A streaming service, a music app, cloud storage, a gym membership, the premium version of an app… Each subscription looks small on its own, but together they take up a real share of your monthly budget. Because they renew automatically, they're also easy to forget, and it's all too easy to keep paying for something you no longer use.
Short answer: Start by finding all your subscriptions in your bank statements and your phone's subscription list. Record the price, billing period and renewal date of each one, and convert weekly and yearly payments into a monthly equivalent to see the total. Add renewal and free-trial end dates to your calendar, ask yourself every month "do I really use this?", and cancel what you don't use before it renews.
1. Find all your subscriptions
The first step is a complete list of what you're subscribed to. To find forgotten subscriptions, check three places:
- Bank and credit card statements: Mark payments that repeat with the same amount every month over the last three months. For yearly subscriptions, you may need to look back twelve months.
- Subscriptions on iPhone: Settings → your name → Subscriptions lists everything you've subscribed to through the App Store.
- Subscriptions on Android: Google Play Store → profile icon → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions shows subscriptions bought through Google Play.
For most people, this turns up one or two subscriptions they'd forgotten about.
2. Record the key details of each subscription
- Service name
- Price and currency: For subscriptions charged in a foreign currency, the amount can change each month with the exchange rate.
- Billing period: Weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly or another interval.
- Renewal date: The day of the next payment.
- Payment method: Which card or account it's charged to.
- End date: If it was taken out for a fixed period.
- Usage: Whether you actually used it in the last month.
3. Work out your total monthly cost
To compare subscriptions with different billing periods, convert them all to a monthly equivalent:
- Yearly subscription: yearly price ÷ 12
- Quarterly subscription: price ÷ 3
- Weekly subscription: weekly price × 52 ÷ 12
The table below shows how to work out the monthly and yearly total for four subscriptions, using example prices:
| Subscription | Period | Price | Monthly equivalent | Yearly total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Streaming service | Monthly | £10.99 | £10.99 | £131.88 |
| Music app | Monthly | £11.99 | £11.99 | £143.88 |
| Cloud storage | Yearly | £24.00 | £2.00 | £24.00 |
| Gym membership | Monthly | £35.00 | £35.00 | £420.00 |
| Total | £59.98 | £719.76 |
Payments that look reasonable one by one add up to a significant amount over a year. Seeing that total makes it easier to judge which subscriptions are really worth it.
4. Put renewal dates on your calendar
The most important detail of any subscription is its renewal date. With it on your calendar, you can decide whether you still want the service before you're charged. This matters most for yearly subscriptions: a large amount is charged at once, and it's easy to forget when it renews twelve months later.
5. Ask "do I really use this?" every month
Every renewal is a decision point. Once a month, open your subscription list and ask:
- How many times did I use this service in the last month?
- Do I have another subscription that does the same job?
- Do I only need it for a while? (For example, a streaming service taken out for one series.)
If you're paying for something you don't use, cancelling is an instant saving. If you only need a service at certain times, subscribing again when you need it is often cheaper.
6. Compare yearly and monthly plans
Many services offer a discount for paying yearly, but a yearly plan only pays off if you use the service all year. If you're trying something for the first time, using the monthly plan for a few months before switching to yearly reduces the risk of paying upfront for a year you won't use.
7. Keep an eye on price changes
Subscription prices can rise over time. Don't ignore price change emails from providers; update your records with the new price. A price rise is a good moment to reassess a subscription.
8. Tips for cancelling
- Cancel before the renewal date. With many services, you keep access until the end of the current period after cancelling, but you aren't charged for the next one.
- Cancel app store subscriptions through the store. Deleting the app from your phone doesn't cancel the subscription.
- Keep proof of cancellation. Save the confirmation email or a screenshot, and check your statement the following month.
Common mistakes
- Thinking deleting the app cancels the subscription: The payments carry on.
- Not recording when a free trial ends: You end up paying for something you didn't want.
- Looking only at the monthly price: The yearly total shows the real cost.
- Forgetting yearly subscriptions: Because they're charged once a year, they easily slip off the list.
Tracking subscriptions with BudPlan
In BudPlan you add each recurring payment once with a weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly or custom period; every payment date appears on your calendar, and with notifications on you're reminded on the day. You can mark each period as paid and pause a subscription you aren't using. The subscription card shows what you've paid this year, and the monthly overview on the My Budget screen shows the month's subscription payments, making unused subscriptions easier to spot.
Last updated: 7 October 2026
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