Last updated October 26, 2021
Looking for ways to save money fast and easy? Here’s the money saving tip you have to implement ASAP… do it in an afternoon and save money every. single. month. With so much on autopay these days, and the myriad subscription services, there are a whole lot of ways for your bank account to leak cash simply through inaction, to say nothing of your active spending. Companies surely know this, which is why free magazine subscriptions exist (just enter your card details for the small shipping and handling fee). A year later, a $15 charge goes through for that free magazine from last year and you don’t really notice.
Adulting gets complicated and life happens fast. It’s so darn easy for this stuff to sneak in and really start to add up and impact your financial picture over time. And it’s not necessarily even stuff that is sneaky in a bad way, it’s just stuff you stop paying attention to and may no longer really need as life evolves.
What's In This Post
So many automatic charges!
Here’s a list of relatively invisible, automatic, recurring charges we’ve had in the past few years for memberships or subscription services that go on indefinitely as long as they have current credit card info: Hubble contacts, AAA, Audible, 2-3 magazine subscriptions, HVAC maintenance service, Amazon Prime, Costco, Angies List, Care.com, FiOS equipment rental, and even some credit card annual fees that I didn’t cancel in time after a promo (yes, I mess up too… watch out for this rookie mistake!). You likely have a similar list, but everyone’s list will be different.
When you scrutinize these services, many reveal themselves as not worth it. And this is an example of saving money that requires zero change in how you spend money for your daily habits or lifestyle. That is why examining auto-charges is one of my favorite money saving tips.
Pin it for later! ⬇️
How much did I save?
In the last thorough comb-through on these items I did as part of drilling down on affording childcare for two kids. We dropped AAA ($10 /mo), Audible ($15 /mo), router rental ($9 /mo), employer-based duplicate life insurance ($30 /mo), and also dropped my husband’s car wash membership (sorry, honey… the man does love his car) ($30 /mo).
That was $94 a month (= $1,128 per year!) just leaking from our pockets with little to no return value from us. Money so easily saved it feels like robbing yourself to NOT do it.
Common annual charges I scrutinized
Most of these services are annual charges so they are so easy to forget about- they’re not in your monthly spreadsheet routine. And so many of them are for perfectly good services. But if you add them up, it’s quite a bit per year. And if you scrutinize each one while also considering them collectively and how they add up, you start to realize all these things are just not necessities or have a very easy workaround.
AAA
For instance, we joined AAA for its reputable roadside assistance when we were living between two cities for most of a year. It made sense for those solo driving trips that were happening so frequently and it made sense to have something on-call when each of us spent considerable time in either city alone, not able to call on the other if we have car trouble.
But that AAA service was still charging us annually 7 years later, for a total cost of around $1000 over that time (?!?!). Did I actually get a $1000 worth of value out of it over those 7 years? Heck no!
We were since commuting reasonable distances, never far from a gas station, and certainly never without a smart phone which can easily google the nearest tow service to hire help directly.
I called a couple local tow companies, finding highly rated companies online in an instant on my phone and with very reasonable charges compared to continually maintaining our AAA membership at $120 per year ($10 per month saved). So, gone went the AAA service.
Costco & other wholesale clubs
I’m thinking really hard about Costco at $120 per year (another $10 per month) right now, because their credit card has great gas benefits, their gas is usually considerably less expensive, though it’s not always dramatically lower if you shop around anyway. And since the pandemic has shut down my commuting, gas is something we buy way less frequently now. We don’t do weekly shopping there because it’s just too darn busy and the nature of the store results in us buying too much- it’s like paying to have the opportunity go spend more money! Eek! Plus we have friends who do shop there regularly and would always be willing to pick us up something specific if needed.
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime costs keep going up, at $119 per year (approx. $10 per month) currently, so I can see a day where we quit that also. For now it’s a primary source of our TV viewing (no more “cable” here) and while kids are still quite little and we’re both working full time, that 2-day shipping for wipes or something comes in quite handy.
Car insurance
Another leaky spot can be car insurance. It’s worth calling for lower rates, or just switching companies to compete and lower your rate, since as your cars age you shouldn’t need to pay as much to cover them.
Employer sponsored life insurance
On a similar note, once we both got term life insurance policies when we became parents, the smaller ‘automatic’ plan from my employer just didn’t make sense to pay for, so I cancelled it and saw around $15 per paycheck (= $30 per month) come to me instead of disappear towards an insurance policy we didn’t need.
Common monthly charges I dropped
Audible & other media/music apps
I also realized my local library had tons of audiobooks available for free through an app, which led to dropping Audible at $15 per month.
Magazines
The library also has free magazines and how much was I really enjoying those arriving directly to our house anyway, other than a quick flip through here and there and filling up the recycle bin? I canceled these saving a few bucks a month.
Router rental
We also bought our router from Verizon instead of paying the monthly forever monthly equipment charge- that is for sure money down the drain otherwise. Looks at your internet/cable bill closely. We dropped this and saved a perpetual $9 per month equipment coverage charge.
How to track automatic spending better & save money fast
Use separate credit card
A really easy way to track many of these things better is to have a separate credit card that you use only for such membership/subscription/recurring services so it is very easy to review on a regular basis, instead of these charges just sneaking into your usual spending.
Plus, if you’re really out of control or have a real predatory situation on your hands, you can just pull the plug by simply canceling the card instead of trying to negotiate out of all those sign-ups!
Check your card account features
My primary credit card from Chase just came out with a ‘Saved Account Manager’ feature which provides you an entire list of all the companies that are storing your card info. And it labels which ones are stored for ‘Recurring’ charges. Brilliant!
This list is a great way to quickly audit the places you may have recurring charges you forgot about. I’m assuming all Chase credit cards must have this feature now? If you use a Chase credit card, take a look.
Even if you don’t have this feature, you can use whatever spending analysis data are available in your card account to catch forgotten charges. For example, look at an entire year’s worth of data and sort by amount. Sometimes, this highlights some of the annual big charges that always stink the month they show up but you forget about the rest of the year.
Think twice about these services- they add up
Besides tracking these recurring charges to keep them in the front of your mind, really scrutinize them. It feels like you can’t live without an Amazon Prime membership- but didn’t we all used to do so? And do I actually need 2-day shipping for 90% of what I order?
It’s not like you can’t use Amazon without it or even pay extra for fast shipping once in awhile, you’re just not getting the automatic fast shipping. And it’s not ‘free’ shipping- it’s part of an annual $119 fee. So if you’re not using (or truly needing) the bunches of other Prime member stuff, maybe it’s not really necessary once you’re past the everything-in-life-is-an-emergency-cuz-I-have-a-baby stage.
Some things are so burned into our brains as ‘givens’ no one is questioning them, and that is a real drain on cash flow.
What’s the impact?
I would contend that most middle income earning households in the U.S. probably have around $1000 per year, and many households probably much more, leaking out of the bank with very little, if any, value coming back in return. Even with a low income and tight budget for spending money, you likely have some annual or monthly services that you may not even realize are charging you.
Instead, start saving this money in a savings account and it could be for something truly fun and intentional together as a family or couple. Or it could knock YEARS off your mortgage or other debt, instead of going towards a dozen little things.
In our family, I shaved off nearly $100 per month of low (or no) value automatic spending to help put towards make hiring a full-time nanny possible for our family. That luxury was worth way more than the collection of small conveniences offered by the services we cancelled.
It’s time to put that money to work towards your most important goals and vision for yourself or your family. So, take a hard look, and give it a good think- I hope you find some money!