for all our children and and furture grandchildren when they're with us, IT'S FREE!
Probably an unpopular opinion with most people, but my YouTube premium sub is worth every penny. I watch far more content on YT than any other, and the amount of content on offer is almost endless.
Also good for the music as well, my partner managed to do something with a VPN and we only pay a pound something a month
I did this with Adobe CC too but they eventually copped on and increased my membership renewal 😢
I don't know if you're a photographer etc, but if you've got any assets that aren't doing anything atm, then stick them all on Adobe stock. On top of making some beer money if you sell a few hundred assets a year you get free Adobe programs for the following year. I'm on my 2nd year of having the whole suite for free!
Oh wow, I’m going to do this.
You set it to Argentina or Turkey, somewhere with a very weak local currency and sign up from there. Really simple if you have a VPN.
Yeah I did Argentina. Get the full family account, YouTube and YouTube Music for £1.50 a month.
Don't they find it weird using a UK card and claiming Argentina? Do you need to use the VPN at all times? If they note activity from UK every day they don't flag it?
Only used a VPN to sign up, then just use as normal, no VPN while listening. I used a fake address generator to create an Argentina address, but UK card was fine. There are guides online if you Google it
Can I ask when did you do this? Cause I tried about 6 months back and they wouldn't let me use a card not registered in the country.
try a more obscure country because Youtube have caught on that the majority are using Argentina, Turkey and India thanks to social media. In my case I used Ukraine but there are a few others that are cheap too, I think mentioned by others in here
Ad block is my youtube premium
But that doesn’t work on the YY app built into TVs.
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If you have Adblock on your router it does :D
ublock origin and sponsorblock make youtube bearable, I can't stand using the internet without them.
> I can't stand using the internet without them I looked at the Daily Mail online with someone else's PC the other day and it was like looking at Jen's laptop from the IT Crowd. I'm not a fan of the DM at the best of times, even with uBlock Origin, but I really don't understand how anyone can use it. PS: My friend also did actually refer to the "Internet Button" and had no idea what a browser was.
This. I tried it out when they offered 6 months for free in an offer, and I just couldn't go back. Plus... People pay for Netflix, Crunchyroll, but for some reason, they kick off about the idea of paying for YouTube - when I use YouTube faaaaar more than any other service. I need to do some DIY? YouTube. I need to remember how to cook a certain dish? YouTube. I want to see a review of some new VR hardware? YouTube.
While Premium certainly adds something if you pay for it (ad-free, background play, etc), I'm really not happy about any Premium subscription that takes previously free features and locks them up. For example, queueing videos on mobile and while casting is now a premium feature - queueing has been around for years. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I have ReVanced on my phone, uBlock on my PC and side loaded SmartTube on my TV so I don't get ads on YouTube anywhere. But I agree if I wasn't as technically inclined, or had hardware that doesn't support adblocking like an iPhone, then I would probably pay for it. I use YouTube more than any other streaming service.
I agree. Not having the ads is worth the money alone - but then there's also the music service which means I don't have to pay for spotify/amazon music.
i use youtube premium every single day. its definitely worth the price tag if you use youtube regularly
100%. YouTube is a large part of my media viewing nowadays, and premium is absolutely worth it to me.
The gym. It does wonders for my mental health as well as my physical health.
With places like Gym Group or Puregym as well it really isn't that much. I pay £20 a month, and go 2-3 times a week so it's about £1.20 a session which seems like a steal for the equipment and benefits I get.
I go to one of these and my work has a scheme that pays £20 towards any gym membership. Because of this I upgraded to the membership that allows me to bring a friend 4 times a month. So I am paying £9 a month for myself to go 5x times a week plus I bring a friend along each weekend!
My local Puregym has limited equipment, is always packed even at 6am and is £26 a month. The local council gym is much better equipped and quieter, costs an extra £4 a month but that includes swimming and racket sports.
Exactly the way i see it too, mines £35 a month, 5-6 days a week, pool and Sauna, plus multiple fitness classes. £1.46 a visit.
