The short answer
- Search your statement for the same amount repeating on a monthly cycle - same number, roughly same date, several months in a row.
- Check the amounts people forget: small ones under ten, and the yearly ones that land as a surprise once a year.
- Total the monthly equivalent of everything recurring. That one number is usually the motivator.
- Cancel by writing the cancellation date down, not by clicking the button and hoping - yearly resurrections are a business model now.
- Re-run the audit every quarter. Subscriptions breed when nobody is watching.
The audit, in one evening
- Gather the last three months of statements. Three months is enough to see a monthly cycle twice and catch the yearly ones you forgot.
- Mark every repeating charge: same vendor or recognizably same service, same or similar amount, roughly monthly gap. Streaming, software, hosting, gym, apps, news, cloud storage.
- Write the list: vendor, amount, cycle, what it was for when you signed up. If you cannot remember what it is for, that is your first cancellation candidate.
- Ask each one the three questions: did I use it this month; would I buy it again today if I did not have it; is there a cheaper tier that covers what I actually use.
- Cancel the losers and write the date next to each one. Watch the next statement for charges that survived their own cancellation - they are common enough to have a name now: ghosts.
The three questions, honestly
- Did I use it this month - actual use, not intended use. Intent is how the subscription got there in the first place.
- Would I buy it again today - this kills the sunk-cost defense better than any argument.
- Is the cheaper tier enough - sometimes the answer is downgrade, not cancel.
The free tool for this
The 50 / 30 / 20 split, on your own numbers - The 50 / 30 / 20 split, on your own numbers. It runs in the page, asks for your own numbers, and sends nothing anywhere.
If you would rather not build it yourself
Money OS hunts them by conversation: /subscriptions reads your ledger, finds the recurring charges, totals the monthly equivalent, and flags risers, duplicates and ghosts. No bank connection, ledgers you own. Money OS is $34. See it on the shop, and there is a plain page about it here: what it holds.
Questions people actually ask
Is this worth doing if I only have a few subscriptions?
A few subscriptions at typical prices is often twenty to sixty dollars a month. The audit takes one evening. Few legal activities pay that hourly rate.
What about subscriptions on a card I rarely use?
Those are the most important ones - rarely-used cards are where forgotten charges live longest. The audit covers statements, not cards: pull them all.
Read next
How to categorize a bank statement without losing a weekend, The quarterly taxes checklist for a one-person business.