Guide

Subscriptions audit: what your subscriptions cost in work hours

Each subscription is small on its own. Together they can cost days of work a year. An audit takes about 20 minutes and is one of the easiest ways to free up money.

Step 1: Find every subscription

• Check the last three months of your bank and card statements.
• On your phone, open the App Store or Google Play subscription list.
• Search your email for "receipt", "renewal" and "subscription".
• Don't forget yearly ones, like cloud storage, software or memberships.

Step 2: Turn each one into hours a year

hours a year = monthly price × 12 ÷ your hourly pay after tax

Example: a subscription of 15 a month, at 20 an hour after tax, is 180 a year, or 9 hours of work.

Step 3: Sort them into three groups

• Keep: you use it every week and would sign up again today.
• Downgrade: you use it, but a cheaper plan, a plan with ads, or a shared family plan would do.
• Cancel: you haven't used it in a month, or you forgot you had it.

Step 4: Rotate instead of stacking

You probably don't need every streaming service at once. Keep one, watch what you want, cancel, and switch to another next month. You'll see the same shows for a fraction of the hours.

Step 5: Repeat every six months

Prices go up, free trials turn into paid plans, and habits change. Put a reminder in your calendar.

See real examples

We've worked out what popular subscriptions cost at minimum wage in several countries. Browse prices in work hours.