Share this:
No, I don’t, I am fine with the way I am, living without Netflix for last 5 years. I ask you to think about your plan too. Do you really need to keep on subscribing to Netflix?
This is one of the businesses that is striving on our disposable income, you go to your friend’s house, and seeing him/her using Netflix, you order your’s own, without realizing if you really need it.
On the other hand you may be one of those 11M subscribers, who orders Netflix to save on cost of movie tickets at theater, then this article is to let you know that you can save further. You can enjoy new DVD releases with much lesser money or even for free.
Let’s take a quick look at Netflix’s price structure (per month) after the recent increase.
Unlimited Streaming = $7.99
Two DVD at a time = $9.99
One DVD at a time = $7.99
Let’s say you are interested in one DVD at a time, how many times you will order a Netflix movie in a month? Probably not more that 4. You will pay $7.99 per month for 4 movies from Netflix. Now let’s see what options you have..
Option 1: red box or block buster online, rent you DVD at $1 for 24 hours, for 4 DVD’s it’s going to cost you only $4.24 (including tax). If you watch lesser than 4 movies a month, saving is more.
Pros: saving
Cons: drive to kiosk, You get to keep the DVD for only 24hrs and limited availability if you are late to pick up. But if you can wait for 3- 6 months to see the movie, can’t you wait a few more days
Option 2: Bring DVDs from local library, absolutely free. Generally libraries order 10 -20 copies of a new release, your’s turn might come late, but do book your movie as early as you can.
Pros: total saving
Cons: Drive to library, a little extra effort to book the new releases in advance, wait time
If you even have $9.99 plan and rent out two DVDs at a time, how many you could use? If you are seeing more than 9 movies per month, you are making a loss subscribing to Netflix.
If you have unlimited online streaming service for $7.99, my question would be, what you watch on streaming that is not available on net for free, personally I don’t watch movies online with a price on it. All my online entertainment needs are fulfilled by YouTube and a few other sites.
You can explore Hulu streaming or soon to come YouTube paid streaming services which offers pay per view pricing.
In my opinion, we order Netflix because we hate to do hard work during leisure and prefer not to indulge in physical activities like driving to a local DVD kiosk or the library.
Some people might have already realized this drainage of money, but still, are too lethargic to take an action.
On average, going away from Netflix, can save you $4 – $5 per month. Making it $531 in 10 years (by using recurring deposit rate calculator) at 2% interest at local credit union.
Extreme frugal approach would be to fully rely on library DVDs and booking through free coupon codes from Red box. Then you can save around $1000 in 10 years. Will you act now?
Pro Netflix will argue that this money spent brings entertainment along with comfort to them, I will ask why don’t you out source grocery buying too? And yes, every Wal-Mart has Red Box kiosks (at least which ever I saw), and your local grocers has block buster kiosks, in all probability. It’s not a money spent for comfort, its money spent because we are not wise enough.
This post is not about Netflix vs Redbox or Netflix vs Blockbuster, this is about common sense.
Do remember to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook, and subscribe to my RSS feed, coz’ I will help you.
Share this:
Comments
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
jana says
July 18, 2011 at 9:14 AMi like netflix, and i don’t necessarily plan on canceling my subscription right away. i probably won’t even reduce it. i like netflix because i can get movies and tv shows that i cannot find anywhere else.
you make an excellent argument against it and i do use some of your suggestions already, such as the library. i’m there every week as it is to get books so i don’t mind the driving. but i like the convenience of netflix, expecially the no late fees. i have a terrible memory and often forget to return things on time; having a netflix subscription helps to balance out inevitable late fees.
