5 Solutions to Sneaky Expensive Subscriptions
- Brian Page
- Jan 21
- 5 min read
Subscription-based services spiked over the past few years, largely due to COVID keeping some of us hostage in our homes. Statistics have shown that “Growth in new subscriptions immediately increased during the first few weeks of the COVID period, ranging from 20%-40% higher than the pre-COVID timeframe.”
Now that the world has returned to normal (well, sort of), it’s time to hunt down the subscriptions secretly sucking money out of our pockets.
Pro Hack for Couples: Review subscriptions with your spouse. They will have subscriptions you are unaware of, and vice versa. Deciding what to do moving forward will require a conversation.
According to C+R Research, “More than half of consumers (54%) underestimate how much they spend monthly on subscriptions by at least $100.”
42% of people in the same C+R Research study said they are still paying for a subscription they had forgotten. That is over $1,000 a year that could be spent during the holidays, to fund a vacation, or be invested. Luckily, some great tricks and a few easy-to-use apps can help you track and budget your subscriptions.
The most common subscription-based services used by Americans are, by far, streaming services. Of these, the ten most popular are music or video streaming services, most of which are similar. However, according to Statista, the average number of paid subscriptions per consumer was 12.
Related reading: Why to Reconnect the Cable Cord
Solution 1: Use Tech to Identify Your Subscriptions
If you're hard-pressed for time, consider apps and services that quickly identify subscriptions and allow you to make quick decisions.
We started with ScribeUp, a free Google Extension. We have four primary credit cards, and it took me 15 minutes to connect my accounts to ScribeUp and review my current subscriptions. ScribeUp connects to Plaid to review your transactions and uncover recurring payments.
My wife and I discussed what we wanted to keep and remove. We saved just under $400 using ScribeUp, canceling some subscriptions, and taking advantage of an offer to continue subscribing to the NY Times, which cut my subscription cost in half.
The NY Times was not the only service to offer a better deal in the cancellation process; others did the same.
Pay close attention to dark patterns while doing so. The NY Times was far more transparent than other services I encountered. After the promotional period is up, the cost will change. Dark patterns are not unusual in e-commerce. Folks need to remember when free trials and promotional periods conclude and notice the regular billing change to the subscription. And this is not easy to do, which is a good reason to review your subscriptions annually.
Apple subscriptions are not easy to identify using these services. However, there is a hack you and your spouse can use. Go to your settings and search for subscriptions—any subscriptions you have, along with their associated details, will be displayed. Remember that your spouse needs to do the same exercise on their phone!
We saved around $200 on subscriptions for the upcoming year by reviewing them.
Multiple credit cards offer free services to identify subscriptions and help you save. Take the time to explore whether this is the case for you.
We chose not to pay for any services to identify our current subscriptions. However, these services are available that could better fit your needs. CNBC did an excellent review in its article, "Here are the best subscription trackers to help you stay on top of recurring payments."
Solution 2: Pick Your Favorite Streaming Service
If you know what you like and have a favorite streaming service, see if they offer a long-term subscription discount. Save money by committing to your favorite streaming services and eliminating the ones you seldom use.
Related: Join our newsletter subscribers for ideas to manage money and the home as a team.
Solution 3: Explore Long-Term Subscription Discounts
Long-term subscription discounts are also a great tactic for music streaming apps, since most music is released across all platforms. It is most cost-efficient to pick your favorite music streaming app and delete the rest. Make sure you remember to unsubscribe before deleting, so you do not continue to be charged!
Solution 4: Take Advantage of Free Trials
Take advantage of free trials to determine which subscriptions are best for you. Free trials are a great way to help you decide which streaming services or other subscriptions are right for you, and you would be surprised how many companies offer them.
However, be aware that there is often a catch with free trials. Be sure to read the fine print. As we shared before, a dark pattern is an automatic enrollment in a subscription after a free trial ends, and folks end up paying for subscriptions they have forgotten. To help avoid this, set a reminder on your phone or mark your calendar to alert you when a free trial is about to end, so you can decide whether to remain subscribed or end the trial at no cost to you.
Solution 5: Rotate Your Streaming Services
A good way to save money on television streaming services is to subscribe to one service at a time, switching each month, so you can keep track of a single payment and enjoy the freedom and variety of switching streaming services often.
With many television shows and movies available on multiple streaming services simultaneously and often rotating amongst them, it is unnecessary to pay for multiple streaming services at once. However, these subscriptions add up. With the average American spending over $200 monthly on subscriptions they do not use, it is time to stop this frivolous spending.
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Citations
All Top Everything. (2022, October 2). Top 10 most popular subscription streaming services. All Top Everything. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.alltopeverything.com/most-popular-streaming-services/
Best budgeting apps for 2022: The ascent by motley fool. The Motley Fool. (2022, April 29). Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/personal-finance/best-budgeting-apps/
Gold, C. (2019, December 26). 2020: The year of subscription service growth and iteration. Multichannel Merchant. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://multichannelmerchant.com/blog/2020-year-subscription-service-growth-iteration/
The impact of the global pandemic on Subscription Growth Sales: Recurly. Recurly, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://recurly.com/research/pandemic-impact-subscription-growth-rates/
O'Brien, S. (2022, June 2). Consumers spend an average $133 more each month on subscriptions than they realize, study shows. CNBC. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/06/02/consumers-spend-133-more-monthly-on-subscriptions-than-they-realize.html
Personal Finance Guides & Financial Advice | US news money. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance
U.S. households spend over $200 on monthly subscriptions. how do you compare? The Motley Fool. (2022, June 16). Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/personal-finance/articles/us-households-spend-over-200-on-monthly-subscriptions-how-do-you-compare/
Subscription Service Statistics and costs. C+R Research. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.crresearch.com/blog/subscription-service-statistics-and-costs
