Cancel or continue? The subscription clean-up you need

Estimated reading time
 5 min

Learn all about

• How to find the forgotten subscriptions
• Assessing what stays and what goes
• Help to keep track of where your money's going

For many, a world without our favourite subscription services is now almost incomprehensible.

Through the convenience of monthly direct debits, we have music, movies, endless fitness and wellness motivation, fresh fruit and veg, and even a good old dose of mindfulness at the touch of a button.

But not every automatically billed app or service is worth the cash.

Hidden among the must-haves there may be a bunch of non-essential and frankly forgotten subscriptions that your finances can do without.

Assessing your apps and making some quick decisions about what stays and what goes is an important (and relatively easy step) towards improving your financial wellbeing. Let's get started.

Find the forgotten ones

Before you even start weighing up your priorities, there may be some lurking subscriptions you’ve forgotten about entirely. The authors at Popular Science call this the “app-byss,” and it’s a good place to begin.

Audit your bank statements for recurring debits that don’t look familiar or necessary, and see if you can suspend or cancel any recurring bills you’re not using. To dig a little deeper, sign in to your app store (iOS, Google or the like) and scroll through your current subscriptions to see what apps are automatically being charged to your account. As a last resort, search your email inbox for free trials that are ending, or ‘upcoming orders’ that you might've forgotten about.

  Brain hack

We tend to stick with our past behaviours despite the outcome of our actions. This thought process is called commitment bias, and it stems from a feeling that our future behaviour and decisions must match the things we’ve said or done in the past. When it comes to cancelling a membership or subscription, it might feel difficult to do it because you’ve had the subscription for many moons. Or you might’ve made a past commitment that doesn’t quite match up with who you are now – like deciding to host monthly cocktail parties after signing up for a cocktail recipe subscription. But those plans went out the window because of, well, life. So how do you overcome this bias and tidy up your memberships? Take a moment to figure out what you need now versus what you needed when you initially signed up. Then cancel the subscriptions that no longer serve you and focus on the good that will come from that, like more money in your savings.

Need, or want?

Once you know where your money is going, it’s time to decide if it’s worth it. This isn’t about saying no to everything, it’s just about assessing if you’re getting your money’s worth:

Wellness apps and fitness memberships

If you’re actually using your membership to the local yoga or Pilates studio, or your meditation app is keeping you healthy and happy, kiss that money goodbye. It’s worth it. But if you’re paying for five other similar services that you’ve never even finished setting up your profile for, it’s time to let go or switch to the free versions where possible.

  Hot tip:

Reflect on how often you exercise and work out. If you have a gym membership that’s $30 a week but you only go when the mood takes you, it’s probably not worth the money you’re spending. Also investigate free or low-cost alternatives, like using online videos instead of attending a class in person.

TV, music and movies

We’ve quickly gone from free-to-air only to a cornucopia of streaming services. While they’re all useful on their own, together they will knock a hefty punch to your bank balance. Not to mention the decision fatigue when it comes time to find a show to watch. Pick your favourite streamers and ditch the rest to relish in the joy of less choice stress. Or consider pooling with your friends for a family subscription – all the episodes and albums for a fraction of the cost.

  Hot tip:

Make the most of the free trials that streaming services offer. Sign up for a month, watch as much content as you can, then cancel. Chances are they’ll send you follow-up emails with longer free trials, or discounted rates for the first month or so.

Food

Recent years have seen subscription meal services taking over our nightly cooking routines, and they can make home cooking fun and convenient. But grocery stores will still provide your best value.

  Hot tip:

Stagger your food box orders to fortnightly instead of weekly and head to your local grocer for the rest. Keep an eye out for special offers or referral bonuses if you want to stay on the subscription schedule.

Everything else

You may have heard the saying: “If you haven’t used it in six months, you don’t need it.” When it comes to games, photo editing software apps, magazines, cloud storage and those browser plugins that you never use, less is more - unless it brings you real value.

A parting tip

If the sacrifice is just too great, a quick search may find you a cheaper or even free alternative to the service you’re using, so you don’t feel like you’re missing out.