SB says
July 18, 2011 at 9:10 PMif you watch around 7 movies per month or more, Netflix makes sense. I believe you are one heavy movie/show watcher
Jenna says
May 18, 2014 at 3:15 PMUnless I’m walking or biking to the library I’m not saving money because of gas. We live stream only and Don’t buy cable or any other entertainment. Our entertainment budget is $60 for a year of xbox live and $7.99 a month for netflix. Cheapest solution short of illegal downloads. Interesting argument but $1000 over 10 years isn’t as much as it sounds. I save $2500 cloth diapering a year and $3000 a year by not smoking any more. I save $90 a MONTH not buying cable or satellite. 100 measly dollars a year, which would actually be $80 for us, is worth the convenience of having access any time we want without hassles of online commercials from a free website.
Ginger says
July 18, 2011 at 10:57 AMI do not have netflix nor do I plan to get them. My DH and I had been considering it but with the recent increase and the letter to subscribers that accompanied it I am not will to spend my money there. I use free streaming, go to some movies and occasionally get a red box. But honestly, how much tv/movies do you need to watch? I barely have time to watch 3-5hr per week and even with that I am doing something else as well.
SB says
July 18, 2011 at 9:09 PMif you don’t watch to much shows or movies, Netflix is not for you. Even if you watch more, know how to watch for free
Denise @ The Single Saver says
July 18, 2011 at 4:26 PMI don’t either! 🙂
SB says
July 18, 2011 at 8:55 PMwelcome to the club
retirebyforty says
July 18, 2011 at 4:38 PMWe use our library all the time. It takes forever to get a movie, but we can put 15 on reservation so we’ll get something eventually. 😉
The great part is we get to keep the movies for 3 weeks. Even then, we barely had time to watch the movies.
SB says
July 18, 2011 at 8:56 PMdo you know tip by which we can be the first in the list for library list? Always my wife finds herself after 500 others 🙂
Niki says
July 18, 2011 at 5:32 PMOh, I love Netflix, even with the price increase it is waaayyyy cheaper than cable. I guess if you are using for a cable substitution, with the streaming, it is worth it, but if you are using it for DVD rental than maybe it is not worth it.
We on average will get two DVD’s a week, using the one at a time plan, so even then getting eight DVD’s a month is worth it to us.
We also will get DVD’s from the library occasionally, but we live in a small town and our selection may be big, but it isn’t varied. I like weird movies.
SB says
July 18, 2011 at 9:12 PMyes if you watch 8 DVDs per month Netflix makes sense. Where I live in I get almost every DVD in my library.
Financial Success for Young Adults says
July 18, 2011 at 6:27 PMThere are other options. I get free movies with Crackle and other free channels that are offered on the Roku player. I canceled Netflix a little while back when they did the first price hike.
SB says
July 18, 2011 at 8:58 PMvery wise decision, can you give some more ideas about Roku free streaming? might be beneficial for our readers
Andrea @SoOverDebt says
July 19, 2011 at 9:57 PMI have streaming only and intend to keep it. We are slowly weaning ourselves off cable and plan to use Netflix exclusively. My son watches TV shows and movies on Netflix several times a week, so I feel like the streaming option is worth the $8.
[email protected] Ticket Site says
July 20, 2011 at 2:11 AMI’m with you. I canceled my netflix subscription last couple of months too, and I feel great with all the savings I get. Good point here: “It’s not a money spent for comfort, its money spent because we are not wise enough.” I totally agree. 🙂
Marie at FamilyMoneyValues.com says
July 21, 2011 at 2:42 PMWe have never used a subscription movie service. We just got satellite TV about 4 years ago (that means for 36 years we saw nothing but over the air tv!) and don’t even do the pay per view movies on it.
However, I can see why it might be attractive – and cost effective if you don’t have cable or satellite.
Watching TV is pretty much our ONLY entertainment (yeah I know, I need to get a life), so we don’t spend much elsewhere (not even eating out).
Spending a few dollars a month on a subscription movie service as opposed to going out to a theater or a concert or even a festival is pretty cost effective entertainment in my book.
