The forgotten-subscription audit

Monday. Money Minute — but this week we are doing the longer version: the forgotten-subscription audit. Sixty seconds becomes ten minutes, once, and then we never have to do it the long way again.

Here is how a subscription hides. It does not arrive with a fanfare. It arrives in March, as a free trial or a small charge with a forgettable name — the kind of amount your eye slides straight past, because it costs less than lunch. Then it leaves quietly, on the same day, every month, while you are busy living your actual life.

Seven months. That is how long the March one hid: March, April, May, June, July, August, September — seven small exits, each one too small to argue with, adding up to a number that is not small at all. Nobody made a bad decision here. A decision just never got revisited — which is a different thing, and it happens to everyone.

So here is the audit, exactly as we do it. Open your statement. Go back to March — yes, all the way — and mark every charge that repeats. Then, for each one, answer one question out loud: would I buy this again today, at this price, on purpose? Keep the ones that earn a yes. Cancel the ones that only earn a pause.

No shame in any of this, and no fear either. Money stress grows in the dark; a subscription you can see is just a line you can choose. And if a charge looks wrong — not forgotten, wrong — talk to your bank and a professional about it. I keep money in the light. The fine print belongs to the pros.

That is the whole audit: one forgotten subscription found, one choice made on purpose. One thing to improve. That's the whole assignment. See you Monday.