Cancel, Keep, or Downgrade: A Simple Subscription Audit

Subscriptions are designed to be forgotten, and that’s exactly how they drain a budget: a few dollars here, a “free trial” there, quietly renewing forever. A quick audit usually turns up more than you’d guess.

The three-pile method

Pull up your bank and card statements for the last two months and put every recurring charge into one of three piles:

• Cancel — anything you forgot you had, or haven’t used in 30 days.
• Downgrade — services you use but not at the tier you’re paying for.
• Keep — the ones that genuinely earn their place.

Then do it now

The audit only works if you cancel in the same sitting — otherwise “I’ll do it later” wins. Most people free up $30–$60 a month on the first pass. Put a reminder in your calendar to run it again in six months, because the leak always comes back.