Subscription Audit Worksheet: Find and Cancel What You Don't Use

• Go through two or three months of bank, credit card and PayPal (or other payment app) statements. Some services bill yearly, so also scan the last 12 months for big once-a-year charges.
• Check the subscriptions list in your phone's app store account (Apple or Google). App subscriptions often bill there, not on the company's own site.
• Search your email for words like "receipt," "renewal," "trial" and "subscription."
• Don't forget the household: family plans, kids' games, and services billed to a partner's card.

• Keep what you use every week and would pay for again today.
• Downgrade when a cheaper tier (with ads, fewer screens, less storage) would do.
• Rotate streaming services: keep one or two, and switch every few months.
• Cancel anything you haven't used in the last month, duplicates, and trials you forgot about.

The FTC's advice: follow the company's own cancellation instructions, keep a copy of your cancellation request and notes of any conversations, and then watch your statements. If a company keeps charging you after you've canceled, dispute the charge (a "chargeback") with your card company online or by phone, and follow up in writing to the billing-disputes address.

Before you start a new free trial, find out how long it lasts, when you'll be charged and how to cancel. Put a reminder in your calendar a few days before it ends, and uncheck any pre-checked boxes.

If you can't cancel, or you were charged for a subscription you didn't agree to, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or to your state attorney general.