Financial Wellness
Why a Subscription Audit Is Worth Your Time
Do you know how much you're paying annually for subscriptions? For most people, the answer is probably "no" because recurring charges are easy to overlook. Subscriptions have a way of sneaking up on you when you're not closely reviewing your monthly statements. By the time you notice you're paying for something you no longer use, another charge has already gone through.
A subscription audit helps make sure your money isn't quietly leaking into services you don't need. Here are a few simple steps to starting one.
A subscription audit helps make sure your money isn't quietly leaking into services you don't need. Here are a few simple steps to starting one.
Locate all your subscriptions
Review your credit card statements from last year (or to save time, start with your last two to three statements) and note all recurring payments. If you have multiple credit cards, don't forget to check them all—and consider moving all your subscriptions to the same card for easier tracking.Decide which subscriptions still earn their spot
Ask yourself these questions for each of the recurring transactions:- Have I used this in the last one to two months?
- Is it providing me enough value to justify the cost?
- Does it duplicate another service?
- Is there a cheaper or free way for me to receive the service?
Cut what you don't need
Ending a subscription service doesn't mean you'll lose it forever. If you pay for a streaming service to watch a show that airs a few months of the year, you don't need to keep paying for it year-round. The same goes for most streaming packages that include sports (for example, sports packages like NFL RedZone are often only worth paying for during football season).Here are some other examples of subscriptions or memberships you may be paying too much for:
- Gym memberships – Used heavily at first, then rarely visited later in the year
- Productivity or creative apps – Needed for a short-term project, but kept year-round
- Online learning platforms – Subscribed for a course or certification, then unused
- Meditation or wellness apps – Subscribed during stressful periods, rarely used afterward
- Language-learning apps – Used for travel prep or short-term goals
- Kids' educational apps – Relevant only for a specific age or school year
- Food delivery memberships – Helpful during busy months, unnecessary later
- Resume/job-search platforms – Paid for a job search window, then left active
- Identity monitoring services – Subscribed during a concern, often forgotten afterward—you also have access through Tower's Digital Banking to free identity-theft monitoring with ID Smart Shield.
Set a reminder to review again
Subscriptions change over time, and so do your needs. Setting a reminder to review your subscriptions once or twice a year can help prevent unused services from quietly adding up and will make future audits faster and easier.Resources: CodeLucky, GoBankingRates