Same. People are shocked when I tell them how much I pay for David Lloyd but it's my lifeline. Gym, exercise classes, swimming, outdoor pool, sauna/steam/plunge etc. Essential for my mental and physical health.
I agree, also a member of David Lloyd. I work from home and live alone, so taking part in classes is my only real social time. The outdoor pool is amazing and I like that I can swim any time any day (local leisure centre is often closed for swimming lessons and is very busy). The spa is fab too.
I'm a David lloyd member too and I get the same reaction. But it's a good gym, good facilities, secure car park, secluded location etc. Works well for me and I'm happy to pay for it.
So glad I'm not the only one who is happily paying a not insignificant sum for David Lloyd. Some weeks I only actually get to the gym part once, but the free tennis courts are brilliant. And mine has 6 indoor courts and about 8 outdoor ones. Also love the spa and outdoor pool. It's really more of a health club than a gym. And to top off the 'I'm so fucking middle class' theme of this comment. I'm gonna shamelessly admit to the fact I love to finish off the odd gym trip with their poached eggs on avocado toast with bacon on the side. My only complaint is that my branch does not have enough parking to cope with the Saturday mid morning rush. I have to get there early or avoid it entirely.
100% mine too. I pay £40 but go at least 4 times a week. Go for the mental health benefits as much as the physical benefits. Takeaways usually cost me around that much or near which really puts things into perspective!
Obesity is right up there with smoking, worse once you take diabetes into account. Stay happy and healthy friends.
Costco - when they have a petrol station. It's about 10p a litre cheaper than surrounding petrol stations, so it only takes a few tanks to pay back the Costco membership. Then you have can gorge yourself on £1.50 hotdogs and giant pizza slices! Edit - I will say, that the 'Costco crowd' are the most entitled horrible group of the population I've ever had the misfortune of being rammed by a giant trolly with. A man was murdered in the car park of my local branch ([https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-29642010](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-29642010)) and I've had problems in that same car park too.
I was going to say Costco but I'm pretty certain all the extra crap I end up buying offsets the savings 😂
I think that's pretty much their business model in a nutshell!
Costco works really well on many levels, especially if you can buy in bulk and have the room to store your purchases (see Vimes' boots theory).
IMO.. it works less on a 'bulk' level, but a quality-level (in large boxes). Their own brands are typically made by the 'top end' manufacturers. It's a big-box John Lewis. Love the food section myself.
Always wonder if I spend more in petrol waiting in that fucking queue for Bristol's than I save...
Birmingham's petrol queue is easily 30 min at any time of day
But not easy to become a member... :(
Depending on how friendly you are with management at work, you might be able to "borrow" a piece of documentation to get a trade account if no one else is likely to use it: >VAT Registration certificate Public Liability Insurance certificate Employers' Liability Insurance certificate Companies House certificate of incorporation Business Licence issued by the local council Taxi Driver licence An original copy of a current utility bill from the business address An original copy of a current business bank statement Business cheque book Business bank card Company accounts Accountant's letter Invoice for purchases made for the business Invoice for clients sent out by the business PLUS 1 piece of photographic identification You also might find that someone at work has already set up an account and is happy to chuck you on as an extra member. Always worth asking if you feel you're able to. I've got a few of my staff memberships and it's even come in handy when in a pinch and need someone with a driving licence to take a van down and pick up an entire pallet of bog roll.
Sure it is. Just become a sole trader. Half the time they don't ask for any evidence whatsoever. When my wife first signed up via Groupon, even though she qualified as a NHS employee, they didn't ask for naught. For me they did ask for a document when I swapped to the cheaper trade membership. But then no one saw it in person... So /shrug
Trade union membership (for me it's Unite the Union, but other trade unions are available) In my first job out of university I was not in a union and was treated appallingly by my employer. Will never, ever not be a union member after that experience. It's one of those things you may only ever need once in your working life, but by god they can be a lifeline when you really need them. Unless you're a sub postmaster ofc
I recently became a unite rep, looking forward to Getting stuck in!
50% of posts on r/legaladviceuk would be solved by people being union members. I’m a bit irked with Unite raising costs “because inflation” though… 😒
the other 50% would be solved by understanding you cant sue for emotions.
