This Silly Mistake Cost Me Over $100

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Forgetting to unsubscribe from an app can be a costly mistake. Take a look at some tips on how to avoid making the same error. 

I try to be smart about how I manage my personal finances, but unfortunately everyone makes mistakes — and I recently made one. Sadly, my error ended up costing me over $100 in unnecessary charges on my credit card.

While this isn’t financially devastating to me, it’s a bummer that I had to pay this credit card bill out of my bank account for no real reason. Here’s what happened, along with some tips on avoiding the error that I made.

A simple mistake comes at a cost

The mistake that I made was one that could happen to anyone. I signed my son up for a learning app, which had a monthly subscription fee. The app costs $12.99 per month, and my subscription auto-renewed each month.

My son used the app for a few months, but then he got bored with the games and it became too repetitive, so we moved on to other things. Unfortunately, I forgot to cancel the subscription. And because I have a number of other apps that I happily pay for each month, I missed it when I was scanning my credit card statement and I didn’t realize that I was still paying for it.

I let the unused subscription remain active for nine full months, which meant that I wasted a grand total of $116.91 for a program that was not opened even once during that time period.

How to avoid forgetting subscriptions of your own

I am definitely not alone in subscribing to something and forgetting to cancel it. Research shows around 30% of subscriptions go unused each month, with a monthly average value of $25.34. These unused subscriptions could be apps like mine, or streaming services, or a service like Amazon Prime.

Unfortunately, with the average household maintaining an average of 4.4 active paid subscriptions, it’s easy for things to get lost in the shuffle. You may:

Forget you signed up for a subscriptionAssume you’ll use your subscription soon and avoid canceling even if you don’t really end up using it againForget to cancel a subscription before the trial period ends

These are just a few of many ways you could fall into the trap of paying for something you don’t really get value from. To avoid this, it’s helpful to keep a master list of everything you’re signing up for that has a monthly or periodic fee. Review that list every single month and make a checkmark next to services you use. If you go more than a month or two without putting a check next to a particular service, it’s time to cancel.

You should also put renewal dates on your calendar as a failsafe so you’re reminded before any subscription service charges you. That way, you can take a second to consider whether it’s really worth paying for another month.

By taking these simple steps, you can avoid the mistake I made. I’ve made my own master list now, and I know for sure exactly when I last used each of the apps and streaming services that I’m devoting my hard-earned money to. I won’t find myself out another $100, and if you follow this advice, you won’t fall victim to the error I made.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Christy Bieber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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