Blogging Away Debt

Subscription Costs – Cancel or Try to Hold On

For my own personal business, I have several tools that I use OFTEN when I have work. Tools like Canva Pro, Social Curator, Elementor Pro and so on and so forth. I’ve had them for YEARS and they have paid for themself every year, up until now.

Here’s my dilemma.

This past week as I was working on my current bill pay schedule ie budget for the next month, I decided I would just cancel Canva as I haven’t used it at all this year and frankly, finding has been harder than it’s ever been. My thought was I can cancel my annual subscription (currently $119) and renew later when I have work.

I logged on to do just that and take that $119 back into my every day budget. And then I realized that if I cancel, yes, it will save me $119 now, but re-upping will put my rate at $145 annually (or higher if they go up in price.)

I’ve got pretty decent and in some cases, substantially good annual rates because I’ve had these tools so long and have the rates locked in. While Canva is just a $25 difference, some of them are hundreds per year in savings. And yes, that’s per tool.

What do I do?

Canva is the only one that will renew in the next month so I have to make a decision on it. The big ones all renew in the December/January time frame so I do have some time to turn things around. But I hate to lose that savings. Ugh.

I’m kind of inclined to let Canva go, it is just a $25 difference and I can use the free version in a crunch. But the others…not so easily replaceable and the savings loss would be significant if I cancelled and then renewed.

Sidenote: there are other subscriptions that I have;

1) Transitioned from annual to monthly for the time being. This helps with my monthly budgeting even though I am paying a premium. I will go back to annual as soon as I am able.

2) Cancelled – these are mostly entertainment subscriptions. But I didn’t think twice about them.

3) Am looking to replace. I changed my Dropbox subscription to monthly versus annual and am considering other options to replace it for the long run. Google One, Apple Storage, etc. are both being evaluated. I want to make sure they offer the security and integrate well with my current tech stack, in addition to the pricing before I make a move.

I’d love to know your thoughts, specifically on subscriptions where I would love significant savings if I end up cancelling them and then needing to re-subscribe down the road.

Avoiding Impulse Buys When You’re in a Slump

by Vicky Monroe

I live in northern Michigan, which usually gets pounded with snow in the winter. It’s usually still snowing in April and we even get a dusting here or there in May sometimes. Since my spouse and I aren’t into winter sports, we spend most of the dark days of winter huddled up inside.

Because the winters are so cold and long, we pretty much live for summer. However, our part of Michigan has a really bad bug season that seems to last from early May until the end of June. Usually, the bugs are gone by the Fourth of July and we can enjoy time outside.

Swarms of Bugs

But this year the bugs (especially the mosquitoes) have been really bad, which has been causing me to spend a lot more time inside. A travel vlogger I follow came here a few weeks ago and decided to cut her trip short because of it. Even the locals I’ve talked to who have lived here all their lives are surprised and annoyed by all the swarms.

Being cooped up inside this summer has definitely put me in a funk, so I haven’t been making the absolute best financial decisions. I bought some silly things on Amazon in the lead up to the Prime Day sale, which I usually try to stay away from. I let my inner child take over and bought an $80 mini trampoline, plus a few other things that totaled $150. Yikes! I hope that the trampoline will at least help me get some exercise since I haven’t been able to walk outside as much.

Avoiding Impulse Buys When You’re in a Funk

I’d like to nip this in the bud, so I thought I’d ask how you all avoid impulse purchases when you’re in a funk. The little devil on my shoulder telling me to buy something is louder and more convincing when my emotional reserves are low.

Looking forward to the package and jumping on the trampoline definitely boosted my spirits. However, I don’t want to keep relying on impulse buys to pull me out of my funk. If you have any tips on how to get over a seasonal slump when your usual self-care routine isn’t working, please let me know!

ADHD and Impulse Buys

I finally got my ADHD evaluation packet back and it turns out I actually do have severe inattentive ADHD. I mentioned a few weeks ago that the person doing my evaluation said that they thought my problems might be attributable to anxiety and my chronic illness, POTS. But a further review of all my testing and medical history revealed a stronger pattern of ADHD, so I got an official diagnosis.

I scheduled a follow-up appointment with my primary care practitioner to go over all my options. The psychology practice that did my evaluation said I was a strong candidate for medication, but they don’t prescribe it. So hopefully my PCP can help me figure out the best course of treatment so I can get on the pathway to higher productivity and far fewer impulse buys.

I read that impulse buying can be a symptom of ADHD. Usually, I’m good at telling myself “no, you don’t need a $25 Galaxy Lamp.” But when I’m feeling especially stressed or low, those little unplanned purchases sometimes sneak into my shopping cart.

I’m thinking about deleting TikTok because it has so many ads and blocking Amazon and HomeGoods on my computer so I can’t mindlessly browse. If you have any other suggestions, let me know!

Read More

The ABCs of ADHD & Money

I am really bad at spending

Impulse Control in the One-Click Purchase Era