[walton_simons]

I've also become completely overwhelmed by the amount of "set and forget" auto-recurring subscriptions that exist now, and it's simply led to me opting out of almost all of them. It's not even the monetary amounts, which tend to be fairly small, but more the cognitive load of keeping track of payment dates, amounts, and (especially) cancellation terms. I just can't be bothered to deal with it all, so I don't. If I was to put a number on it, I'd say five monthly subscriptions is as many as I'd be prepared to have at any one time. That would have to cover everything—news, entertainment, charitable donations, and so on.

For video streaming, for instance, I subscribe to Netflix only. If something isn't on Netflix, I just won't see it, and I can live with that. I already have access to more than I can watch anyway. Should I find something better, I'll stop my Netflix subscription before switching to the new thing.

If the service is harder to cancel than it is to subscribe, I'll pass irrespective of how good it looks (no, I'm not prepared to call you on the phone to cancel when subscribing took three clicks). I won't subscribe to software at all. Let me buy it outright. If it's a monthly subscription or nothing, I'll pick nothing.

Perhaps I'm showing my age by saying this, but I'd be more interested in subscribing to your magazine or service if you send me an annual invoice, which I'll happily pay in one explicitly non-recurring payment, like a bank transfer. Then after a year or whatever the subscription period is, I'll make a decision about whether it's still worth it to me. If I'm considering actually subscribing to something, it won't be on a whim, and I'll already know whether or not I like it enough to pay, so signing up for an extended period is fine. Same with charities. Let me send you money once a year, and don't pressure me into signing up to a monthly payment plan, and I'll be much more prepared to do so.

[gamesbrainiac]

> It's not even the monetary amounts, which tend to be fairly small, but more the cognitive load of keeping track of payment dates, amounts, and (especially) cancellation terms. I just can't be bothered to deal with it all, so I don't. If I was to put a number on it, I'd say five monthly subscriptions is as many as I'd be prepared to have at any one time. That would have to cover everything—news, entertainment, charitable donations, and so on.

I know what you mean. I create a calendar event every single time I subscribe to something that is recurring so that I can cancel if I want to, a few days from the end of the subscription.