u/Solid-Set3741

I always thought I had pretty good handle on my monthly spending, but after going through my recurring charges recently, I realized I had been paying for several subscriptions I had completely forgotten about. Nothing huge individually, but when you add up streaming services, apps, cloud storage, and a couple of free trials that quietly became paid plans, it was more than I expected.

I am trying to be more intentional with my budget now, and it has made me wonder how everyone else keeps track of recurring payments.

Do you rely on monarch to catch them, keep a spreadsheet, check your statements every month, or use something else?

A while back I had a meal kit streaming channel and a hobby box all running at the same time. Seemed reasonable when I signed up for each one separately but looking at them together was a different story.

The meal kit I actually used regularly. The streaming channel I opened maybe twice. The hobby box I liked in theory but kept putting off.

Took me longer than it should have to sit down and go through all of them properly. Once I did the decision on what to keep was pretty obvious but I had just been ignoring it.

Now I try to do a quick check every couple of months rather than letting things pile up. Not about cutting everything, just keeping the ones that actually show up in my week.

How do you decide what stays and what goes? Is there a point where something goes from useful to just something you are paying for out of habit?