How to save on subscriptions: review what you pay each month

Streaming, music, cloud storage, the gym, a paid app… Subscriptions are convenient precisely because you don’t see them: they charge themselves. That’s why it’s so easy to end up paying for things you no longer use.

1. Find them all

Go through the last three months of your account and cards, and note every repeating charge. Also check:

• Subscriptions in your phone’s app store.
• Free trials that turned into paid plans.
• Yearly charges: they’re the easiest to forget.

2. Turn them into a yearly cost

Change how you see them: €12.99 a month is €155.88 a year. Add up all of yours and look at the total. It usually surprises people.

3. Decide with three questions

For each one:

• Have I used it in the last month? If not, cancel.
• Do I have another that does the same? Two music services or two clouds are usually one too many.
• Would I pay for it today if I didn’t have it? If in doubt, cancel and come back if you miss it.

4. Pay less for the ones you keep

• Rotate streaming services: one per month or season instead of all at once.
• Family or shared plans, where the service allows it and with people you live with.
• Yearly billing, if you’ll really keep it all year: it’s usually cheaper.
• Note the end date of every free trial and cancel the day before if you’re not convinced.

5. Keep them in view

What makes them pile up again is losing sight of them. Keep a list of each subscription, its price, how often it’s charged and when the next charge is. Reviewing it every few months takes five minutes.