Finding your subscriptions is a one-time job, covered in how to find every subscription you are paying for. Keeping track of them is the ongoing one, and it needs far less than most trackers ask for.
The single most useful thing to record is not the price. It is the date it renews, because that is the last moment you can do anything about it.
The six fields
Name
- What to write
- The service
- Why
- So you can find it again
Charge
- What to write
- What it costs each cycle
- Why
- The number that leaves your account
Cycle
- What to write
- Monthly, annual, or something else
- Why
- Annual charges are the easy ones to miss
Renewal date
- What to write
- The date it next charges
- Why
- The date you can act on
Your decision
- What to write
- Keep, still deciding, or planned to cancel
- Why
- Turns a vague worry into a status
Who shares it
- What to write
- If someone else pays part
- Why
- Stops two people paying for the same thing
| Field | What to write | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The service | So you can find it again |
| Charge | What it costs each cycle | The number that leaves your account |
| Cycle | Monthly, annual, or something else | Annual charges are the easy ones to miss |
| Renewal date | The date it next charges | The date you can act on |
| Your decision | Keep, still deciding, or planned to cancel | Turns a vague worry into a status |
| Who shares it | If someone else pays part | Stops two people paying for the same thing |
The annual trap
A charge you pay once a year is invisible for eleven months and then lands all at once. It is also the charge most likely to renew because you forgot. If you keep only one habit, make it a heads-up about two weeks before any annual renewal, so there is time to decide.
A five minute monthly check
5 things to do
Ticks are for this visit only. Nothing here is saved anywhere.
Canceling is the easy part after you decide
Once a subscription is marked planned to cancel, the last step is to actually do it, which some services make harder than it should be. That is covered in how to cancel a subscription that is hard to cancel.