Thrifty Tuesday 2: Free Membership Trials!

Who doesn't love a free trial! For college students, they are a temporary godsend that allows us to indulge in a service that would usually cost astronomical amounts. For this installment of Thrifty Tuesday, we have compiled a list of the best free trial offers to date, along with their respective lengths, the full membership costs after the trial and some tips on how to not slip up and get charged after your trial expires.

Pro-tip: For almost any of the services that offer a student discount, the service will simply need you to input a .edu email for them to send confirmation to. That means that if you still have access to an old college email, you can likely enjoy a nice discount on many services

Netflix

If you are not one of the lucky ones who can ride off a friend or family members subscription, the top dog of video streaming has you covered

• 30 day free trial
• $10/month for a full membership after the trial expires

Amazon Prime & Prime Student

*Students* - You can try out Amazon Prime Student free for a whopping 6 months. I would highly recommend everyone take advantage of this, as it is super helpful to have any book, snack or whatever else you may need within 2 days. After the trial ends, Prime Student will still only cost you $6.49 a month until you graduate, which isn't too steep for the quality of the service. For everyone else, you can try standard Amazon Prime for:

• 30 day free trial
• $12.99/month for a full membership after the trial expires

Spotify

*Students* - Spotify has one of the most student friendly membership services out there. Your free trial will be the same length as everyone else, but afterwards it will only costs you $4.99 a month until you graduate, which is half the price of a normal membership. Additionally, your Student membership includes a free Hulu membership, which costs everyone else $7.99 a month. Another big plus is that if you own a PlayStation 4 console, you can listen to your favorite songs and playlists while you play by running Spotify through PlayStation Music. Out of all the awesome trials on this list, Spotify is the only one I continued after my trial expired. For everyone else, you can enjoy a... 

• 30 day free trial
• $9.99/month for a full membership after the trial expires

YouTube Red

This service allows you to download YouTube videos to watch later as well as listening to music when you are offline or do not have the YouTube app open. If you want to try it you can enjoy a...

• 30 day free trial
• Costs $9.99/month after trial expiration

Hulu

Like Netflix, Hulu is an online streaming service that includes a wide range of movies and TV shows. If you want to give it a shot, you can enjoy a...

• 30 day free trial
• Plans start at $7.99/month after the trial expires

SoundCloud Go

SoundCloud Go allows you to listen to music offline, and gives you access to many songs that a normal SoundCloud user cannot access. You can try it out with a...

• 30 day free trial
• Costs $4.99/month on the web or Android devices and $5.99/month for iOS users after the trial expires

Apple Music

Apple Music is another music streaming service similar to Spotify and SoundCloud. You can try it out with a...

• 90 day free trial
• $4.99/month for students and $9.99/month for everyone else after trial expiration. For the really thrifty folks, Apple Music offers a family deal which can be split between 6 family members or friends for $15/month. That's $2.50 per person for a month if you can find 5 others to split it with, which is a steal for unlimited music.

Audible

Recently I have gotten into audio books and podcasts, as they allow you to listen to a book or show, which is super convenient when you're on the go. You can try out Audible with a...

• 30 day free trial (plus 2 credits to download any audio book of your choosing, regardless of price)
• $15/month after trial expiration

Sling TV 

Sling TV is a direct competitor to Cable TV services, such as DirecTV or Spectrum. It includes many top networks, like HBO and ESPN. If you want to try it you will have access to a...

• 7 day free trial
• Plans start at $20/month after the trial expires

PlayStation Vue

You don't need a PlayStation to give PlayStation Vue a shot. It too is a competitor to CableTV networks. If you want to try it you can access a...

• 7 day free trial
• Plans start at $40/month after the trial expires

HBO Now

HBO Now is an online streaming service which focuses on HBO original TV shows and movies. If you want to binge watch Game of Thrones or The Sopranos, you have access to a...

• 30 day free trial
• $15/month after the trial expires

Kindle Unlimited

Personally I am not a huge fan of reading books on a tablet or smartphone, but some people love it. You can access Kindle's enormous library of books with a...

• 30 day free trial
• $9.99/month after trial expiration

PlayStation Plus

If you own a PlayStation and want to game online against other players and enjoy other premium features, you will need a PlayStation Plus membership. You can try it out with a...

• 14 day free trial
• Costs either $59.99/year or $9.99/month after trial expiration depending on the plan you choose

Xbox Live

Xbox Live is the same concept as PlayStation Plus, if you own an Xbox and want to play online and access other premium features - you need it. You can try it out with a...

• 1 month free trial for new members only
• Costs either $59.99/year or $9.99/month after trial expiration

Tidal

Tidal is essentially a watered down Spotify (in my unprofessional opinion). You can try it out with a...

• 30 day free trial
• Plans start at $4.99/month for college students and $9.99/month for everyone else

GameFly

Video games can cripple any college kids bank account with ease. GameFly allows you to try out games before you buy them. If that sounds interesting you can try it out with a...

• 30 day free trial
• $16/month after trial expiration

After you have signed up for a free trial for any service comes the real struggle: remembering to cancel the service before your bank account is assaulted by the steep costs of these premium services. While you can write down these dates on a sticky note or calendar, there's no guarantee that you will see these reminders on your crucial cancellation date. We included a couple of our personal favorite ways to help you remember...

• Remindeo is a web service which allows you to schedule text messages and email reminders at a set date and time. It is a completely free service which is easy to use.
• Google Calendar allows you to input an event on a specific date and time, and even set up a notification email to send at a set interval before the event occurs. You can also download their mobile application here 
• You can screenshot the dates of all your trial expirations or input them into your phones note app (again, this method does not guarantee you will remember to cancel on the date of expiration)

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