The 90-minute subscription audit (the one you actually do).

"The audit that actually gets done beats the sophisticated one that does not."

Every personal-finance guide recommends "do a subscription audit" without telling you how. This is the actual walkthrough: the spreadsheet columns, the decision criteria, the cancellation sequence, the follow-up cadence.

Before you start

Block 90 minutes on a weekend morning. Put it in your calendar now.
Have your bank and credit card statements for the last 12 months open (download as PDF or open the web portal).
Have a browser with your password manager open (you will need to log into vendor accounts to cancel).
Have a spreadsheet ready (Google Sheets, Excel, or Numbers). Columns: Vendor | Monthly cost | Annual cost | Last renewal | Next renewal | Tier | Usage rating (Essential / Valuable / Questionable / Unused).
Optional: a subscription tracker app running (Bobby, Rocket Money) as a cross-check.

Step 1

Inventory (25 minutes)

Open your bank and card statements and list every recurring charge. Work from statements, not memory -- research consistently shows that memory misses 20-30% of subscriptions. For each charge: note the vendor, the amount, and whether it is monthly or annual.

Sort by amount descending -- your most expensive subscriptions should get the most attention.
Check PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay transaction histories separately -- they hide subscriptions that do not show as merchant names in bank statements.
Check your email for receipts from services you may have forgotten.
Include annual charges that may not have appeared in recent statements -- look back 13 months.

Step 2

Categorise (15 minutes)

For each row, assign a usage rating:

Essential: cannot function without this service (internet, password manager, work tools).
Valuable: actively using and genuinely happy paying the current rate.
Questionable: use sometimes; might cancel if the process were easy; would not miss it much.
Unused: cannot remember the last time you opened or used this service.
Apply colour coding in the spreadsheet: green (Essential), yellow (Valuable), orange (Questionable), red (Unused).

Step 3

Decide (20 minutes)

Work through the ratings with a specific decision for each:

Unused (red): cancel today, during this session. Do not defer.
Questionable (orange): cancel if you can resign at a promo rate (see cancel-and-resign playbook), or downgrade to a lower tier if available.
Valuable (yellow): check if there is an annual prepay option -- typically 15-20% cheaper than monthly. Switch to annual if you plan to keep the service.
Essential (green): check if you can negotiate a better rate (see negotiation scripts). If the price jumped recently, call the retention desk.

Step 4

Execute cancellations (25 minutes)

Work through the cancel list right now, in this session. Do not schedule it for later.

Use Template A (email cancellation) or Template B (certified letter) from our cancel-and-resign page for each vendor.
Screenshot every cancellation confirmation page.
Save all confirmation emails to a 'Cancellations April 2026' folder.
For gym memberships that require in-person cancellation: add a calendar task for this week to go in person.

Step 5

Calendar the watchlist (5 minutes)

For every subscription you are keeping, add a calendar reminder 30 days before the next renewal date with a direct link to the cancellation page.

Use the format: '[Vendor] renewal in 30 days -- decision needed: [cancellation URL]'.
Five minutes of setup prevents future automatic charges on services you no longer want.
For annual services: set two reminders (60 days and 30 days before renewal).

Follow-up cadence

The 90-minute audit is the fresh-inventory version. Repeat quarterly (15 minutes) for incremental updates: review calendar reminders that fired since the last audit, check for new subscriptions acquired in the last quarter, and action any renewals you deferred.

Twice-yearly (60 minutes each) is a reasonable cadence for most households. Monthly (5 minutes) is worth doing if you are actively managing a renewal pipeline.

Typical results

4-12

Unused subscriptions found per audit

$40-180

Monthly savings typical

$480-2,160

Annual savings typical

1 month

Time to recover audit cost

Source: reader submissions (approx. 40 households, 2023-2025) and The Zebra 2025 state-of-subscription report composite.