SB says
July 21, 2011 at 9:14 PMas said by others in earlier comment, Netflix is a good choice if you are regular show/movie watcher. But for people like I am, who watches 2 -3 movies a month perhaps, a redbox or BB express is far far better. I often get red box coupons and watch for free over the week end
[email protected] says
July 21, 2011 at 9:00 PMWe have never had Netflix and have just recently gone to satellite tv. We decided we would watch the free movies on tv until we ran out of good movies to see. There is the occasional night where we don’t find one we like, but who needs to watch movies all the time? We are retired, so we have more time to watch than most people, but we are fairly active. Not saying we won’t succumb to Netflix eventually, but for now we are happy with the situation as is!
SB says
July 21, 2011 at 9:09 PMYou know what? If you are in to too much shows and movies, probably Netflix is the cheapest option if you want to access content in legal way.
Brave New Life says
July 23, 2011 at 3:27 PMNetflix is a terrible use of money. I can’t understand why anyone would subscribe over Redbox.
At $18/month, that is $216 per year. In order to pay for that with investments returning 4% (reasonable dividend return), you would need $5400 saved up. No reasonable person would pay this, if they realized the real cost.
SB says
July 23, 2011 at 3:55 PMWelcome to the club of Netflix haters! Although Netflix is great option if you can substitute over cable television
Brave New Life says
July 24, 2011 at 12:14 PMBetter yet, I’ve dumped cable also. I bought a $40 antenna that gets ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and PBS in high definition for free. I don’t watch much TV, but for anything else I use Hulu.
Further, I have an old desktop computer set up running Windows Media Center that acts as my free DVR
aNuttyMonkey says
July 27, 2011 at 3:44 PMNetfix is ideal if you have little children. They Childrens shows are all the same as on Dish/Direct and Cable. I keep my subscription since it is much cheeper then cable. Redbox doesn’t always have the best Childrens selections.
SB says
July 27, 2011 at 8:50 PMI know my neighbor going to library once every 5 days and picking up 10 -15 children show/movie DVDs. I will suggest you try that for a month, and then continue with netflix if you like. I am asking you to see the other side of cable and Netflix if you can. Thank you very much for stopping by and commenting.
teachjc79 says
March 27, 2012 at 3:22 PMWe live in a rural area and for us to drive to a Redbox place, we would have a minimum of a one hour 45+mile round trip drive. It’s the same thing for theaters, and other places of entertainment. For us, Netflix is worth the money. Just one trip would equal almost the cost in gas of one month of Netflix for us.
Joe Keiroz says
August 12, 2012 at 10:22 AMComplaning about $216 per year to watch Netflix? You or someone else would spent more than that on cigarettes every month!!!!!
Rose says
July 27, 2011 at 11:37 PMThere are several options since Netflix is increasing their price in September. I plan on going with Blockbuster since they have so many deals going on right now. With my provider/employer DISH Network you can Blockbuster free for 3 months. Blockbuster is offering a kids summer pass for 4.99 month right now also. Check out this link for the promotion through DISH http://bit.ly/iH7nwg. Blockbuster seems like the best option with them restructuring their prices. They have lower prices then Netflix now with their price increase. I plan on moving on from Netflix and going to Blockbuster.
SB says
July 28, 2011 at 7:53 AMthank you Rose for your time and comment. This information will be very helpful to our readers who had expressed an affiliation with Netflix
Chung Bybee says
July 29, 2011 at 4:36 PMGreat review! You actually touched some curious news in this post. I’ve got to admit that I already subscribed to Netflix. Now thinking of stopping as we dont often watch more than 3 to 4 per month. you were right pure waste of money.
Haywood D says
July 29, 2011 at 4:38 PMwe use Hulu and uiet satisfied, my son likes to spend his time ob books rather than TV, good we don’t pay on Netflix
Isabella says
July 31, 2011 at 3:25 PMGREAT REVIEW! I agree with pretty much all you said in your post, especially at the end of your article. I don’t need Netflix either. Isabella S.
shanoboy says
August 25, 2011 at 9:23 AMThe library idea is a good one most people probably don’t always consider, but overall, I think Netflix streaming service is a great value for the cash. $8 for tons of TV without having to dig around the net for it. And you get complete seasons of shows, not just a few here and there like Hulu and others offer.
jrm says
September 7, 2011 at 7:02 AMDon’t get too used to the library option. Cities making budget cuts are trimming their hours and services. DVD.s, recordings and magazines will be the first to go with reduced budgets. Having Netflix send you a physical disc means you are not burning gas or time, time has a cost anytime not put improving your life or making you more money is wasted time. You really want to save money do it in the grocery store the biggest money sucker there is.
