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I thought it might be fun to sort of do a group review of our subscriptions — and maybe we'll turn it into the first exercise in a Money Challenge. (Readers, what should we do next? I've got some great ideas…)
{related: 10 ways to save money on subscription services}
I just wound up signing up for the Premium version of Spotify (family), and as usual before signing up for a new subscription, I asked a family member whom we often share accounts with. He checked and was surprised to find that he DID have a Premium version of Spotify and had completely forgotten about it. This reminded me of our Disney+ subscription, which I meant to cancel months ago… so I thought it would a fun exercise for everyone to review your renewing subscriptions.
{related: what media do you pay for?}
What you'll need:
- credit card statement(s)
- iTunes account access (click on Settings -> your picture at top -> Subscriptions)
- Paypal account access (here are instructions)
- Amazon account access (I'd suggest clicking on your account and checking both “Subscribe & Save” as well as “Memberships & Subscriptions.” The second page is where you'll see Kindle Unlimited if you have it; it also has links at the bottom for magazine subscriptions and more.)
- Other accounts where you may have renewing charges — Venmo or your bank, perhaps?
Particularly repeat the iTunes step if you have kids — I recently realized we'd been paying $5 each month for some spelling iPad game I thought my child “bought” several years ago. The repeating payment wasn't showing on MY account, just on his, even though Apple knows he's a child. Whee.
Once you get these items together, take a look! Are you aware of everything that's renewing on your account? Are you still OK with everything that's renewing — or can you save a few bucks by getting rid of a few items?
The tricky thing here is that this kind of review doesn't capture things that only renew once a year — I try to keep a list of those expenses separately. Does anyone have a better solution for yearly or non-monthly renewals?
(For extra fun — now that you've cropped out those unnecessary expenses, how much are you saving monthly or yearly? If you have student loans or other debt, you may want to see if you can increase the payment towards principal by that amount each month. If you DON'T have those loans, you may want to check out our posts on how to automate your saving (you could put the extra money towards your vacation fund!) or automatic investing.)
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / flashon.
Anon
Just a reminder that you can use temporary account numbers created through Privacy dot com for infamously-difficult-to-cancel subscriptions.
Another trick I’ve seen online (haven’t used personally, though) is to use a VPN to make it appear that you are located in California, where companies are required to let you cancel services online.
Ses
Thanks! Useful tips.
Ses
I’ve gone a little too nuts with streaming subscriptions so this is a good reminder. Cancelled Disney, and once I finish bingeing The Good Fight will cancel Paramount.
I think Netflix is here to stay for me. Eyeing Amazon Prime though…
Anon
Rotating schedule is the way to go, IMO. Say 3 months each, 4 services a year. Binge the unique stuff on each site and then GFTO to the next one.
Anon
Other than utilities and charitable donations, my only recurring payments are cable/internet and Adobe Lightroom (I’m annoyed you can’t buy it outright any more, but it is what it is and I use it a lot). I have Hulu, Peacock and HBO Max for free through my phone plan or cable and I don’t have other streaming like Netflix, Apple TV or Amazon. I’ve done free trials of those last three but have been good about canceling when the trial was up.
Anon
You can get a discount on Adobe CC with a college e-mail, and most colleges offer a permanent e-mail address if you join the alumni association. In my case, the yearly alumni fee is less than the amount I save on Creative Cloud.
Anon
Thanks. I actually work at a university so I looked into this but it was cheaper to buy only Lightroom as a member of the public than the full Creative Cloud with the educational discount. I don’t use any other parts of the Creative Cloud. Lightroom is only $10 per month, it’s just annoying to me because you used to be able to pay one larger upfront fee and own it outright without a monthly charge.
Anan
For the once a year subscriptions i put a calendar reminder for myself to reassess or cancel them about 11 months after I sign up.
Also, some services, if you sign up and pay for a year and then cancel right away, you can use the full year and not have it auto-renew.
DC Attorney
I do the same thing!
anon
This is great, I had just put this on my list of goals for this month.
Anonymous
+1, I cleaned up my iPhone subscriptions this morning.