Forgot to cancel that free trial? 4 steps to help you find all those subscription money leaks

SALT LAKE CITY — Most of us know what our rent, mortgage or car payment is, but what about streaming services, apps, memberships and storage fees? One 2025 survey found that U.S. adults spend an average of $91 per month on subscriptions, and nearly half said they had signed up for a free trial and forgotten to cancel it. Those small automatic payments can become silent budget leaks.

Amanda Christensen with Utah State University Extension shared how to find those leaks and redirect that money toward things we actually care about.

"When we subscribe to a purchase, we take away the active decision," she explained. "We've done that once with a subscription and then never again."

You'd immediately notice $100 disappearing from your account. But when subscriptions are charged $10 at a time, it doesn't feel like very much. Christensen called this invisible spending. Those small, recurring charges blend into your monthly statements because they are small amounts instead of one big chunk. She also emphasized that since lots of subscriptions renew automatically, it's easy to keep paying for things long after you've stopped using them.

Before cancelling any subscriptions, Christensen recommended finding out where recurring charges might be hiding.

Charges to Look For

Streaming and entertainment: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Audible, Spotify, YouTube Premium

Shopping and delivery: Amazon Prime, Walmart+, Instacart, DoorDash, meal kits

Apps and digital tools: photo editing, kids' apps, games, cloud storage

Health and fitness: gym memberships, workout apps, meditation apps

Annual renewals: memberships or software that only hit once a year

Once you've found every subscription, Christensen said to sort them into four categories.

Keep

"Keep" applies to services that you are actively using and provide genuine value to your life.

"I use it often. It adds real value. It solves a pain point for me," Christensen explained.

Cancel

"Cancel" applies to subscriptions you've forgotten about or hardly ever use. This category alone can help you find quite a bit of savings.

"I signed up for a free trial and never stopped it," she said.

Rotate

The "rotate" category is for services you don't keep all year round.

"Keeping one or two streaming services instead of paying for all of them all year round," she explained.

Cycle through services based on what you're currently watching or are interested in. The same concept works for other subscriptions, too.

"Paying for one recipe app and then switching to another one when I want something new," Christensen suggested.

Renegotiate

You might think your only option is to keep or cancel a service. Christensen said you can also renegotiate. Subscription companies usually offer a bit or flexibility because they'd rather keep their customers than lose them completely.

"A good subscription service will allow you to log on and change how often something is shipped to you," Christensen explained. "I had makeup foundation that was being delivered to me every month and I found that was too much. I didn't go through it that fast."

She updated the shipping frequency instead of cancelling completely. By renegotiating, you save some money while still getting the services and products you love.

What to Do With the Savings

After you've swept your subscriptions and gotten some money back, Christensen said to give that savings a purpose.

"$15 a month could be an emergency savings payment," she explained. "$30 a month could be an extra debt payment."

Christensen emphasized that having subscriptions isn't a bad thing. You don't need to completely purge them, just make sure they reflect your priorities.

"It's just redirecting to what is actually useful for me today," she said.

Find more money advice from Amanda Christensen on Instagram, @utahmoneymatters or at utahmoneymatters.org.

This story was adapted from a TV broadcast script using artificial intelligence. Every story, including those adapted with AI, is reviewed by a human editor before publication to ensure that KSL's editorial standards are upheld.