Stevon says
November 25, 2011 at 5:36 PMNetFlix is frustrating, the tv series are fine simply because many shows and series I missed over the years. However they seem unable to grasp the real quality movies in all genre that have been around for yearS…the quality action and drama films that are of the higher production value seems to be a serious problem…(example Borne Identity, Lara Croft, Jurassic Park etc. many R.Deniro, these movies are 5 to 10 plus years old and may only be available, maybe by DVD if at all. NetFlix updates streaming so slowly, I now alternate monthly with HULU PLUS vs Netflix every other month… and I also source new release or movies NetFlix does not have for free on various online free streaming websites like Justin.tv…..HEY NETFLIX IF YOU THINK YOU ARE….INDISPENSABLE STICK YOUR CORPORATE FINGER IN A BOWL OF WATER, THEN REMOVE IT AND SEE HOW QUICKLY THE HOLE FILLS ITSELF IN!
Mark says
April 3, 2012 at 1:21 PMFirst of all, Youtube, Hulu, and Netflix have very different content. Second, Redbox has a number of extra costs to it, driving costs money, it costs you time to go and then maybe wait in line behind the kiosk, and then if you have any semi-busy schedule it is usually pretty inconvenient to go return the movie the next day. (a lot of people take the $1 hit so they can return the movie an extra day later) Once again, Netflix and Redbox do not offer the same content, Redbox is full of crappy movies, Netflix you can get whatever movie you want. (if it’s brand new you may have to wait a week)
If you are talking about being ultra frugal, then yes you shouldn’t get Netflix, but you have to be ultra frugal to be unwilling to spend $10 per month on entertainment.
Chris says
May 6, 2012 at 9:58 AMNetflix is pretty good for instant streaming service but I have noticed a decline in content recently when searching for movies. I canceled my cable tv to help save money and I think Netflix instant streaming is good if you like a lot of documentaries and don’t mind waiting longer for tv show seasons, but Hulu instant streaming is better if you like to see new tv shows pretty quick… Netflix can take a year longer it seems to get out a season of a show while Hulu has new episodes just days after the air date… however Netflix is commercial free… but the Hulu commercials are less intrusive than cable. They both have pros and cons. But not enough cons to make me go back to cable… as cost is a huge pro. If you also have a RedBox nearby, you might be fine to just cancel cable, Hulu & Netflix combined for instant streaming would only be $16/mo… if you like to watch the news, I just use iTunes and subscribe to news podcasts, you can use AppleTV to watch them on your TV… the only thing you would be missing out by canceling cable is sports.
Colly Peace says
July 12, 2012 at 2:29 PMI LOVE Netflix! All kinds of movies I can watch whenever I want. When I leave the room I pause. All for just 7.99 a month. At which I can afford. aqnd the best thing of all… NO ADD’S! Just the movie I wanted to watch! I Love Netflix!!!!!!!!
Emily @ evolvingPF says
August 3, 2012 at 8:25 PMWell, our Netflix subscription has been a recurring Christmas gift from my in-laws so I’m not planning to ask them to stop! If I had to pay for it myself, I would keep the streaming only option and forgo the DVD mailings. We watch quite a bit of TV – we probably have it on a few hours per day – and we watch exclusively Netflix streaming during the summer and a mix of Netflix streaming and Hulu when new shows are coming out. We don’t pay for cable or any other subscription services and go to a movie about once every two years. I personally think we’re getting a lot of value from the streaming service since we like to watch old TV shows. For TV shows, getting one DVD at a time no matter what the source is way too slow. Did you know that all of Saved by the Bell is on Netflix?! That clinches the argument for me!
