Use This Trick To Watch Your Favorite Shows Without Paying for Streaming
Streaming services love to remind you how much money you're saving by ditching cable. What they don't mention is how easy it is to rack up the same bloated bill anyway, one subscription at a time.
A Deloitte study found that the average consumer spends $69 per month on streaming services, which adds up to $828 per year. That's not nothing. It's a flight, a chunk of your emergency fund or a solid dent in credit card debt.
Discover More: The First 5 Things You Should Cut When Money Gets Tight
For You: 9 Subtly Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money — That You Should Do, Too
Fixing bigger expenses like housing and transportation will move the needle more on your long-term financial goals, sure. But there's a genuinely simple trick that can take that $828 down to zero without giving up a single show: milking free trials for everything they're worth.
The Right Way To Stack Free Trials
Most streaming platforms dangle free trials of somewhere between seven and 30 days to reel in new subscribers. Amazon Prime and Hulu offer 30 days, while Apple TV+, AMC+, Paramount+, Discovery+ and Crunchyroll tend to offer seven. Netflix and Disney+ skip the free trial altogether, but between the platforms that do offer one, you can string together enough free months to cover most of the year. (Trial lengths shift, so double-check current offers before you sign up.)
There are two rules for making this actually work.
Rule one: Never let free trials overlap. Stack them back-to-back instead of running them side by side. Amazon Prime followed by Hulu, for example, gets you two free months in a row. Layer in the shorter trials from other platforms, and you've stretched that streak even further.
Rule two: Know what you're watching before you hit "start trial." Don't sign up and then scroll for an hour trying to decide what to watch — that's how a free trial quietly turns into a wasted week. Map out your shows ahead of time, and set a phone reminder for a day or two before the trial ends so you can cancel and pull your card info before it auto-renews into a real bill.
This whole approach works because most platforms treat you like a brand-new customer if your account has been inactive for 12 months. Sign up, watch your shows, cancel before you're charged, then let that account sit dormant for a year. When it resets, you're eligible for the free trial all over again.
Use the Library for Any Free Trial Buffers
Most people wildly underestimate what their local library actually offers. Two free streaming services, Kanopy and Hoopla, are usually included with your library card and packed with classic movies and TV shows. Before burning through a free trial, check whether the show you're craving is already sitting there for free.
If you cannot find your favorite movie or TV show through your library’s streaming options, you can also request DVDs or tapes. Assessing your options at the library ensures you only use the free trial to access exclusive content on that free trial instead of Hollywood classics that you can find at your local library.
This isn’t a case of settling for low-quality content while waiting to become eligible for another free trial. Kanopy and Hoopla offer entertainment options that are comparable to streaming giants and can fill in free trial gaps nicely.
How Much You Can Save
That $69 a month doesn't just disappear. It opens up real room in your budget. Over a decade, skipping it entirely adds up to $8,280, and that number is probably conservative, since streaming platforms have a track record of raising prices, not lowering them.
Now stack compounding on top of that. Instead of paying $69 a month to stream, put it into an investment earning an 8% annualized return, and you're looking at $11,994.87 after 10 years, according to Investor.gov's Compound Interest Calculator. That's not "cancel Netflix and get rich" money, but it's real progress toward a goal — a house down payment, an emergency fund, a retirement account that's actually working for you.
None of this requires cutting your favorite shows, just canceling the habit of paying full price for them.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
More From MoneyLion: