Endless Expenses: Modern Life in The Subscription Model

Life in the early 21st Century is increasingly characterized by what marketing specialists dubbed The Subscription Model. For many Americans, it is starting to feel like we are “renting” our lives. It is almost like feeding a parking meter, 24/7, and 365 days a year. It is bad enough having taxes, mortgage payments, and insurance costs, but adding umpteen subscriptions is burdensome. It saps us of our livelihood. Consider how our lives have changed in the past two decades:

• We used to buy a CD or DVD once, and it was ours for a lifetime. Now, we are mostly expected to pay a monthly subscription fee for a music or video streaming service. The record producers and and movie  studios have turned us into cash cows.
• We used to buy a book, and it was our family’s for several lifetimes. Now we are expected to only view ebooks (stored in the cloud) or on our remotely auto-updated ebook readers. And all the while, our data is surreptitiously gathered by publishers ^[1]. Even worse, Internet-connected ebooks can be edited or deleted without our knowledge or consent ^[2].
• We used to buy televisions that freely received broadcasts — albeit with commercial ads. But now, most television services are by subscription  It is not unusual for families to have five or more separate paid movie and television subscriptions.
• We used to buy a car or truck and we could make a pay cash purchase, once.  But now, cars and trucks are so expensive that most buyers must make monthly payments. And we are expected to buy subscriptions for the radio and navigation systems. Without a subscription, these devices are “bricked. ^[3]” And even some other optional equipment on vehicles now require subscriptions ^[4]. You’ve probably heard of the notorious “by subscription” electrically-heated car seats.
• Some devices become bricked when companies are merged or acquired ^[5]. Bricking has even be used as a debt-collection bludgeon ^[6].
• Some trades companies like plumbing services have gotten into the act of monthly subscriptions. And there are now some brands of disposable razors that are only sold by subscription. Incredible!
• We used to buy software that would work indefinitely.  But now, we either need a version update subscription ^[7] or we have to buy new editions of software — often as frequently as once every 18 months.  The trend is toward selling Software as a Service (SaaS). An Aside:  Even computer hardware now has a limited functional lifespan. I’ve found that my spare Macbook laptop computers are becoming essentially worthless, because they lack sufficiently-fast CPUs to support current software. And much of the old software is not compatible with viewing modern web pages. Those pages either cannot be accessed, or the graphics on those web pages are displayed as blank rectangles!
• As of 2024, 65.7% of homes were built in a community association or homeowner’s association, with monthly or annual fees. My long-standing advice is to avoid buying houses inside of HOAs!

“You Will Own Nothing…”

The leftist/globalist World Economic Forum (WEF) proudly predicted in their Agenda 2030 documents:  “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.”  But I am not happy. In fact, I’m feeling rebellious. (After 21 years of my posting SurvivalBlog, I think that you know me…)  The WEF’s agenda fits in nicely with the globalist corporate model which in effect says: We want more of your money, so we’ll make you subscribe for the things that you think you own.

To put the foregoing list in historical perspective: Up until the late 19th Century, Americans were able to buy land, and it was our family’s forever, in allodial title. But with the advent of taxpayer-funded public schools, we were expected to pay annual real estate taxes. That is how the American people were sold the concept of property taxes:  “It is for the children!” And if we fail to pay our taxes, we will have our land seized by our own government. In some states like Nevada and New Mexico, land seizure has become a racket.

Some Solutions

There are some solutions that will detach you from the corporate entities that want you to subscribe, endlessly:

