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5 min Money Beginner

Find the subscriptions you forgot you’re paying for

The problem: $9.99 here, $14.99 there. Free trials turned into charges, an app you used once still bills every month, and the bank statement names are so cryptic you can’t tell what half of them are.

Do this

  1. Open your bank or card app and copy one or two months of charges (just date, name, and amount). Delete account numbers, card numbers, and your name first.
  2. Fill in the brackets, paste the prompt, and paste your charges at the bottom.
  3. Go down the list, mark keep or cancel for each one, then cancel the ones you don’t use inside the app or website that bills you.

Copy-paste

Help me find every subscription and repeat charge I'm paying for. Keep it plain and simple. Money I want to free up each month: [e.g. "$40"] Subscriptions I know I want to keep: [e.g. "Netflix, phone bill, gym"] Things I might be paying for but can't remember: [e.g. "a photo app, an old free trial"] 1) Go through my charges and list every one that repeats or looks like a subscription: name, how often, amount, and cost per year. 2) If a charge name is cryptic, tell me in plain words what it most likely is, and say "not sure" when you don't know. Don't guess like it's a fact. 3) Flag anything that looks like a free trial that turned into a charge, a price that went up, or the same service charged twice. 4) Sort them into Keep, Check, and Probably cancel, based on what I told you above, and add up what I'd save per month and per year. 5) For each one in Probably cancel, tell me where people usually cancel it (the app store, the company's website, or by phone). My charges (account and card numbers removed): [PASTE YOUR CHARGES]

Done when: You have one list of every repeat charge with its yearly cost, you’ve marked keep or cancel on each, and you’ve cancelled at least one you don’t use.

Make it better: For a stubborn one, ask “Write me a short, polite message to cancel [SERVICE] and ask them to confirm in writing, plus what to say if they offer a discount to stay.” Then ask “Make me a 1-line reminder list of free trials I start, with the date to cancel before they charge.”

Privacy and caveats: Never paste full account numbers, card numbers, your login, or screenshots that show them. Name, date, and amount are all the AI needs. AI can guess wrong about what a cryptic charge is, so check anything unclear in your bank app before you cancel, and cancel through the company itself, not through links in an email or text. If you see a charge you never signed up for, call the number on the back of your card.

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