Cancel the Subscriptions You Forgot You Were Paying For

Here’s a quick one that could put real money back in your pocket in the next ten minutes.

Around 42% of UK adults are paying for at least one subscription they’ve completely forgotten about. Free trials that quietly turned into paid ones. Apps you used once. A streaming service you meant to cancel months ago. On average, it adds up to about £400 a year going out the door for nothing.

The good news? Finding and killing them off is dead simple. Here’s how.

1. Open your bank app

Have a look at last month’s payments. You’re hunting for anything that comes out regularly that you don’t recognise or don’t use any more.

2. Spot the usual suspects

The ones people most often forget: streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Spotify), gym memberships you’ve stopped using, and box deliveries like recipe kits or beauty boxes.

3. Check your app store too

This is the one most people miss. Subscriptions taken out through your phone don’t always show up obviously on your bank statement. On Android, open the Play Store, tap your profile picture, then Payments and subscriptions. On iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions.

4. Cancel what you don’t use

Found one? Cancel it. Today, not tomorrow — it’s the kind of thing that’s easy to put off and then forget about for another six months.

5. Set a reminder to check again

Pop a reminder in your phone for three months’ time to run through this again. Subscriptions have a habit of creeping back in.

That’s it. Ten minutes now could save you hundreds over the year — money you didn’t even realise was leaving your account.

— Emma