I was paying $75 a month on unused subscriptions

Over the last year or so, I’ve made a point to get my family’s finances into a tighter order. This means eliminating wasted spending and ensuring that what we’re paying for actually makes sense. To that end, I previously wrote a piece about how my family cut back on streaming services and created a calendar system for renewing and canceling services when show seasons end.

The truth is that wasn’t the only step we took. I also went through our bank accounts with a fine-toothed comb and checked popular online services that allow for add-ons like Amazon Prime. At the end of the process, we not only saved nearly half of what we used to pay for streaming services, but I also shut down over $25 in monthly services for things I frankly didn’t even realize I was paying for. Combining the savings from the two sources, I saved around $75 a month in total.

It might seem crazy that you could spend this kind of money and not notice it. That said, it’s important to consider that most people have multiple credit cards, at least one bank account, and that some of these add-ons aren’t easy to identify from a financial statement alone. Combine that with a partner you share finances with, and it’s easier to overlook something than you might realize.

According to surveys conducted by Self Financial, the average person has 2.8 paid subscriptions. That’s down from 4.4 and 4.1 in 2003 and 2004, respectively. On the same note, roughly 54.9% of survey responders said that they had at least one subscription that they are paying for but not actually using at all. On average, that’s at least $10 a month wasted.

Obviously, my numbers are much higher than this, largely because I tend to be a bit impulsive. When a new streaming service came out, I would sign up and then binge hard. After I ran out of content, I’d often keep the subscription anyway.

That said, there was another source behind my difficulties: Free trials and services I always planned to use temporarily, but then would forget all about them anyway.

Looking through my past, I’ve tested out apps like CoinSnap for tracking my coin collection. Fitbod, for well, obviously, fitness purposes. In many cases, I would immediately cancel the trial the day I signed up, as this usually still gives you access but ensures you aren’t auto-charged when the trial is up. Of course, not all app trials allow this, which is usually where I ran into problems.

I’m not going to pretend I didn’t make my own problems here. Heck, at one point, I ended up having two different VPN services. I had thought I’d canceled SurfShark, and so I signed up for NordVPN. As it turned out, I never actually canceled after all. I noticed within a month or two, but still, that’s money wasted that could have been easily prevented.

I’ve already mentioned a few sources to look through, including bank accounts and credit card statements. I also checked my add-on subscriptions for Amazon, Google, and a few other platforms.

If you find that it’s a bit too tedious to check all these sources manually, another great tool is Rocket Money. While I’d already manually taken care of most of my issues, I found the tool worked well, and the free version even found one extra subscription I’d overlooked.  Just be aware that you’ll be sharing a lot of private data in the process, and not everyone is going to be comfortable with that.

If you don’t mind manually tracking, I still think that’s the best way if privacy is a concern. Of course, random audits and using Rocket Money might help you find a problem, but how about preventing it in the first place? The best system I found is also the oldest school method I could pick: a spreadsheet.

I have made it a habit to write down the day I signed up for a subscription, when I intend to stop using it (if it’s a temporary thing), and when the trial ends (if I need to cancel before then). Likewise, I have set up calendar reminders for days when I need to cancel something and a monthly reminder to audit all my subscriptions.

I highly recommend adopting something similar, though the exact tools and methods are up to you.