I Replaced Every Subscription I Pay For transcript

Sony recently announced that they'll be deleting movies from their PlayStation Store even if users previously purchased it. That's the moment I realized I don't actually own anything that I'm paying for. So, I spent a week replacing the $1,000 I spend a year on subscriptions with things actually in my control. You could do this too for less than the cost of 1 month you're already paying in subscriptions to watch Friends for the 50th time in a row.

And the secret is this little baby right here. This is a Raspberry Pi. Now, don't be intimidated. I know it looks a little scary, but this is basically just a mini computer that's super low power and perfect for running your own home server. So, you could either buy a Raspberry Pi or if you're cheap like me, don't want to fork any moolah over, any old laptop you have sitting at the bottom of your closet will work, too.

Don't worry about the specs unless you have one running off a hamster wheel, you'll be good. And the cost after that is basically only pennies of electricity to power it. Now, let me ask if you've ever been in the same position as me. You're watching a show, it's your nightly comfort, you can't wait to watch the next episode every night, and poof, it's gone from Netflix. It's on Pluto TV or Blingo or some other streaming service you've never heard of.

Are you really going to fork over another 15, 20 bucks a month to continue watching a show? Hell no. We're done with that. You can buy one of these Pies like I have right here, or with just a little configuration to your old laptop, you can run your own personal Netflix completely for free and completely open source with this program called Jellyfin. And open source just means that the code of the program is completely public and maintained by the public rather than one tech company.

But anyways, this app Jellyfin is a lifesaver. It lets you host your own TV shows and movies and watch them anywhere completely for free with a great interface, super interactive, just like Netflix. It pulls Rotten Tomato ratings, it pulls the full IMDb page so you can see the actors/actresses that are in the content you're watching. This isn't just a dinky little service that just lets you stream files. This is a full end-to-end experience that honestly rivals Netflix and HBO and your other streaming services completely for free.

But Tucker, what if I don't have any movies? What What if I don't have any shows? What am I going to do? Buddy, it's 2026. There's so many ways around this. I got you. Don't worry. If you want to be a good little citizen, thrift stores have thousands of DVDs for only a dollar or two each. It's trivial to burn these on your computer and upload the files. But, something I've heard about that I would never never ever do myself, there's many websites out there where you can acquire free movies, free TV shows, legally of course, and all above board.

So, now you got your movies, now you got your shows, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. These tech companies, their whole business model is to get you hooked for life on subscriptions. They want you to never cancel. And are you tired of letting Google host all your photos? These photos live on a server who knows where and are at the mercy of Google. There's stories of people getting banned for seemingly no reason.

There goes all their documents, there goes their photos of their gam-gam's 90th birthday, everything. Are you really going to depend on a company who truly could not give two shits about you and the only reason they support you is because they want to sell you ads? Are we really going to depend on them to keep our data safe? Well, I've got another solution for you. There's a software out there, another open-source software called Image.

This is a local Google Drive. This backs up your photos and videos automatically. It has facial recognition and location tagging just like Google Photos, but it is completely for free and hosted on your own local network. So, no company ever has access to your own personal videos and photos. Who knows what they're doing with that freaky video of you and that cucumber? And it goes even deeper. One of my personal favorite things that I love to use is audio bookshelf, which is another open-source software that lets you stream your own audiobooks to your phone.

It has all the same services as Audible. And don't get me started about Audible. This was literally one of the reasons I started this because I hate that service so much. So, these are just the start. I'm just giving you these couple examples to show you that there's a free and open-source version of everything that you already pay for. I know it's intimidating a little bit, and I am by no means an expert in home servers or setting up any of this, but I am one thing, cheap as hell and determined.

When I did the math and I figured out how much I was spending on subscriptions, I knew there had to be better alternatives out there. And now even my home cameras are running fully locally, so these feeds are not going out in the cloud at all. And I can access them from anywhere. The good news is there is so much information out there to help you set this up, especially with AI and all the resources that brings. This could honestly take you 1 day to set up once you have all the required equipment, which you probably do.

I know you have an old laptop sitting around. So please, please, please, if you take away anything from this video, I just implore you to start taking ownership of your own digital life. It will not only let you have more of your own content, but it will also keep your sensitive information safe. But I know what tracks in this day and age, and it is cheddar. So start today, and I promise you a year from now your bank account will thank you when you've got extra money saved up from this.

Thank you for watching.