You ever check your credit card statement and realize you’ve been charged for a subscription you completely forgot about? Yeah… same. Subscriptions are sneaky. And if you’re not actively managing them, they’ll quietly pile up and start draining your monthly budget.
The average U.S. household spends $220 a month on subscriptions. Our total right now? Roughly $180/month—but we keep it under control with a few intentional habits.
1. Cancel Immediately or Calendar It
If I try a new subscription, I cancel it right away if I know I won’t need it after the free trial—or I drop a reminder in my Google Calendar to cancel before the billing date. It sounds obvious, but this saves me hundreds every year.
2. Here’s Our Monthly Breakdown
| Subscription | Cost | Who/Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Staples (non-negotiables) | ~$94 | Peloton, YouTube Premium, Pandora, Apple iCloud, Netflix |
| Rotating trials & temp subs | ~$20 | We test new ones but cancel often |
| Dog | $45 | Banfield wellness plan – peace of mind for surprise vet visits |
| Total | ~$180 | Still under national average! |
3. What We Currently Have (and Why We Keep It)
- Peloton ($44) – My non-negotiable. Already blogged about it [here]. Worth every penny.
- YouTube Premium ($22.99) – We use this instead of cable. Bonus: continuous autoplay for our dog when we’re out, and ad-free fireplace channels for evening wind-downs.
- Netflix ($17.99) – Husband’s staple. He’s flirting with the idea of cancelling and cycling between services, but TBD.
- Disney+ ($15.99) – So my husband can watch The Simpsons during workouts. I tried suggesting we buy seasons on Apple TV to eventually own them, but he watches “other stuff” too.
- ChatGPT ($20) – I use this for work daily, but once my company rolls out the enterprise version, I’ll drop the personal plan.
- Apple iCloud ($2.99) – Cloud sanity. Worth it for the peace of mind and quick access across all devices.
- Pandora ($5.99) – I don’t want to build playlists. I just want music without ads. Especially during workouts—nothing kills momentum like a random detergent commercial.
4. Yearly Memberships We Also Budget For
These aren’t monthly, but they’re worth noting because they hit hard once a year:
- Costco: $60
- County Parks Pass $55
- Chase Sapphire: $550
- Ikon Pass (per person): $860
5. Review Often
We do a subscription audit every few months. We go through our credit cards line by line to check for zombie charges—subscriptions we thought we canceled or never meant to keep. This is a super easy place to save money if you stay on top of it.
Final Thought
You don’t have to cut everything. Just be intentional. Know what you use, know what brings you joy (or peace of mind), and make sure it still fits your budget and lifestyle.
Have any subscriptions you swear by or regret? Drop them in the comments—I love hearing how other people manage theirs!
Optimize with Jacqueline 
Leave a comment