With the cost of living affecting food, energy and water bills, most of us are spending on unnecessary purchases. Because of this, flow services get big hits, including Netflix.
Undoubtedly best streaming service, Netflix may lose the crown with Amazon Prime and Disney + sucking in the ankles. As a big Netflix fan, I can not ignore that it has problems. Losing 200,000 in the first three months of 2022 is a big shock and as it continues to remove popular programs from its catalog and discontinue many original series, I’m starting to get discouraged.
However, I have had this streaming service for a while and enjoy the content it has to offer. While cancels Netflix is a great way to keep your monthly expenses down, there are some cost-saving hacks that can help you save money on your Netflix subscription. Here are 6 ways I save money on Netflix, without interrupting your plan altogether.
1. Downgrade your subscription plan
The best way to save money every month on your Netflix subscription is to downgrade your plan. Netflix has three subscription plans. The basic plan is £ 6.99 / $ 9.99 per month, the standard plan is £ 10.99 / $ 15.49 per month and the premium plan is £ 15.99 / $ 19.99 per month. Each plan comes with a range of features and benefits, including display in ultra HD resolution and the number of screens you can watch at one time.
If you feel you are not watching enough Netflix or if the overall cost is too high, it is worth considering if you have the right plan. For example, do you need Netflix premium if you’re the only one watching it and you only watch it a couple of times a week? I’ll go ahead and say no to it! By downgrading your premium plan from £ 15.99 to the basic plan of £ 6.99, you save £ 9 a month and £ 108 annually. You will lose some features like the number of screens and the number of devices you can download on but your overall experience will probably not change too much and you will save money.
2. Share your Netflix subscription
While Netflix is shutting down users who share their passwords, a convenient way to save money on your invoice is by dividing your subscription and dividing the cost of it. The most expensive Netflix plan (premium at £ 15.99) allows four profiles and screens to watch simultaneously, allowing multiple people to share an account without interrupting their viewing. If this appeals to you, you can split the cost of your subscription with the other users in your account to reduce your monthly expenses by half or quarter, depending on the number of users.
I have several streaming subscriptions that me and my boyfriend share. He pays for Netflix while I pay for Disney + which makes the bills easier. We also use the same Netflix account instead of having multiple profiles and we take turns watching who (I watch Bridgerton while he’s out and he watches The Crown when I’m busy) and usually do Netflix as a service we use together rather than separately. This helps with the total expenses and does not make us feel like we are wasting money because we use them equally and together.
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3. “Pause” your plan
If you have an expensive month ahead of you, put your plan on ice for the month. By canceling your plan for the month, you do not pay the subscription fee and can start it up again whenever you want. The great thing about Netflix is that you can cancel at any time and you will not be charged for leaving and will not have to pay extra when you sign up again.
4. Change your streaming settings
If you watch Netflix on your phone or tablet while out, this can burn through your monthly data supplement and increase your monthly phone bill. To avoid this, start by downloading movies and TV shows to your phone or tablet when you are connected to WiFi to avoid wasting data. Depending on your subscription plan, you can store up to 100 downloads on any device at a time.
Second, limit the amount of data the Netflix app uses via the playback settings (on the website) and the app settings (on the app). On the website, you can change the default setting to limit it to a certain amount of data per hour. In the app, select “Mobile data usage” to update the data limit and switch to “Save data” or “WiFi only” to avoid using too much data. Finally, you can also lower the resolution to save more data. In the app setting of the Netflix app, go to “Video playback” and select “Cellular Data Usage”. From there, deactivate the automatic option and select “Save data”. This lowers the resolution of your streaming and can save lots of data and money every month.
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Take advantage of Netflix gift cards
An inexpensive way to keep your Netflix account but save money on it is through Netflix gift cards. Let’s say you do not want to use Netflix until Knives Out 2 or any of these 86 original Netflix movies will come to the platform later in the year. Unsubscribe and request a Netflix gift card as a birthday, anniversary, or special occasion gift. You can find Netflix gift cards from select retailers and prices start at £ 25, giving you several months of streaming that you did not have to pay for. By redeeming the card in your account, you can watch as much as you want until the gift card balance runs out. Many retailers also offer deals on these gift cards so keep an eye out for that as well.
6. Consider cheaper or free streaming services
My last tip is to think about what you use Netflix for and if you can find it on cheaper or free streaming platforms. For example, Disney costs + £ 7.99 / $ 7.99 per month, which is cheaper than the standard Netflix plan. It has many TV series previously available on Netflix, such as New Girl, How I Met Your Mother and Jessica Jones. Therefore, if I wanted to watch these, I would choose Disney + over Netflix which is cheaper every month and has more of the series that I like.
For a free streaming service, BBC iPlayer shares many programs with Netflix but you can watch them for free and that’s why I’re considering cancels Netflix for BBC iPlayer. This includes popular series such as Peaky Blinders, Pretty Little Liars and Sherlock. BBC iPlayer has the whole boxset on demand compared to Netflix which often has limited series available on a show. For example, when Netflix had Gavin & Stacey, you could only watch series 2 and 3, while you could find all the series and specials of it on iPlayer.
Check out best streaming service offerings for when cheaper streaming plans become available and how to save money on other streaming services for tips on how to cut back on Amazon Prime, Disney + and more.