Joe Keiroz says
August 12, 2012 at 10:18 AMI have no complaints about Netflix. After all what is $7.99 per month?…..and lots of nice old movies to watch. I know people who spend $400 per month on cigarettes.I guess it is not worth for those whom want to watch the late releases.
John says
September 30, 2012 at 1:17 PMWe have four people sharing the rent here, as the home owner I add Netflix Internet and cable as bonus features.
Netflix is handy because it’s so portable, the cable with the DVR is confined to the living room, Netflix works on any computer or even a cellphone.
Andrew says
October 24, 2012 at 2:05 AMI love Netflix. How is 8 bucks a month a waste of money. I have it on my iphone, ipad, and stream with my HD TV too. The shows you stream in HD are in 1080, it’s awesome! I only get 720 usually on dish.
With 4G LTE I can watch anything anywhere on my phone.
I guess the writer must be on a tight budget or something.
vboo says
October 30, 2012 at 9:02 PMMy fiance and I just got netflix and we love it. And we are on a tight budget but we are cinemaphiless and for eight bucks a month it is so worth it. We watch something almost every day. It has a ton of stuff we cannot find anywhere else but my fiance is heavy into anime and it is the only place where we can get a ton of obscure ones for free. It is not something you can get at the library or redbox or even online without paying anyway so it is totally worth my eight bucks.
bart says
January 16, 2013 at 7:01 PMthe guy that wrote this article is a miser. l imagine he eats leftover hamburgers from mcdonald’s trash because only a fool would pay a dollar for a mcdouble when the garbage has them for free…and fries,maybe even a chewed up apple pie.
my time is worth more to me than spending all day scouring redboxes and libraries (which aren’t free in memphis ) or watching low res pirated videos online. 8 bucks? that’s like taco bell money.
Nel says
March 21, 2013 at 6:48 PMSo what if you’re a teenager like me and you watch about 35 movies a month via netflix at least and stream about 4 hours of TV a day?
And no I don’t watch too much tv lol I like having movies playing they help me work. I get distracted in silence.
SB says
March 22, 2013 at 12:06 AMYou should not stop using Netflix. This article talks about people who are in same boat as I am in. No offense on Netflix, it’s good for people who are in to movies in a big way.
Troy says
May 19, 2013 at 6:57 PMI think Netflix is awesome. We watch TV series and the convenience is well worth the money to me. When you start a TV series (or movie) on Netflix, if you have to stop, you come back at the same place you left off, even if you watch 50 different titles in between. When you watch TV series, it starts at episode 1, season 1 and plays straight through with no interruptions, and automatically plays the next title in the season with no human interaction. The commercial are gone so you lose about 1 second max over where commercials are normally inserted. The controls are simple…on the keyboard you have up and down arrows for the volume, and the left/right arrow keys rewind/forward 10 seconds at a time. Hold down either key and it can go from the beginning to the end of a 43 minute episode in very short order, with each 10 seconds having a thumbnail sized picture so you know where you are stopping at (much more convenient than a DVD). You can do the same with the mouse, but you can also skip to any season/episode using the mouse, and there is a progress bar next to each episode to show you if you watched the entire episode, and if not, you can see via the bar how much of the episode you watched. That feature really isn’t available on DVD, especially if you swap DVD’s and swap back later, where Netflix can.