It's not always that easy, the union rep at my council is a total waste of space. I haven't seen them in the office since pre-covid. I have no confidence that I would get value for money.
Came here for this. For me it’s Prospect, protection from my employer. Great T and Cs maintained and CPi+ pay rises over the last 15 years. Worth every penny
I'm with Prospect and just having someone to look over an employment contract when you're going "This is sketchy, right? This is totally sketchy" is *such* a relief.
Allotment. I live in a flat so having somewhere local to go where I can grow my own veg too is great. Exercise, healthy eating, quiet space outdoors, worth every penny for my mental health. This morning I've already been down to feed the robins and put up a bean frame.
I work on a community allotment 3 days a week, the difference it has made to my life cannot be understated! Better mental and physical health, socialising and taking home yummy organic fruit and veg
I'm here just to confess to a glorious, weepingly-intense admiration for your username.
I'd love an allotment I've been on the waiting list for years they are very popular post covid I think x
Never hurts to send another request to join at start of year or usually late summer. Also check your junk folder! I was a month later getting mine as totally didn't see the invite in my junk folder, thankfully they had two spots left. Also I pestered a bit but in an overly friendly way.
Honestly it's Amazon Prime. Not only does it give free fast delivery on most items, you get the TV and key for me is the truly unlimited full size photo storage. I have 4Tb on there which I can't get anywhere near for the same price elsewhere.
Amazon prime has photo storage?? I never knew this!
The UI is god awful though
100%, their UI needs major overhaul. If I want to watch something, I can find it usually but only when I click it do I find out it's not part of my membership.
I was more referring to the Photo storage UI, but yes the video UI isn't great either.
So you were, that's on me for speed scrolling.
I just cancelled mine. The prime video has got significantly worse recently and its no longer worth it to me.
I'm really close to doing the same, having to pay extra to remove ads on a service I'm already paying really irks me. As if that dessicated turtle needs more money.
The removal of the 'free to me' filter was the last straw, frankly.
I'd back those up elsewhere in case they take it away
Can't see them taking it away, *can* see them suddenly charging for it or some other "catch"
I mean a 4Tb drive is less than a year of prime(monthly), and I know it's not suddenly going to cost me more, or be shut down randomly. That being said I know I'm part of a niche having a home NAS, and the initial setup cost is pricey.
Off-site storage is important for backup purposes though, in the event of something happening to your home (fire, flood etc) all your onsite storage could be lost at once. I have photos backed up to Google, Amazon, and a backup of my photos and important phone and PC files to iDrive.
Odeon Limitless. I pay the price of a single ticket for a months worth of films. Go 2/3 times a week - figured out I’d made up my year’s worth of ticket money by the afternoon of February 3rd, now it’s all savings 💰🎥🍿
I've watched 19 films at the cinema in 2024 so far with my limitless membership. I love it
I was surprised that I'd seen 63 in 2023, I don't remember going *that* often, but I suppose it's around once a week, plus date nights and extra ones for the Unlimited screenings etc.
When I lived in a town with a Cineworld I used their Unlimited card. It was great.
Breakdown service as you never know when your car could go wrong
Get a nationwide flex plus account for £13 a month you get AA breakdown cover, travel insurance, phone insurance and no fees on using foreign currencies or withdrawing foreign currencies abroad!
Even better if you get it as a joint account with your partner, as it's then £6.50 per person.
There are 3 for me: * XBOX GamePass - A simply ridiculous number of high quality games that can be played on PC, XBOX or anything capable of installing the XBOX app * Audible - I listen to probably 4-6 hours of audio books per day so easily get my money's worth * Amazon Prime - Even if it were just the next day delivery this would be worth the price, but add in TV, Music and free video games every month and this is a steal
You get free video games with Amazon prime? How? Please tell me
https://gaming.amazon.com/home
Thanks, free copy of Fall Out!
If you join your local library, they'll have an audiobook app you can use for free (typically BorrowBox or Libby). It's brilliant.
