Cutting down on unused subscriptions

Subscription services are a billion-dollar-per-month industry. One survey found that found that the average person spends almost $240 each month on subscriptions. These subscription services include streaming, shopping, music, beauty products, fitness, and subscription boxes.

Now is a great time to take an inventory of all your subscriptions and cancel the ones you haven’t used enough.

Subscription Management Apps

New technology can scan your bank statements and notify you of recurring charges. Most of these types of apps provide basic monitoring services for free. Some also have a premium paid option that will cancel the subscriptions for you. Other premium features include negotiating better deals, setting up savings accounts for you, negotiating parking tickets, and more.

Smartphone App Review

On your smartphone, you can see a list of your subscriptions in the store where you buy apps. If you can’t find it, do a quick online search to see where subscriptions are listed on your particular phone. From there, you should be able to view all active subscriptions and how much they cost.

Then, you can check for lower-cost plan options or consider canceling. Make a habit of checking your app subscriptions monthly and changing to a cheaper subscription plan when possible.

Free Streaming

Free streaming platforms include Freevee, Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi, and Crackle.

Auto-Renew Features

Perhaps you subscribe to a service to watch the newest hit show or get a must-have item, only to forget to cancel later. Fortunately, many subscription services offer the option to turn off auto-renew. This will end your subscription after the current billing cycle or send you a reminder to renew or cancel.

You can also schedule a notification in your calendar when you sign up, reminding you to cancel before a free or reduced-cost billing period ends.

Previous Year Analysis

The end of the year is a great time to do a financial analysis and plan for the upcoming year. Part of that analysis can be to look at your bank statements to identify all your subscriptions. Sort the subscriptions based on whether you actively use them, and cancel any you no longer want.

Photo credit to Glenn Carstens-Peters / Unsplash