Subscription Drain Audit

Find them first: pull up the last 3 months of bank and credit-card statements and highlight every recurring charge — weekly, monthly, and the sneaky annual ones. Check PayPal, Venmo, Apple ID, and Google Play too, since app-store subs don't always show a recognizable name on your statement.

Then cancel at the source: cancel inside the app or on the service's website (deleting the app does not cancel the subscription). For app-store subs, cancel under your Apple ID or Google Play subscriptions page. Take a screenshot of the cancellation confirmation — some services "accidentally" keep billing.

It's never just $10. That's $120 a year, $600 over five years — and if that same $120 a year went into a high-yield savings account at 4.5% APY instead, it would grow to about $656 in five years. Stack five "just $10" subs and you're looking at $600 a year walking out the door for things you might open twice a month.

The question isn't "can I afford $10?" — it's "is this worth $120 a year to me?" If the answer isn't an instant yes, cut it. You can always resubscribe later; most services will beg you back with a discount.

Every 3 months, minimum. Prices creep up quietly — streaming services raise rates a dollar or two at a time and count on you not noticing. Free trials also convert to paid plans on autopilot.

Set a recurring reminder for the first of each quarter, re-run this list against a fresh bank statement, and re-tag anything that slid from "Use Daily" to "Forgot I Had This." Ten minutes, four times a year — that's the whole system.

On this page, any single subscription costing $120/year or more gets flagged in red. That's not automatically a cut — a gym you actually use five days a week earns its keep. The red flag just means it deserves a deliberate yes, not an autopilot one. High cost plus "Forgot I Had This" is the worst combination on the board: cancel those first.