How to Enjoy your Subscriptions More

1. If you are a spoiler-loving kind of girl, find out your spoilers and try to forget about it.  As someone who frequently is at the end of the delivery line for my favorite subscriptions, I can speak to the torture of waiting on your boxes.  It is awful.  Stalking the postman only makes it more stressful when delays occur.  This is probably the hardest bit of advice to follow, but it has really helped me.
2. If you do not get that one product your reallllllllllllly wanted, just buy it yourself.  Do not wait in hopes that you will get it sent to you. I have only reallllllllllly wanted a few products that I did not get and I have never, ever regretted just buying it.
3. Do not chase your losses. If once upon a time a subscription had a great box that blew the doors off and then sent several months of boxes you did not enjoy-cut them loose.  It is not worth hanging in there in hopes that next month the box will be amazing. And if it is, you can just buy the things that you would have loved to get.  Life is too short to stay subscribed to a box that is not making you happy.
4. Do not buy long term subscriptions for new box services. They will try to entice you with great deals but let them prove themselves to you before you can commit. Having a long term subscription to an awful service is just a miserable affair no matter what kind of deal you scored.
5. If you are new to subscription boxes, do not sign up for a ton and a half of them. Start with one or a handful and give yourself a few months to learn what you like.
6. Do not make monthly wish lists. This only sets you up for disappointment. You will always have better ideas than what you end up getting.
7. Do not have super high expectations regarding the matching systems.  I fill mine out and ignore them.  I cannot even imagine the logistical nightmare of trying to run one of these things.  It is far too labor intensive of a proposition to match everyone perfectly every month. And if you expect this, you will be unhappy.  Enjoy what you get. And if you do  not enjoy it month to month, then unsubscribe.
8. Fill out the reviews.  They ARE kind of annoying, but the perks add up pretty quickly for most services and it helps you take advantage of another benefit of the service. That said, if you really do hate doing it, then feel free to ignore them if it makes you happier overall :-)
9. Be aware of ranters.  We love our friends and it is pretty nice when we can share the fun of subscription boxes with our peeps. BUT if you know someone who is rarely if ever happy with their boxes but stays subscribed and uses them as a monthly excuse to rant-run for cover. Change the subject. Just do not allow your experience to be tainted, and definitely do not allow this on the regular. Attitudes ARE contagious.  Now this does not mean we all will not have the occasional awful box, that is a different matter entirely.  Just be aware of how other people impact your enjoyment of something you pay for with your hard earned money.
10. Evaluate your boxes over time. There is not one box that has not bummed me out at least once. If a service keeps bumming you out, ditch them.  But if they have an off month or two, consider your experience with the service over time before you decided whether or not to stay subscribed. A good indicator for me is how I feel when I know it is coming or when it has arrived. If I am giddy, then the service is a good match.

Note that the above tips work for me and my personality but they may not work for you since we all differ. Still, I thought it was worth sharing :-)