5 Tips to Budgeting Your Subscriptions

Subscription services can add up quickly – check out these tips to keep your budget on track.

Subscription services are everywhere, for nearly anything. There are subscription boxes for cooking meals, fashion, and fitness, to unlimited music, movies, and music. You can even gift your pets with new treats and toys each month.

It can be easy to lose track of auto-pay subscription services, since most of these subscriptions take money straight from your account. Subscriptions can cost a considerable chunk of your income each month, but there are easy ways to keep your budget on track.

1. Pay one lump sum

Some subscription services allow you to pay a full year’s subscription upfront. Sometimes insurance companies allow you to pay semi-annually instead of monthly. Although it’s a larger amount, it only happens once, and you don’t have to keep track of paying small amounts monthly. This gives you time to prepare for big expenses when they arise.

2. Keep track of your subscriptions 

One of the most common ways to lose track of money is forgetting what subscriptions you have. Take an extra step and leave yourself a note on your phone or computer, or go through your bank statements – you might find services you don’t want to keep paying. 

3. Use the same card to pay for your subscriptions

By using the same card to pay for all of your subscription services, it’s easier to track your money. You can see all your charges in one statement at the end of the month, to see what subscriptions are active. Plus, when you use your Jefferson Bank Debit or Credit Card for your subscriptions, you can enjoy services like money manager to identify what charges are subscriptions, and budget even easier!

4. Find free alternatives 

If you like the products a subscription service offers, there may be workarounds to help you with the price. Some meal-planning subscriptions will post their recipes free on their website. Libraries are also a great alternative to a subscription service. You can find more than just paper books – many of them offer audiobooks, and even movies and television shows. Plus, supporting your local library helps support your community as a whole!

5. Keep what you need, get rid of the rest

While unique subscription boxes are amusing, some might not be the best use of your money. Unsubscribe from services you’re not using very often – it doesn’t mean the service is gone forever, and you can always sign back up if you need it. By cutting out these types of subscriptions, you might be surprised at how much money you’ll save.