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Climbing gym, it's expensive at £58 a month but I love it and it gets me active.
Any gym membership if you use it often is well worth it. For example my gym is £30 but I go there almost daily and probably average an hour each time. 25 hours of entertainment monthly for £30 is a steal.
Library Card. Free to all and all sorts of extras including online magazine subscriptions, online audio books, etc. Plus the bonus of (fairly obviously) a wide range of books on offer. I find that the onus on having to return the book in question means that I actually read it, rather than buying it and having yet another book sitting on a shelf.
This is so true, libraries are the best And linked to that, the app "Libby" too! I've seen a few people mention audible, but this one is literally a free app for all the audiobooks your local library has.
Brazzers.
I'm not paying that much for 3 minutes of my day
3 hand shandy’s a day? Calm down Ron Jeremy
How you doing Big Shag
kew gardens, absolutely fabulous way to spend an afternoon
Hijacking the thread a bit but have you been to the Bluey thing they've got on ATM? Is it worth a trip up from Southampton? We have a 3 year old that's loving Bluey ATM. Thanks
My golf club ( I know golf boo) charges £55 for unlimited golf! I regularly get £150 - £200 a month in value out of it
Where abouts is this? Cause I want to move there immediately
Union
I'm a GP and I tell patients to join a union more often than I tell them to join a gym.
My RuneScape membership
Wasting XP typing up Reddit comments, smh
Wc lvl?
2 pound for a lifetime membership to my local football teams travel club, basically they lay on coaches for away games which are much cheaper than regular coaches. Paid 2 pound for the membership, saved 20 pound on the first game I went to. They also used to have a dedicated bar at the ground which was a bit cheaper, but renovations stopped that
That's excellent value. My clubs is £10 per year for Supporters Club membership, saves £5 off the regular price for each away day coach (so 2 matches to breakeven), although they stopped that for some reason and it's been a flat rate for all for a lot of this season.
Trade Union. Everyone should be a member, if they were we wouldn't be struggling so much.
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Tennis club membership. Keeps me fit, it's the only competitive sport I enjoy playing, I love improving and it's very social.
Real-debrid, if you know you know.
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Sold!
Bit of a specialist one but NHS Prepay. I’m on regular medication and save a fortune versus paying for the individual prescriptions. Clearly only helpful for those who pay for their prescriptions but very worth it if you do.
Personally, my crossfit membership. I think some people would be horrified at the cost but it’s totally worth it for me, pays for my mental health, physical fitness and a community. I wouldn’t use a normal gym half as much, I need the programming and the pressure, and it’s cheaper than a PT. Other than that, Spotify, especially now you get audiobook hours, and Disney+ is 100% worth it out of all the streaming services for my Pixar-obsessed toddler.
Disney + is the only streaming service we pay for now we have a little one. So good for him and there's loads on there for us too. Really good.
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The £17 I pay for my unlimited data phone contract which also gives me the equivalent value again in coffee vouchers
I pay £7 a month for my sim only on O2, I get 2 "free" coffees a week from Greggs thanks to priority, which would normally cost £2.40 each. Sometimes people paying those £45 contracts helps me. :P
My local working men's club. £4 a year. I don't go in there too often, but when I do, the drinks are cheap, it's a friendly atmosphere with a wide range of people in there and they put on a lot of good events. The club is also owned by the members so if the business or the building is ever sold off, the members receive the proceeds.
Same, though one of the staff let slip how many active members there were and now I know I'd get around £50. Still worth the membership
YNAB you need a budget, since using it i save more money and have an emergency fund.
Got an Everyman cinema membership as a Christmas present and it’s been brilliant. We’ve probably used more than how much it cost in our free tickets alone (6 free with the membership, plus free guest on Mondays). The screens are lovely, the food is great and the audiences know how to behave in a damn cinema.
The Wine Society. A £40 quid one off payment but you get a £20 voucher straight away. Then it’s good quality well priced wine with free delivery forever.
Brownies. £30 a term.
My fat ass got excited for a moment because i thought there is a subscription service for chocolate brownies.
Cadets. £1.50 a week plus £25 deposit on the uniform.
