How to track subscriptions and recurring expenses
Rent, phone, internet, streaming, the gym, cloud storage: recurring expenses pay themselves, which is exactly why they are easy to lose track of. Here is how to find them and keep them in view.
Why recurring costs slip by
A one-off purchase is a decision you make each time. A subscription is a decision you made once, months ago, and it keeps paying without asking again. Each one is small, so none of them feels worth checking, but together they are often one of the largest lines in a monthly budget.
1. Find every one of them
Go through the last two or three months of bank and card statements and list everything that repeats. Look further back for yearly charges such as domain names, insurance or an annual app plan; these are the ones people forget completely. Then check the subscriptions page of your phone's app store, which lists every subscription billed through it.
2. Write down three things for each
- The amount, in the currency you are charged in.
- How often: weekly, monthly or yearly.
- The next charge date, so a renewal never surprises you.
3. Record them once, as recurring
Instead of entering the same bill by hand every month, set it up once as a recurring transaction in your expense tracker. It then appears on its own every period, your totals include it automatically, and you cannot forget to log it. Do the same for recurring income such as salary.
4. Put yearly costs on a monthly scale
A yearly charge feels like a surprise because it lands all at once. Divide it by twelve to see what it really costs per month, and keep that amount aside. When the renewal comes, the money is already there.
5. Review them every quarter
Every three months, look at the full list and ask one question of each item: did I use this enough to pay for it again? Cancel the ones you would not sign up for today. Cancel before the renewal date, not after.
Common mistakes
- Free trials that turn into paid plans. Record the trial's end date the day you start it.
- Forgetting price rises. When a recurring amount changes, update the entry, so your totals stay true.
- Counting only subscriptions. Rent, loan repayments and bills are recurring too, and usually larger.
Doing this in Coinly
In Coinly, toggle "Repeat this transaction" when you add an expense or income, and pick daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Coinly then logs it automatically from then on, including any occurrences you missed while the app was closed. You can set an end date, or leave it running until you stop it, and the Timeline's Recurring filter shows all of them in one list. Recurring entries are included in the free plan.