The post said you save $531 over 10 years…he had to stretch his example over 10 years and then add interest on top to make it look like s substantial number, but at base, it’s roughly $50/year ($7.99/year is more like $98/year). Granted, you may be able to pick up movies by driving somewhere, but unless you are going directly to that store/library anyway, that cost adds up too, you just don’t have a receipt to compare against. If I drive my car for government work, I get reimbursed about $0.55 per mile, and trust me, the government isn’t doing favors by paying people more than they have to. Taking that into account, if you drive out of your way roughly 100 miles a year to get DVD’s, you’ve already spent the money he says you are saving. Beyond that $0.55 per mile, there is the extra car exhaust, extra chance that you will be involved in an accident, chance to receive a ticket (fines galore), the chances are pretty high that on at least one of those trips you will end up buying food/drink for convenience that if you had just stayed home, you would have saved that mone00y too. If I come in from mowing the lawn and don’t feel like cleaning up to go to a kiosk to grab a DVD, I can just strip down and put on some shorts and relax a bit. ~$100 a year for that convenience and on and on is well worth it to me. On top of that, I have a fast internet connection and so often when I try to watch Youtube, it plays several seconds then buffers, and I don’t have that issue with Netflix.
Am I saying there are not newer or possibly better entertainment features? No, I’m not, but I think Netflix is worth the money and the $1-$3/mth I might save elsewhere…it’s not really worth fixing something to isn’t broken in my eyes. Most of what I watch is available via instant streaming.
Sarah says
June 17, 2013 at 5:52 AMI LOVE netflix but I understand your point and much of its true. I only pay for the streaming and I use it everyday for cartoons for the kids and I love watching TV shows on it. I do have to say in response to one of your points not all public libraries offer free movies. The one in my city charges a dollar for old and 2 dollars for new releases and if its turned in late the charges get even higher. Also many of the other options you stated do not have older movies or TV shows especially Red Box. I see what your saying though and i can see it being true for many people but I use Netflix far too much and find it far cheaper than spending gass and worrying about late fees.
rose says
July 16, 2013 at 8:14 PMpaying $8 per months to watch whatever you want isnt a waste of money…a pizza pie cost more money than that.
Ryan I says
October 30, 2013 at 4:54 PM“This is about common sense”, said the clueless author who doesn’t put a price value on his on time.
Driving to the library to find a movie they have and returning it involves two round trips. Between the gas (at least $2 assuming the library is 5 km from your residence) and your own time (at least 30 minutes at $10/hour or $5) you’ve almost paid for Netflix. And that’s assuming that your library has the DVD you want… and that your time is only worth Canada’s minimum wage.
Also note, DVD is of an inferior quality to what Netflix offers. Going with a DVD over an HD web stream is also devaluing yourself.
Finally, funny how the author is encouraging illegal behaviour. New legal movies are not available for free online; that’s called pirating. You are taking money from somewhere else. Are you teaching us to be frugal or criminal?
This article should be called, “Netflix is Too Expensive… If you Don’t Mind Breaking the Law and Devaluing Your Own Time.
Thanks for the laugh.
bobsyouruncle says
December 6, 2013 at 10:19 AMRyan,
While a DVD technically has lower resolution than HD, the bit rate on reading one is usually higher than you’re going to get with an internet connection. On a good BluRay player, an upscaled DVD will end up providing far better visual (not to mention sound) resolution than you’ll get on anything being streamed.
Ever García says
November 6, 2013 at 6:26 PMI use Netfix because it organizes all the movies, and it’s safe. I don’t have to go anywhere else when I wanna watch a movie… Have used it for a couple of months and i love it. And, BTW it is VERYYY cheap! 😀
Dominique Saunders says
April 25, 2014 at 8:14 AMWell I got Netflix and I watch shows online but its hooked up to my game system so I don’t have to cut on my computer to watch it. The 7.99 is wonderful and I don’t have to go anywhere and still watch some good movies, and shows from now and the past.
John Cummings says
August 1, 2014 at 4:25 PMYeah I completely think that Netflix is the bomb. There is this website that basically coordinates group discounts on subscriptions so you can get Netflix for like $4.50 a month and HBO for like $6 a month. That is what I’m using and its saving me a lot more.
Roba A says
June 10, 2015 at 11:57 PMIs this legitimate, it seems to good to be true. I understand how it works but where is the accountabilty?
SB says
June 16, 2015 at 11:14 PMWhat do you mean Roba?
tita says
March 7, 2015 at 2:56 AMi hope netflix will work