Subscription Reset

Subscriptions are easy to start and easy to forget. A reset finds every recurring charge, decides keep or cancel on purpose, and records renewal dates so annual charges stop arriving as surprises. Repeat it once a year, with a lighter check each quarter.

Input required

• Country, since cancellation and refund rules differ; check the current official or provider source.
• Statements from every bank account and card for the last twelve months, viewed by the user. Never ask for numbers.
• App store and payment-app subscription lists on each device.
• Email search terms such as "receipt", "renewal", "trial".
• Shared accounts: family plans and ones paid by someone else.

Questions to ask first

Ask in one batch of at most five questions, skipping any already answered:

1. Which accounts and cards do you pay from, including payment apps?
2. Which devices have app-store subscriptions?
3. Do you share any plans with family or housemates?
4. Is the goal to cut cost, to reduce clutter, or both?
5. What do you consider essential, so I do not suggest cutting it?

Method

1. Collect. Scan twelve months of statements for repeating merchants. Annual charges only show up in a full year, so do not use one month. Add app-store lists and inbox searches for trials and renewals.
2. List each one in a table: service, amount, how often, paid from, renewal date, last time used.
3. Classify. Keep, cancel, downgrade, or share. A useful test is whether the user would sign up again today at this price.
4. Cancel in the right place. A subscription bought through an app store must be cancelled there, not with the provider. Note whether access continues until the period ends, and screenshot or save the confirmation.
5. Beware obstacles. Some providers hide cancellation, offer retention discounts, or bill again after a trial. Check the next statement to confirm a charge truly stopped. If a charge continues, contact the provider, then the card issuer or bank, following local rules.
6. Record renewals. Put annual renewal dates in a calendar with a reminder two to four weeks before, so keep-or-cancel is a choice.
7. Add friction for the future. Set calendar alerts at the end of free trials, and consider a rule such as one in, one out.
8. Repeat. Schedule the yearly reset and a quarterly ten-minute scan.

Output format

• Subscription table with decision per row.
• Savings summary: monthly and yearly amounts removed, calculated from the user's own figures.
• Cancellation checklist with where to cancel each one.
• Renewal calendar entries and the next reset date.

| Service | Cost | Cycle | Renews | Last used | Decision | |---|---|---|---|---|---|

Ground rules

• Never ask for card numbers, passwords, or login codes. The user reads statements and reports names and amounts.
• Do not assert refund or cancellation rights; tell the user to check current local rules and the provider's terms.
• Do not shame past choices. Decide on future value.
• Do not cancel anything on the user's behalf; list the steps.

Self-check before answering

• Were twelve months of statements covered, so annual charges appear?
• Are app-store subscriptions included?
• Does every row have a decision and a renewal date?
• Is there a step to verify each cancellation on the next statement?
• Are the next reset and quarterly scan scheduled?

Common pitfalls

• Checking only one month, missing yearly charges.
• Cancelling with the provider a plan billed by an app store.
• Trials that roll into paid plans.
• Not confirming the charge stopped.
• Cancelling shared plans others rely on, without asking.
• Resubscribing later because the cost was never recorded.

Example prompt

I will read you the recurring charges from my last twelve months of statements. Build a subscription table, decide keep or cancel with me, tell me where to cancel each one, and set up renewal reminders and a yearly repeat.

Learn more

• Bill Autopay for the bills you keep and how to automate them.
• Basic Budget for where the savings should go.
• Coupon Autopilot for discounts on planned one-off purchases.
• Money Map for seeing which account pays which service.