u/equinoxehigh

I recently reviewed my recurring expenses and realized I was paying for several services separately when bundles could cover most of the same things for less.

My streaming subscriptions were the biggest problem. Between Netflix, Disney+/Hulu, Max, and Prime, I was spending around $75 per month. I now keep Prime and rotate between one other streaming service at a time, bringing the total down to roughly $32. That alone saves me about $43 per month.

Then I went to online security. I have so many different subscriptions for seperate tools. A VPN was costing me around $4 per month on a long-term plan, while a password manager was about $3, encrypted cloud storage was around $10, and a Norton antivirus subscription was another $6. Together, I was spending approximately $23 per month.

I switched to a NordVPN premium plan that includes NordVPN, NordPass, NordLocker, and built-in antivirus for around $5 per month on a long-term offer. That brought my online security costs down from approximately $23 to $5, saving me another $18 per month while also giving me fewer subscriptions to manage. So yeah, this security package bundle really made sense at least in my case. Getting each tool one by one is more expensive.

Insurance was another area where bundling helped. I was spending approximately $202 per month on full-coverage car insurance and renters insurance. Moving both policies to the same provider brought the combined cost down to around $192, saving approximately $10 per month. It’s not a huge discount but still $120 per year.

Finally, I was spending about $105 per month on a gym membership and separate fitness classes. A combined membership that includes both now costs me around $75, saving $30.

Altogether, my monthly spending went from roughly $405 to $304. That’s around $101 saved each month, or $1,212 per year. And I really didn't really have to make any compromises, and can use basically everything as before.

Bundling isn’t always cheaper, especially if a package includes features you won’t use. But listing my actual expenses and comparing them with bundle prices helped me find several easy savings without giving up anything important.

My eldest is getting a lot more independent lately, spending more time out with friends and getting out and about on his own, so I've been looking for the best parental monitoring app. I don't really want something to read all of his messages or spy on him. I just want something focused on safety. Basically being able to see where he is if needed, getting notified when he makes it home or leaves school or friends, basically just having an app where I can just have a glimpse if everything is okay and that's it. Nothing too crazy

Does anyone uses an app like that, that’s not full on spying, that would probably ruin our relationship? How did your kids react to the app overall?

Most of the apps I've looked at seem either way too invasive or packed with features I'd never use and too expensive. So whats best parental monitoring app these days?