Quick, how many subscription services are you currently paying for? Whatever the number, it's likely you missed one or two. Subscription services have been around for a long time – think newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Today, however, they've ballooned to include digital subscription services such as video and music streaming, internet and cell phone. Food delivery and retail subscriptions are also available.
Most providers offer free trials and automatic recurring credit card payments, so you may have trouble keeping track of all your subscriptions. Those recurring costs can quickly add up and take a big bite out of your household budget.
In the current inflationary environment, the cost of almost everything is increasing. So you may want to look for monthly expenses to slash. You can wrangle subscription costs in three simple steps:
- Review recent credit card and bank statements,
- Identify recurring subscription charges, and
- Cancel the subscriptions you're not using or are using infrequently enough that it wouldn't be a hardship to cancel them.
If poring over your banking records is too time consuming, there are several budgeting apps that can do the work for you. These apps monitor your financial transactions and identify recurring transactions, allowing you to cancel unwanted subscriptions.
Some will even cancel subscriptions for you. Keep in mind, however, that this service typically comes with its own monthly fee.
