An average Dutch household spends an indicative €25 to €45 a month on loose subscriptions - streaming services, gym, apps - and that’s on top of phone and internet. The real total is almost always higher than people think, because the amounts are small and the money leaves your account automatically. A quick check easily saves you tens of euros a month.
Why subscriptions creep up unnoticed
Subscriptions are designed to make you forget you have them. Three things work against you:
- Small amounts. €7.99 here, €4.99 there. Each one feels too small to bother with, but together they add up to tens of euros a month.
- Automatic renewal. Almost everything renews silently. You don’t have to do anything to keep paying - you have to actively cancel to stop.
- Free trials. You sign up for a free month, forget to cancel, and then pay for months for something you never use.
The total is the problem, not any single subscription. That’s why only a complete overview works.
Step by step: map all your subscriptions
Set aside an hour and work through it methodically:
- Go through twelve months of bank statements. A full year, because yearly subscriptions only show up once. Check your credit card and any PayPal statements too.
- List everything recurring. Every recurring charge in a row: name, amount and how often. Convert yearly amounts to monthly (divide by twelve) so you can compare everything.
- Flag what you don’t recognise. Unknown charges are often forgotten subscriptions or trials that quietly continued.
Once it’s all in black and white, you’ll usually spot a few items you thought you’d cancelled long ago.
What can you cancel?
Use one simple rule: if you haven’t used it in the last two months, cancel it. You can always subscribe again, and with most services that takes a minute. So you lose nothing by stopping - you just stop paying for something that’s sitting idle.
Be honest about “I might still use it”. That’s exactly the thought subscriptions feed on. If you’re in doubt, cancel: you’ll soon notice whether you miss it.
Smarter subscribing: pay less for the same thing
Cancelling isn’t the only option. You often pay too much for something you do want to keep:
- Rotate streaming services. Take one at a time. Finish a series, cancel, switch to the next. That way you pay for one service instead of four.
- Share family and duo plans. Music, streaming and cloud storage often have a shared plan that works out much cheaper per person. Share with housemates or family.
- Choose yearly instead of monthly. If you’re sure you’ll keep something for a year, the yearly rate is usually 15 to 20 percent cheaper. But only if you actually use it - otherwise you’re paying a year up front for nothing.
The subscriptions everyone forgets
A few categories almost always escape attention. Check these extra:
- Cloud storage. Those few euros a month for extra storage on your phone or email run on for years.
- Yearly app renewals. Apps that charge once a year don’t stand out in your monthly overview. That’s exactly why you forget them.
- Lotteries and charities. Monthly entries and donations you once switched on and never looked at again.
- Service contracts. Maintenance contracts for your boiler, insurance on devices or the “extra warranty” you took out at purchase.
None of these is a big amount on its own, but together they’re often worth a few tens of euros a month.
Start with an overview
Want to know exactly what you spend on subscriptions each month? Add them all up with the free subscription calculator and track down the items you overlook with the hidden spending tool. Subscriptions are just one part of your monthly costs - after this, look at the other ways to save on your fixed expenses too. An hour of work often pays off with hundreds of euros a year.