How to do a subscription audit

Subscriptions are easy to forget because you only decide once. You sign up, the charge repeats, and it never asks again. Each one is small, they bill on different days, and some only bill once a year, so they rarely show up as one number.

A subscription audit fixes that. You list every recurring charge in one place, decide what each one is worth to you, and cancel the rest. The first audit takes the longest. After that, a check takes a few minutes.

Some apps, like Rocket Money, will find and cancel subscriptions for you. Budgey is a budgeting app, and it doesn't cancel or negotiate anything for you, so this guide does the audit by hand. If you're deciding between the two, here's Budgey vs Rocket Money side by side.

Step 1. Pull your statements

Download the last three months of statements for every account that pays for anything:

• Every credit card, including store cards
• Your checking account, for debit card charges and bank drafts
• PayPal and any other payment app you use
• Any card saved at an online store

Three months catches monthly charges. For yearly renewals, search the last twelve months for the word "annual" or "renewal" and for charges from companies you don't buy from often.

Step 2. Check your app store subscriptions

Subscriptions you started on a phone often bill through the app store instead of the company. On your statement they show up under the store's name, like APPLE.COM/BILL, instead of the app's name.

• On an iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then tap Subscriptions. Apple's steps to cancel a subscription from Apple cover other devices.
• On Android, open the Google Play Store, tap your profile icon, then tap Payments & subscriptions. Google's steps to cancel a subscription on Google Play cover the rest.
• On Amazon, open Memberships & Subscriptions in your account.

Step 3. List every recurring charge

Make one list with a row for each charge. For each one, write down:

• The name
• The amount
• How often it bills
• Which card or account pays it
• The next billing date
• The last time you used it

Convert yearly charges to a monthly amount so you can compare them. A $120 yearly renewal costs you $10 a month.

If a charge has a name you don't recognize, search the merchant name from your statement. If it's not yours, call the card issuer and treat it as possible fraud.

Step 4. Decide keep, cancel or downgrade

Go down the list and ask two questions for each one. Did you use it in the last month? Would you sign up again today at this price?

• If both answers are yes, keep it.
• If both are no, cancel it.
• If you used it but wouldn't pay this price again, look for a cheaper plan, an ad-supported plan or a family plan you already pay for.

Watch for overlap, like two music services, several streaming services or cloud storage from more than one company. Keep one and cancel the rest. You can rotate streaming services month to month instead of paying for all of them at once.

Step 5. Cancel the right way

Cancel through the same place you signed up. If you signed up in an app store, cancel there, because deleting the app doesn't stop the charge.

• Save the confirmation email or take a screenshot of the confirmation screen.
• Write down the date access ends.
• Check your next statement to confirm the charge stopped.

If a company keeps charging after you cancel, dispute the charge with your card issuer. You can report the company to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If your card issuer won't fix it, you can file a complaint with the CFPB.

For annual plans you want to drop, turn off auto-renew now, even if you keep using the plan until it runs out.

Step 6. Put what you keep on your paychecks

Once the audit is done, plan for the subscriptions you keep, so they don't surprise you again.

Add each one to your budget as a bill. Assign it to the paycheck that lands before it bills. Add up the subscriptions each paycheck covers. That total is now part of your bills, not your spending money.

Put yearly renewals on a sinking fund. Divide the yearly charge by the number of paychecks you get in a year and set that much aside from each one.

Then decide where the money you freed up goes. If you don't assign it, it ends up as spending. Sending it to savings on payday is a good default. Here's how automating savings on payday works.

Keep subscriptions from creeping back

• Put every subscription on one card. Then you only have one statement to check.
• When you start a trial, set a reminder for two days before it turns into a paid plan.
• Before you subscribe to anything new, decide which existing subscription it replaces.
• Repeat the audit every three months. With the list from the first one, it takes a few minutes.

Doing it in an app

Your budgeting app is a subscription too, so put it on the list. If you're paying for an app you rarely open, look at Monarch Money alternatives or PocketGuard alternatives. If you used to watch your recurring charges in Mint before it shut down, here are some Mint alternatives.

In Budgey, you can add each subscription you keep as a Loop, Budgey's recurring transactions. You set the amount and how often it bills once, weekly through yearly, and every budget period plans for it. Your budget period runs from payday to the day before the next payday, so the top number is what's left of your paycheck after those charges. Core is $5/mo or $20/yr with live sync for 1 bank. Plus is $10/mo or $100/yr for 2 or more banks, which helps if your subscriptions sit on more than one card.

For the bigger picture on how to plan a paycheck, here's how the main budgeting methods compare.

FAQ

How often should I do a subscription audit?
Do a full one once, then a quick check every three months. Search for yearly renewals once a year.

How do I find subscriptions I forgot about?
Look through three months of statements for every card and account, plus your app store subscription lists. Search twelve months back for yearly charges.

Should I use an app to cancel subscriptions?
You can. You can also cancel each one yourself through the account or app store you signed up with.