I pay and don't watch for months, then suddenly i want to watch something on the bus back home while wife is watching something on the tv

yeah, me too. i got the free trial for house of cards and i'm going to leave it active until arrested development. we'll see if there's any other good stuff coming up after arrested development to leave the account active for. It's easier to pay for a couple months here and there that i don't need than to keep cancelling and re-subscribing.