Subscription Skip (Finance Game #3)
August 6, 2008 – 6:00 am
Most of us have a subscription or two we could cancel. Do you really read all of those magazines? Ever heard of a library or the web? Even the subscriptions you want to keep can be adjusted in a way that can save you money. Take a Sam’s Club (or CostCo) membership for example. At the end of 12 months you’re asked if you would like to renew your membership. Usually they’ll send a letter to your home, in addition to the pestering you will get from the check-out person one month or more before your subscription expires. Never say YES unless it’s already expired! It’s better to delay payment as long as you can.
Here’s the game: right before your subscription expires, stock up on your usual foods so that you can go one or two months before renewing your subscription. This will save you between 1/12 and 2/12’s of your annual membership fee (8.3% to 16.6%).
I used to have a membership to a place that sold running shoes at a discount. The place charged an annual $50 fee to get discounted prices for a year. Since I know how many pairs of shoes I need each year, and I know exactly what shoe I like, I waited until the end of my subscription and bought a years’ worth of shoes all at once. This way I don’t need the subscription for the following year at all, and I can always rejoin later.
As luck would have it around this time they also started running another special deal, which included an additional ten percent off and a free pair of shoes for ever five pairs you buy each year. Since I bought five pairs of shoes in one shot, I not only received the 10% discount, but I also received a free $100 pair of shoes. Hurray for me! 
This game does require some planning and a small financial slush fund to provide for pre-buying goods. And it’s up to you if the savings is worth the effort. I’ve got more time than money, and the way I see it planning to save money is worth the effort.
I also wonder if this would work on state car inspections. My car requires a state inspection once a year. I wonder if I dropped off my car the night before on the last day of the month if I would be able to move my inspection out one month per year. For example, my current state inspection was valid through the end of may. If I dropped my car off at the dealer on May 31 and they inspected it the following morning, they would probably put the june sticker on my car. This would save me 1/12th of the inspection cost each year. It may only be $5-$10 savings, but it’s free money for just choosing the day when I drop off my car. Pretty easy and no additional work.
Image Credit: jan tik
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