How to track and cut your subscriptions

Why do subscriptions slip through?

Subscriptions are small, renew automatically and spread across different cards. Free trials that turn paid, payments that come once a year and price hikes that arrive unannounced keep the total cost out of sight.

1. Put them all on one list

Go through your last three card statements and note every repeating payment. Add the subscriptions in your phone’s app store settings and anything billed yearly (cloud storage, software licences, memberships).

For each, write down the amount, the payment day, the card it’s charged to and whether it’s monthly or yearly.

2. Look at the yearly cost

A monthly price looks small; the yearly cost tells the truth. Five subscriptions costing $70 a month are $840 a year.

Sort your list by yearly cost. The three most expensive items usually make up most of the total — start saving there.

3. Keep track of price hikes

When a price goes up, record the old and the new amount. A subscription that goes from $7.90 to $9.90 a month costs $24 more over a year.

A price hike is a good moment to rethink a subscription: do you still use it as often, and is there a cheaper plan?

4. Drop, switch or pause

• Drop: cancel a subscription you haven’t used lately before its renewal date.
• Switch: a cheaper plan of the same service (with ads, or a smaller package) may be enough.
• Go yearly: for a service you use all the time, the yearly plan is usually cheaper.
• Share: with services that offer family plans, one subscription can cover several people.
• Pause: some services let you pause instead of cancelling if you only need a break.

5. Set a reminder

Set a reminder a few days before the renewal date of a subscription you want to drop. Most services charge on the renewal date; leave it to the last minute and you pay for another period.