We’ve all been there. You sign up for that free trial, meaning to cancel before it charges you. Fast forward three months and you’re still paying £9.99 for a service you’ve completely forgotten about. Sound familiar?
You’re definitely not alone. The average person in the UK spends £9.90 a month on subscriptions they don’t actually use — that’s £120 a year down the drain. Whether it’s that streaming service you only used to watch one show, or the gym membership gathering digital dust, these little payments have a sneaky way of adding up.
The good news? Cutting back on subscriptions you don’t need is probably the easiest way to find some breathing room in your budget. Most subscription services don’t have contracts or cancellation fees, so you can ditch them without any awkward breakup fees.
What counts as a subscription?
A subscription is a recurring card payment that charges automatically. Your card will continue to be charged until you cancel — whether you use the service or not.
These subscription-based services have become much more popular in recent years, especially during lockdown when subscribers to online services like Netflix soared. These days you can get subscriptions for everything from dishwasher tabs and toilet paper to craft beer and streaming services.
Companies love these models because they provide guaranteed income each month. That’s great for them but not always so good for your wallet.
You might think, ‘What’s the harm in £5 or £10 here and there?’ But when you add it all up over a year, it can be pretty eye-opening:
| Subscription | Monthly Payment | Yearly total |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Prime | £8.99 | £107.88 |
| Netflix (basic package) | £6.99 | £83.88 |
| The Gym (average price for a basic membership) | £26.99 | £323.88 |
| Uber Eats | £5.99 | £71.88 |
| Total | £48.96 | £587.52 |
“It’s surprisingly easy to lose track of what you’re subscribed to,” explains Ben West, Head of Business Development at London Mutual. “We regularly see members who discover they’re paying for services they completely forgot about — sometimes for years.”
How to get a handle on your subscriptions
Step 1: Hunt down all your subscriptions
Time for some detective work. Grab your bank statements from the last three months and hunt for those sneaky recurring payments. You’re looking for:
- Streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Spotify)
- Fitness memberships
- Food delivery services
- Software subscriptions
- Beauty boxes and subscription services
- Cloud storage
- Gaming services
Don’t forget to check any credit cards or PayPal accounts you use for online shopping — subscriptions love to hide there too.
Step 2: Do the maths (prepare to be shocked)
For each subscription, multiply the monthly cost by 12. Seeing that £8.99 Netflix subscription as £107.88 per year might change how you feel about keeping it for just one show you might watch someday.
Step 3: Be brutally honest about usage
Here’s where you need to have a word with yourself. When did you last actually use that gym membership? If you can’t remember the last time you opened that meditation app, it’s probably time to let it go.
How companies reel you in
Free trials and special offers are everywhere these days, and honestly, they can be brilliant value if you play them right. Just remember that companies aren’t offering them out of the goodness of their hearts — they’re hoping you’ll either forget to cancel or get so comfortable with the service that you’ll happily keep paying.
Keep an eye out for:
- Prices that jump up dramatically after the trial period
- Making cancellation way more complicated than signing up
- Annual subscriptions that look cheaper but lock you in for ages
- ‘Limited time’ offers designed to make you panic-buy
Breaking up with subscriptions (it’s easier than you think)
Most big companies have made cancelling pretty straightforward these days — though they often bury the option deep in their website or app. Here are direct links to save you some digging:
There are also services like Trim or Honey that claim to help you cancel unwanted subscriptions, though it’s worth checking their own fees first — no point paying someone to save you money if they’re charging you for the privilege!
Smart ways to handle subscriptions
Share the load: If you’ve got flatmates or family members who’d use the same service, why not split one account instead of everyone having their own? Just make sure you’re not breaking the service’s rules — nobody wants their Netflix account suspended mid-watch.
Make free trials work for you: Set a phone reminder for a couple of days before the trial ends. Only go for annual subscriptions after you’ve properly tested the service for a few months — not when you’re caught up in the excitement of signing up.
Know your escape route: Before you sign up for anything, figure out how to cancel. Some companies make it dead easy to join but require you to phone them during business hours to leave (looking at you, gym memberships).
Regular spring cleaning: Pop a quarterly reminder in your calendar to review all your subscriptions. What seemed essential in January might feel pointless by April, and that’s perfectly fine.
Turn your savings into something meaningful
Here’s a thought: if you weren’t missing that £30 a month you were spending on forgotten subscriptions, you probably won’t miss it going into your savings account either.
Consider setting up a direct debit to savings for whatever you save from cancelled subscriptions. It’s like giving yourself a pay rise, except the money was already yours to begin with — you were just accidentally giving it away to companies you’d forgotten about.
The bottom line
With everything getting more expensive these days, getting a grip on your subscriptions is definitely worth the effort. Think of it as one of those small changes that can actually make a difference to your bank balance — you get to keep the stuff you genuinely enjoy while stopping the financial drain of services you’ve forgotten about.
A regular subscription clear-out means your money goes on things that actually add value to your life, rather than quietly disappearing into the pockets of companies you’ve lost track of. And honestly, that feels pretty good.
