Have you ever thought about all the things you used to buy once but you're now signed up to on a subscription plan or a repeat purchase?
Streaming platforms, magazines, toiletries, exercise equipment, razor blades, meal boxes… the list goes on.
While signing up to subscriptions can make regular purchases easy and convenient, they've exploded in popularity and can quickly become unwieldy to manage. And in a higher cost of living environment, there are a growing number of Australians keen to take control of their finances and looking for ways to manage their money.
New NAB data reveals one in three Australians have cut back on a subscription or other service in the last three months, saving around $56 each month or more than $670 each year.
After purchasing his first home in Melbourne last year, 30-year-old NAB customer Josh Vanderleest has trimmed some of his spending on subscriptions.
"I'm definitely noticing a difference," Josh said.
He's saving up to $30 each month by cutting back on streaming services, which he used to share with housemates, and on home delivered cooking and meal plans in favour of grocery shopping or having the flexibility to go for a meal out with friends.
"Some are fairly straightforward (to cancel), but you have to know that you're subscribed to them to cancel them."
Cancelling, changing or even managing a subscription used to be a daunting task because it involved working out exactly what you'd signed up to, from which account the money is being paid and how frequently the payments occur. Usually that involved going through old account statements or emails.
"It used to be really hard to keep track of all of the things you've signed up for," NAB Personal Banking executive Kylie Young said.
But Josh is one of the 1.5 million NAB customers who've started using NAB's Spending Insights tool that quickly and easily lists your subscriptions in one place so you can see what you're spending your money on.
"Technology has certainly made that easier. All banks will now have some form of spending insights feature and we know our customers love our Spending Insights tool because the number using it has grown 62% since last year," Ms Young said.
While the subscription economy is set to continue growing, NAB's Kylie Young has one more piece of advice.
"Better managing your subscriptions doesn't necessarily mean cancelling them! It might involve different delivery timelines, pausing to check you're still using the service or just checking you're on the right plan," she said.
Some quick tips:
- Check if your bank has a Spending Insights tool or something similar in the app or on Internet Banking so you can see what you're spending on. To make it even easier, see if you can break spending down into categories.
- Some subscription services offer you the chance to cancel straight away after your purchase. This can make it easy to trial the service without being charged again if you don't like it.
- Cancellation isn't the only option. You might be able to pause or downgrade the plan you're on, ask for less frequent deliveries of goods and products or share the costs with loved ones through a legitimate family plan.
