Key Takeaways
- Subscriptions can sneak up on us, to the point where we don’t realize just how much they’re costing.
- If you’re having trouble saving money, try cancelling your subscriptions.
- Do this once a year or so, evaluating what you really use and where you can save.
There are a number of services out there that are free to a point, but then if you want the “plus” or “premium” version, you have to pay a monthly fee. For instance, you might be watching a show that you love, but a few episodes in, you realize that in order to finish the series, you have to pay…and oftentimes, they don’t make it easy to cancel.
These vendors take your money in little bits and pieces, cutting like little knives, here and there. The individual amounts may seem small: $5.99, $7.95, $12.99…but pretty soon they’ve added up to $300, $400, $500 per month. Suddenly, you realize those little knives are sharp and can cut pretty deep! To add insult to injury, you likely don’t even use many of these subscriptions.
Now, you know that saving is important and that you’ve got to save at least 15% to 20% of your money. If you’re having trouble doing this, try cancelling all of your subscriptions. Then go back through and figure out which ones you really use and want to sign back up for. You’ll give yourself an immediate raise and you’ll find this to be much more effective than simply cutting down one latte here and there.
You’ll probably want to do this once every year or so, just because we tend to get pulled into subscriptions over time, and it’s easy to lose track of how many we’ve signed up for. This is a good way to keep control of your expenses and you can think of it as cleaning the slate every once in a while. That’s something we can all benefit from! Until next time, enjoy.
Gary
If you’d like to read more on this topic, here are a few of Gary’s previous posts that you might enjoy:
