You can't cancel what you can't see. Most people find at least one subscription they forgot about the first time they look properly. This is a 20-minute routine that builds the complete list.
First: what counts as a subscription?
Anything that charges you again on a schedule: monthly, yearly, even every three months. That covers streaming, music, news, apps, cloud storage, software, gym memberships, meal boxes, delivery passes, domain names and AI tools. It also covers free trials that turn into paid plans.
Step 1: Read three months of statements (8 minutes)
Open your bank and card statements for the last three months. Three months catches every monthly charge and often shows quarterly ones too. Look for the same merchant appearing more than once, amounts like 4.99 or 9.99, and names you don't recognise. Write each one down with the amount and the date.
Use the search box in your banking app. Searching for words like subscription, membership, renewal and premium surfaces charges quickly.
Step 2: Check the places that bill you indirectly (6 minutes)
- Apple: Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions.
- Google Play: your profile icon, then Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions.
- PayPal: Settings, then Payments, then Manage automatic payments.
- Amazon: Account, then Memberships & Subscriptions.
- Your phone and internet bill, which often bundles streaming add-ons.
Menu names change slightly over time, but these are the right places to look. Charges from them appear on your bank statement under the store's or PayPal's name, not the service's name. That's why they are so easy to miss.
Step 3: Search your email (4 minutes)
Search your inbox for receipt, invoice, your subscription, renews on and trial ends. Services nearly always email a receipt or a renewal notice. This is also where you find free trials that haven't converted yet.
Step 4: Put everything in one place (2 minutes)
For each subscription, write down five things: the name, the price, how often it bills, the next renewal date, and a category. Those five details are all you need to see your real total and to catch renewals in time.
In Suboptima you add them once, and the dashboard shows your monthly and yearly total, what renews soon, and your spending trend. A spreadsheet works too. What matters is having a single list.
Step 5: Decide what stays
Walk down the list with one question: if I were deciding today, at this price, would I sign up again? Mark each one keep, cancel or downgrade. Do the cancelling the same day, while you're looking at it.