sharing bundles
Stream your shows while saving money
We’re in love with music streaming, on-demand video and satellite TV, but having a wide variety of subscriptions can end up costing you a fortune. Here’s the lowdown on the better-value deals that you and your whole family can benefit from…
We’re a household of Netflix addicts. Can sharing save us money?
In the past, you could have a music or video streaming service on multiple devices, but only one could be used at once. However, now the likes of Netflix has created bundle deals and sharing packages for partners, families and flatmates. It’s all perfectly legal and nobody will get kicked out mid-episode because someone else wants to watch. Your basic Netflix (netflix.com) account (£5.99 per month) allows you to have up to five individual profiles on the same account, but you’ll need to upgrade to £7.99 per month to have it downloaded onto two devices (TV, phone or tablet). For £9.99 you can watch and download on four screens at a time – that works out at just £30 each per year.
What about Amazon?
Amazon Prime (amazon.co.uk) costs £79 per year (or £7.99 per month) and gives you access to free Amazon delivery, the Kindle online book library and Amazon Prime Instant Video for TV and film. You can also create a ‘household’ account which allows you to share benefits with one other adult and create up to four accounts for the kids (online shopping not included!).
Can you also share music streaming?
Spotify Family (spotify.co.uk) is one of the best deals for music lovers: pay just £14.99 and enjoy five individual accounts (you have to be registered at the same address, but don’t have to live
Get the most from your wi-fi - in a household o f up to four people,you should look for broadband speeds of 35mb and above, while five or more need from 67mb
together). So instead of £9.99 each it’s less than £3 a month! Tidal (tidal.com), Deezer (deezer.com) and Apple Music (apple.com) offer similar ‘family’ deals that can save you a small fortune.
So, sharing really is caring... where else can we save money?
All the main mobile networks offer a family sharing plan that can save money, especially if you’re paying the kids’ bills and want to keep on top of data use. BT Mobile (bt.com) has a 12-month Sim-only plan that belongs to the main account holder. Onto that, you can add up to four 30-day plans, all paid for on a single bill at as much as half the cost of the main account. O2 (O2.co.uk) has a similar bundle where up to 10 devices can be linked to one account.
I’m a bookworm, not a watcher though…
Amazon Kindle e-readers allow you to lend a title to a friend for a period of time. Audible.co.uk (also owned by Amazon) subscribers can send books to friends to download for free, even if they don’t have membership.