First of all, refuse any and all “free trials” as you will be automatically charged for many of them if you don’t cancel.
I would also delete any channels that are preloaded - you may actually reload them but best to start fresh so you don’t have any junk taking up space.
These are the free channels I would add. You find these by going to “Streaming Channels”, then choosing “Search”:
Positiv TV
Classic Reruns TV
WeatherNation
Classic Film Time
Xumo
Redbox
STIRR
Crackle
YouTube (*not* “YouTubeTV”)
Rumble
The Roku Channel
Freevee
Tubi
Pluto TV
Plex
MyTuner
VTuner
PragerU
I’ve used free trials to watch a show during the one week trial period. I put a reminder on my phone calendar to tell me to cancel at Day 6.
Another way to do it is to use the privacy.com virtual credit card service. Another FReeper told me about it a couple months ago and it is great. You connect the “privacy” service to your checking account via the “Plaid” banking service (very easy to do). In “Privacy,“ you generate one card number for each merchant you buy from. You get a regular card number, an expiration date, and a CCV number just like a credit card. You can set spending limits on your virtual cards with a variety of options: a one-time use (good for trials); a per-transaction cap; a daily cap; an annual cap; and some others. For a trial, a one-time card would be good. If the merchant tries to use it again, they get a “denied” error. The only downside is that you don’t get the float of a regular credit card because it draws directly from your checking account. It behaves more like a debit card in that respect. I also don’t know if you get the fraudulent charge protection you get with a credit card.
I checked out many of your suggestions and added many of them. Thank you!