Cutting costs
How to Cancel Any Subscription (And What They Will Try First)
Most subscriptions are not hard to cancel. They are designed to be tiring to cancel, which is a different problem with a different solution.
Free, no account, nothing uploaded
Know what you planned. See what you actually spent.
Most budget apps tell you where your money went after it has gone. Under the Mark puts your plan and your reality in the same table, line by line, so you can see the gap while there is still time to do something about it.
No sign-up. No card. Your figures stay in your browser.
July — subscriptionsPlannedActualDiff
Netflix17.9917.990.00
Spotify11.9914.99+3.00
Adobe59.9959.990.00
Gym24.990.00−24.99
Left over1,2401,262+22
Why it is different
Three things most budget apps do not do
Tracking is the easy part. Knowing whether you are on course, and what to change, is the part that actually saves money.
Two numbers on every line
Each line carries its own planned figure and its own actual figure, with the difference beside them. Categories and month totals add up from those lines, so the two views can never drift apart.
It suggests cheaper options
Sixty-two common services with real alternatives — lower tiers, annual billing, and free replacements — each with the trade-off written out plainly rather than hidden.
Nothing leaves your device
There is no server, no account and no analytics on your figures. Everything is stored in your own browser. Close the tab and it is still yours alone.
How it works
Four steps, and the first three take a couple of minutes.
Set your plan
Add a line for each thing you expect to spend on and type what you expect it to cost.
Record what happened
Type the actual figures, or import a CSV from your bank and let it fill them in.
See the gap
Every line shows the difference. Overspending turns red before the month is over, not after.
Cut what you can
Check the cheaper options for the services you already pay for, and apply the savings to next month.
Import your bank statement
Drop in a CSV and it reads the columns, tidies up the messy merchant codes and sorts most transactions into the right category. You review everything before it is saved. It handles comma, semicolon and tab files, and both day-first and month-first dates.
Catch purchases as you make them
The Chrome extension spots order confirmation pages on the shops you choose, finds the total and asks whether to save it. Nothing is recorded without your say-so, and it only runs on sites you have added yourself. More about the extension.
Guides
Spend less without giving anything up
Practical, specific writing on cancelling what you do not use and paying less for what you do.
Method
Budget vs Actual — The Two Numbers That Make a Budget Work
A budget with one number is a wish. The moment you put what you planned next to what happened, it becomes something you can actually steer by.
Cutting costs
Cheaper Alternatives to the Subscriptions You Already Pay For
Switching services is the least likely thing you will actually do. The two changes that save real money need no change in what you get at all.
It is free, and it always will be
No account, no trial, no upgrade prompt. Open it and start typing. You can also install it on your phone or computer and use it offline.