A simple 20-minute check for recurring charges, renewals and price changes using your own statements.
This is a checklist, not an article. You go through 12 months of your own bank and card statements once, so that every recurring charge is listed in one place with its yearly cost and whether the price has changed since you signed up.
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Optional spreadsheet: download the audit spreadsheet (.xlsx). One row per charge. You enter the merchant, the amount, the billing frequency and, if you can verify it, the original price. It works out charges per year, cost per year and the change per year, and totals the rows you mark Cancel. Nothing you enter leaves your computer. A blank page with the same columns works too.
Before you start
Open the last 12 months of statements for every card and account you pay from. Twelve months, not three, because annual renewals only appear once a year.Open the spreadsheet, or a blank page with these columns: merchant, amount charged, billing frequency, original verified price, still use it, action.Step 1: List every charge that repeats
Sort each statement by merchant name so the same name lines up.Search each statement for the same amount appearing more than once.Write down every charge that repeats on roughly the same day each week, month, quarter or year. Do not decide anything yet. Just list.Step 2: Check the places recurring charges hide
Check whether your bank or card issuer offers a recurring-payments or subscription view. Availability varies by institution.Apple: Settings, tap your name, Subscriptions. Google Play: Play Store, profile, Payments and subscriptions.PayPal: Settings, Payments, Automatic payments.Bundles: phone carrier, credit-card perks, gym memberships. A "free" partner period ends and the charge starts under a name you may not connect to the service.Non-software renewals: insurance, gym, storage units, domain names, warranties.Add anything new to your list.
Step 3: Confirm what you originally paid
If possible, find the original receipt, welcome email, order confirmation, or earlier statement to confirm what you originally paid.If you cannot verify the original price, leave that field blank rather than guessing. The spreadsheet only shows a change where a verified original price is entered.Mark every row where today's charge is higher than the verified original.Step 4: Decide, one row at a time
Keep: you used it recently and the price is what you agreed to.Review: you cannot place the merchant, the price changed, or you are not sure you still need it. Search the exact statement name before you dispute anything.Cancel: you no longer use it, or you would not sign up again at today's price.Step 5: Cancel through the right channel
Billed through Apple: manage it from Apple's Subscriptions settings.Billed through Google Play: manage it from Google Play Subscriptions.Billed through PayPal: review the merchant under PayPal's automatic-payment or subscription settings.Billed directly by a merchant: follow that merchant's official cancellation process.Merchant cannot be identified or contacted: contact your bank or card issuer for the available options.Stopping an automatic payment does not necessarily cancel an underlying contract, membership, loan, or amount owed. Cancel with the provider as well. Note the cancellation date next to each row and check next month's statement to confirm the charge stopped.
Step 6: Keep it from building up again
You can repeat this audit manually every few months. Or, if you want ongoing monitoring, Spendalyst can watch your connected transaction history for recurring charges, price changes, upcoming renewals, possible duplicate charges and meaningful spending changes.
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