It’s long been a cliche that New Year’s resolutions are bound to fail — to the point where you might be better off not even making them. Of course, a good part of the problem with resolutions is that common picks such as “save more and spend less” are so generic that there’s no real plan for achieving them. That’s why, today, I come to you with a super simple, easy-to-achieve New Year’s goal: cancel your unneeded subscriptions.
I fully realize that I’m not breaking any new ground here. However, with new services and memberships popping up all the time it’s truly amazing how many can be forgotten, leading to a monthly drain on your finances. Heck, even though I went through a subscription purge what feels like not that long ago, it turns out that it was 2023. In turn, when I went to do a check-up this weekend, I found that there were a couple of new culprits that had been thieving my funds.
Once again, aiding me in my goal to eliminate the unneeded was Rocket Money. Although there are other apps with similar features, I’ve found that Rocket Money’s recurring payment interface really makes it easy to identify subscriptions, leaving you to then determine if they’re worth keeping. The app can also help you cancel or negotiate certain bills — but there’s a fee associated with either option. Still, even without those premium perks, I still love using the app to point me in the right direction.
Incidentally, both of my need-to-cancel targets come with a bit of irony. First, while I like to keep my accounts with various personal finance apps open so I can update my reviews of them, I realized I was paying $5 a month for one that I’ve had all but disabled for months! So, that got the boot from me.
Meanwhile, the other cancelation is the opposite of what most people are likely doing right now: the gym membership. More accurately, it’s our local YMCA — which makes it a bit harder to say “goodbye.” Previously, we lived right across the street from the location, so it made sense to have a membership. My wife would even take advantage of some of the yoga classes they offered.
Alas, between moving (even though we’re only a couple of miles away) and seeing a big change to our schedules, we haven’t visited in quite some time. On top of that, their prices recently increased. Thus, while I do honestly feel bad about it, I just can’t justify paying nearly $70 a month anymore. Instead, we can put that money toward our monthly mortgage payment, which also recently rose, unfortunately.
Depending on your situation, there’s always the chance that this little exercise might not result in many savings. But, for most people, I’d suspect that you’ll at least find something you either 1) didn’t realize you were paying for (or had risen in price) or 2) can now admit is no longer needed. By the way, if you need help convincing yourself it may be time to cancel, try earmarking what else you could use those funds for — this can really assist in putting things into perspective.
And there you have it: a New Year’s resolution you can actually make good on! So what are you waiting for?