1. Don’t subscribe. If it is voluntary, then don’t volunteer! Whenever possible, go offline, and opt for physical rather than online media. For example, that means buying hard copy books. And for software, use free open-source software, such as the Ubuntu OS or Linux OS. There are now versions of Ubuntu for both PC and Mac hardware.  There are emulation programs for Ubuntu and Linux that replicate most of the Microsoft Office suite, and they are all free. Ditto for LibreOffice, if you want to continue to use a major OS.
2. If you must subscribe to some services, then do so intentionally and periodically re-asses what real value you get out of those subscriptions.  There are thankfully also still some “pay once” software ^[8] options, typically for just one “seat.”
3. Keep things on your own hard drive or USB sticks rather than cloud services. (Note that the SurvivalBlog waterproof archive USB sticks have hundreds of public domain ebooks and have plenty of free space for adding your own. The next edition will be available for ordering in late January, 2027. please mark your calendar.)
4. Use free services like Steve’s Pages ^[9] and AllCarManuals ^[10] for product reference/service manuals.
5. Buy reliable, low-mileage used vehicles that require no subscriptions.
6. If you want GPS trackers for items that might get lost or stolen, then get non-subscription trackers ^[11].
7. Buy physical media.  One reason that DVDs, vinyl record albums and CDs are all making a comeback is because there are are no subscriptions. You own it. And if “The Cloud” ever evaporates, then you will still own it and have access to it. But remember that because optical, magnetic and RAM media can fail over time, it is important to keep redundant copies of things, using your spare older hard drives and USB sticks. Another plus of Buying Physical Media is that you can will your physical media to your children and grandchildren.
8. If you own a television, then use an antenna or a satellite dish rather than paying a monthly cable or ISP bill. (Note: We don’t own a television, so I’m not up to date on all of the latest television technology, so research this online.)
9. Don’t let online newspaper paywalls baffle you or pummel you into subscribing. Instead, use free services like RemovePaywall.com ^[12].
10. If you like blogs, vlogs, or podcasts, then shun subscription-only sites.  And only send voluntary subscriptions or tips to a site that you visit frequently, and only when you gain truly useful information.
11. Scale back your cellphone data service to what you actually use, each month. That can save you $65 or more each month. (About $800 per year.)
12. Don’t buy H-P brand printers. They are unscrupulous. For example, they remotely updated firmware on some of their printers that bricked them if you used third-party inkjet cartridges.  Brother seems to be the only printer company that doesn’t use by-subscription gimmicks or bricking tactics.
13. Find non-subscription online (open-source or free) alternatives. For example:  Find free podcasts. And if there is no “download” button, then you can make your own offline podcast copies, using a plethora of digital recording software — some of which is built in to operating systems (OSes). Buy yourself Old School iPods for music instead of using streaming services like Spotify
14. Use Project Gutenberg ^[13] for finding public domain downloadble book PDFs.
15. If you homeschool your kids, then find free sites or low-cost “pay once” sites for downloading curriculum. But but be discerning of any political or social agendas of the publishers. One great site that I can recommend is The Robinson Curriculum ^[14].
16. As a backup to your HF radio gear, use RadioGarden ^[15] for listening online to international music and news.
17. Use Plex ^[16] or Tubi (both free, for now) for movies and television, rather than paid streaming services. However, keep in mind that in most cases if you use a “free” online service, then you are the product that is being sold. By “you” I mean your viewing preference data, constantly feeding The Algorithms.
18. Use GIMP instead of Adobe Photoshop. Oh, and there are lots of alternatives for other Adobe software ^[17].
19. For those who are tech savvy, even your monthly ISP subscription is avoidable, if you buy your own server hardware.  You can in effect become your own ISP ^[18].  (But take heed that this is only a good option if you have lots of time on your hands and your telephone service can support high speed Internet. There are also substantial up-front hardware costs.)
20. If you have a Costco or other “membership store” card, then carefully evaluate if you are truly getting your money’s worth. If not, then cancel them.
21. Use public libraries. Some of them now even have gardening seed banks and free-to-use 3D printers, where all you pay for is the printer filament that you use.
22. Carefully evaluate charities ^[19] and ministries before you sign up for subscribed donations. Some charities gobble up more than half of their donations for overhead and promotional costs.

I hope that you’ve found the foregoing useful. – JWR

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Note: Permission to repost this article is granted, as long as it is re-posted in full, with all links intact, and credit given to the author (James Wesley, Rawles) and to SurvivalBlog.com.