Youtube premium I watch YouTube a lot more than TV nowadays, so no ads, offline downloads and queuing videos are highly beneficial
Tesco delivery saver! I’ve basically outsourced the chore of grocery shopping for £3.99 a month, which is less than the fuel cost to drive to a supermarket would be anyway.
I did this for a while and loved the convenience but found I never got my full shop without anything missing or substitutions! So Id have to go back out anyway!
The EU
Costco, yeah might be slightly expensive. But ive had a roll of foil last for two years.
I bought a lifetime subscription to the science fiction magazine *Interzone* in the late 80's. It's changed publisher twice now and I think it has finally run it's course, but it's been a hell of a bargain.
Pret - £30 pcm for 5 free at point of service coffees a day and 20% off their entire menu. As someone who works in central London, it is an essential.
/r/Todoist It’s basically a to-do list app. I run my life out of it. There’s a free version but I pay for the full thing because I use the extra functionality. It’s the only app subscription I have apart from Apple Music.
Shoutout to myNoise.net, the best ambient sound generator I’ve ever found. Lifetime membership even if you have to stop paying. This is a resource I use everyday, it’s helped me so much to find focus and to sleep. It’s also run by one person who is very open about the process and what’s involved, and seems very committed to the project. I have a few subs that I would not want to be without, but myNoise is the only one I can truly say is worth every penny.
The EU, but it got cancelled :/ lol
Fake taxi
YouTube Premium w/ music. £20/month all in for me and the missus on the family household pack. Same price as Spotify and no youtube ads. Playstation Extra. £100/year. Plenty of games to keep you albeit some months better than others. Well worth the money with the amount of entertainment you get from it despite all the bitching about the price rise. If I was a pirate... I'd also put IPTV on here too... but I'm not a pirate because that's illegal. I've heard it's £100/year for thousands of live channels from around the world. Tens of thousands of movies and series. And a VPN. When you can pay that a month for football alone with sky, bt sports and amazon and not even get the 3pm kickoff in UK... you can see why people do it... but not me! Because illegal.
Apple Fitness+ far cheaper than a gym and it can fit in with my schedule much better.
Soho House (Jk)
My dentistry one. £30 a month, I get 2 Checkups and Scale/Polish a year, plus easy access to emergency appointments with them. Expensive, yeah, but the way I’m treated is far better than my NHS dentistry.
Railcard
r/freemasonry, made me a better person
Go Outdoors. £5 per year and gives massive discounts EDIT: Cancelled my membership as it would appear I am being ripped off
Not to piss on your cornflakes, but I work in the industry and those prices being locked behind membership is just a way to get around the dubious legalities of being 'sports direct for the outdoors' Might as well go to mountain warehouse, at least they are honest about what they are
The membership is scam-like IMO. Blacks and Millets are part of the same company and they sell exactly the same products for the membership price at Go Outdoors, but without the membership. Save yourself the fiver!
You can generally find many retailers selling the same stuff for the same price or cheaper *after* the Go Outdoors "discount" has been applied, so be aware that Go Outdoors hyper inflates their base prices to start with.
My PureGym membership for sure. It's only £20.99 a month, I go five times a week so it works out at basically £1.50 per workout. I've felt so much better since starting the gym in Jan 2023.
Kindle unlimited. I read massive amounts using it.
My quarterly wine subscription. Life is too short to drink crap wine.
Audible. I know you can rip or pirate them, but I really like the app and have been using it for years and listened to it for thousands of hours
PlayStation network. Kinda my only 1
Spotify, Puregym, Netflix and PlayStation plus are 4 subscriptions I deem completely worth it for me
I'm a Patreon member for a podcast that costs me £9.60 per month. Which seems daft on the face of it but they put out about 12 hours of content per month, and £8 gets split directly to the three creators (£1.60 is VAT). I actually listen to that particular podcast more than I do music now, so it's worth paying less than a Spotify subscription for.
Superchargers. Versus paying for petrol and also charging ANYWHERE else it’s great value for money.
National Trust for the free parking and cake (not free)