How to Spend Less on Subscriptions

We often pay for subscriptions without considering their impacts on our budget overtime. Instead of blindly paying for subscriptions, spend less on subscriptions that you actually value.

Americans spend about $219 each month on subscriptions, and they do not even know it.  A 2024 survey found that Americans estimated their monthly subscriptions cost $86 on average each month, significantly less than their actual spending.  Americans regularly forgot to account for subscriptions in their accounting, blindly accepting the $2,628 they throw away to pay for subscriptions each year.

That money adds up when you consider that cutting the annual cost of subscriptions in half could pay for one month’s rent, plane tickets to anywhere in Europe, more than $100 invested each month, or holiday gifts for a year.  Most of us are throwing away a significant sum of money without realizing it.

Where is the Forgotten Money Going?

The subscriptions most likely to be forgotten were mobile phone bills and Internet.  These are essentials in 2026, but having to pay for something does not always mean having to pay a lot for something.  Unless you live in an extremely rural area, it makes no sense to have a cell phone plan that costs more than $30/month in 2026.  Mint Mobile’s unlimited data plan costs $30/month, and they will give it to you for $15/month for the first year.  It works everywhere you need a phone to work: I have travelled the world completely reliant on a Mint Mobile International Plan for years.  Despite this, the average mobile phone bill in the United States is $141 in 2026.  You are throwing away $111 every month if your mobile plan costs that much.

If part of your high phone bill is paying off a new phone you had to have over multiple years, that is a problem too.  Take care of your phone, and keep it until it no longer works.  Buy a new-to-you phone when you have to, but do not buy the latest model.  Whatever exciting feature enticed you is not worth the monthly bill you will pay to enjoy it.  Make these changes to your mobile phone bill, and you will instantly save more than $100/month.

The cost of your Internet may not be as easily slashed.  Particularly if you work from home and need a strong Internet connection, paying for it may be a good investment.  That said, Internet providers regularly increase their rates when you have been a customer for a long time.  Check the prices of competitors when this happens, and reach out to your Internet provider requesting they match the rate.  Be ready to change providers if they do not, but they typically will match a rate or honor a previous rate you had as a new customer.  You can often get a retention incentive to stay, slashing your bill considerably.

The Overconsumption of Subscriptions

While you cannot completely eliminate your mobile phone or Internet subscriptions, most other subscriptions are optional.  TV and streaming services are the next most-forgotten subscriptions.  While I would not suggest that you eliminate all streaming services from your life, Americans pay for an average of 4.5 streaming services, and that is a bit more than would seem necessary.  If you can limit your streaming services to two at any given time, you end up spending less than half of the average American.  Additionally, pay for the least expensive plans.  You can deal with an ad here and there.  That is a great time to make some popcorn to enjoy your movie or game!

Amazon Prime is another common subscription eating parts of American budgets.  Again, I am not here to judge you if you have an Amazon Prime subscription.  I have an Amazon Prime subscription, and I absolutely love it.  Sorry to all the anti-Amazon folks, I get it but also cannot live without it at this point.  However, I cannot live without my Amazon Prime membership because I absolutely hate shopping.  You will find me in a place like a Target, T.J. Maxx, or shopping mall approximately once a year when I give in because I realize I need to buy something that actually fits me that I cannot purchase on Amazon.  Amazon Prime allows me to live a life without the stress and angst that shopping in person causes me.

If you enjoy shopping in person, you may not need an Amazon Prime membership.  If you are someone who gets a dopamine hit from finding a piece of clothing at a thrift store rather than someone like me who is overwhelmed by the chaos of a thrift store, you probably do not need Amazon Prime.  As with everything, pay for whatever adds value to your life and stop spending on the things that do not.

Other subscriptions Americans pay for each month include music streaming, news subscriptions, gaming, and other digital subscriptions as well as gym memberships, monthly makeup and clothing subscriptions, and more.  There are tons.  Some of your subscriptions probably add joy to your life, and you should keep them if they do!  Some of them probably do not.  Only you can decide which ones add enough joy to warrant spending money on them every month.

How to Find My Subscriptions

There are many tools out there to help you find all your subscriptions.  If this is the only way you will take stock of your subscriptions, use one.  However, I would recommend not using one because the root cause of building up unknown subscriptions is a lack of awareness around your finances.  A subscription finder is a band-aid that does not address the core problem.

Instead, to figure out what subscriptions are eating away your budget, look at your monthly statements for all bank accounts.  Ideally, go back three months in case you pay for anything quarterly.  Monthly statements show everything you spent money on in the past month.  Identify what purchases are subscriptions.  Look at how much those subscriptions cost.  Decide if the amount you are spending is reasonable for the amount of joy you get from these subscriptions.  If it is, great!  If not, figure out which subscriptions are adding the least value, and determine whether you want to delete or downgrade them.

For this activity to be effective, make sure you review all bank accounts from which you make purchases.  For most people, this means a credit card and a debit card.  If you have multiple credit and/or debit cards, check all of them.  Any account you have that could have a recurring transfer should be audited to make sure you are remembering all subscriptions.

Preventing Subscriptions from Taking Over Again

A quick audit can help you decide what is important to you today and help you decide where to delete or downgrade subscriptions, but you will be tempted by another subscription at some point in the future.  To deal with this inevitability, write down how much you are spending on subscriptions now and how much you would be willing to pay for subscriptions overall.  If you have some room in your budget according to your values and see a worthwhile subscription, you know you can add it.  If you are spending as much as you want to spend on subscriptions and see a new appealing subscription, reflect on whether it is worth giving up one of your other subscriptions to replace.

How much each person spends on subscriptions is a personal decision.  Like all personal finance matters, there is no inherently right or wrong answer.  Someone making a $500,000 annual salary may pay for a prepared food delivery subscription, subscriptions to access workouts while travelling, and a monthly professional clothing subscription to have clothes delivered to their home to save time.  If time is a premium and there is plenty of money, that can make sense to facilitate the life they prefer!  Just make sure the subscriptions you pay for add value to your life.  You are paying for them—you should get value from them.