The Hidden Subscriptions Draining Your Bank Account

By Anthony Vion

Edited by Doug Garfinkel

Hey you, sign up for this and you’ll save money! Everywhere we turn these days, some company is trying to rope us into something.

And it seems like a no-brainer. First month free, great I’ll cancel right after. But you don’t. Get 50% off the first month’s delivery. Great! But the next month’s delivery, that you forgot about, comes and it’s much more than you could have gotten it for somewhere else. 

Urgh, that just happened to me with my Chewy subscription for Muffin’s (my dog) NexGard Plus 3-month med supply. I ended up paying $120, TWICE AS MUCH, as I paid the previous month.

These recurring charges are money traps that often start small but take your eye off them for one second and they really start to pile up. 

How They Get You

Subscriptions have become part of everyday life. Streaming services, fitness apps, cloud storage, meal kits, software tools and on and on and on and on. 

They’re convenient. They save us money, at least at first. But we get lax, we move on to something else. But that subscription fee is still there, coming out of our credit card bill every month.

Do you look at your itemized credit card bill every month? I mean, really. Line by line. After reading this, I bet you will. Or at least try harder.

I’m usually pretty good at doing this, but I have to admit I get caught up in other stuff and a few months will go by. Then I look at the bill and say to my wife, “honey, did you order Paramount+”?

Then she’s says, “Yes, I wanted to see a show but I finished watching it last month.”

And just like that, they got us.

The Snowball Effect

You have a set amount of money coming in every month, right? And you like splurging on the little extras here and there. But you don’t like throwing your money away on things you don’t want, aren’t using or can get cheaper somewhere else.

A $9.99 monthly charge might seem like no big deal. But ten of those subscriptions will cost you almost $1,200 a year. 

I’m sure you can think of better places that money could go. Maybe even building that Emergency Fund you’ve been putting off. 

Common Subscriptions We Forget About

The Free Trial … that never ends. You sign up with all intentions of cancelling when the month, or whatever the free period is, ends but somehow that thought gets moved to the back of your mind.

You know the ones. Streaming platforms, premium mobile apps, online learning services. And once that free trial ends, you start getting charged automatically, sometimes without even a reminder.

App Store Subscriptions. Our phones and tablets make it easy to subscribe to something with just a single tap. And as time goes by, those app-based subscriptions tied to those mobile devices increase and the fees really start adding up.

Fitness and wellness apps, photo editing tools, meditation platforms and so on. Take a quick peek at your phone and you’ll probably find a few.

And because payments for these are bundled through app stores, they can be harder to spot on your credit card bill.

Duplicate Services (these absolutely kill me). My friend Josh told me he was paying for two Netflix accounts for over a year. I don’t even know how that’s possible, but apparently it’s more common than you think.

Then there are the similar services that you don’t really need more than one of, but you have, like two or three streaming platforms with similar content, several cloud storage solutions and redundant tools. 

These are most likely going unnoticed because each service bills from a different company. But you’ll notice when you take a closer look. 

Forgotten Memberships. My wife’s cousin Lisa was paying $24.99 a month for a gym membership for over 9 years and hadn’t stepped foot in that gym for … almost 9 years. That’s ridiculous. And almost $2,700 for absolutely nothing.

The 9 years makes it so much worse, but I wouldn’t be surprised if over half the people reading this are doing or have done the same for a shorter period of time. Just throwing away money.

Then there are online communities and subscription boxes that tend to continue long after we’re done using them.

Don’t be a Lisa.

Those Annual Renewals. Year-long subscriptions can be the most deceiving because they only charge once a year and get missed when you’re reviewing where your money is going.

Annual subscriptions can be even more deceptive. Because they only charge once per year, they often escape regular budget reviews.

Red Flags

How can you tell if subscriptions are affecting your finances? The number one for me is if my monthly expenses feel higher than they should be. But there are a lot more.

You don’t recognize some charges on your bank statement. That’s never good. You’re paying for services you rarely use. You’ve signed up for multiple free trials in the past year.

Oh, and this one. You don’t even know how many subscriptions you currently have. Yikes.

It’s time to take action.

How To Reel Things In

Break out those credit card bills and really go through them. Over the past three months or so. You could call this your Subscription Audit. Try to really key in on what you are paying for.

Then make a priority list. How often are you using things? Do you still need them? You don’t have to get rid of everything you come across but I’m sure you’ll find some low hanging fruit to cut out.

Then keep an eye on when the subscriptions you’re going to keep will renew. That way the cost won’t come as a surprise, especially for those annual fees.

And don’t just make this a one and done. Make a habit out of reviewing your bills closely. Even a quick check every month can save you money you don’t need to be spending.

Then Watch Those Savings Add Up

Baby steps lead to big things. At first, you may be saving $9.99 a month by canceling one subscription you don’t need. And you may think, that doesn’t really sound like a lot.

But it’s about $120 a year in your pocket that you didn’t have before. Then build on it. Cancel one more subscription and you could double those savings to $240 a year. Ten changes like that and you’ll be saving almost $1,200 a year. 

Final Thoughts On The Subscription Psychology

Subscriptions are convenient. You may feel like you’re saving money, at first anyway. Instant access. Limited-time deals. These companies know what they’re doing.

Starting a subscription takes seconds. A couple of clicks and you’re in. After that, everything runs quietly in the background. The charge hits your account, month after month. Set it and forget it. 

Then sometimes, you actually forget about the subscription itself.

And then the biggest factor. They generally take a lot more effort to cancel, so you put it off and they just go on draining your bank account.

But no more. Here’s where you take a stand and start taking back your money.  

BIO: Anthony Vion is a savings enthusiast from Long Island, NY who focuses on finding the best deals, reducing household expenses and helping consumers avoid unnecessary spending. Known for his careful approach to comparing prices and evaluating products, he enjoys sharing practical strategies that help people stretch their dollars further and make smarter everyday purchasing decisions.

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. The advice given isn’t a guarantee for specific money savings..