Once every 4-6 months, I like to go through my bank statements in extensive detail, in an effort to track down every small recurring (and non-recurring) charge to my bank account and debit card.
That might sound like a bit of a silly exercise to some, but it's surprising how often we agree to something because it pops up, seems convenient, entertaining and/or useful at the time, and we justify clicking the "accept" button with the reasoning that "it's only a couple of dollars."
Similarly, I'm sure many of us fall prey to so-called "introductory offers," where we get something for virtually nothing for three or six months, and then all of a sudden we're looking at a $40 charge that we're not quite sure what's for, or why it's there.
In fact, Mrs. Denmarkguy came stomping into my office earlier today, literally fuming because some small graphics app she had agreed to a "trial subscription" to had suddenly charged her $80 in advance for a 12 month subscription to something that had been advertised as being $0.99 a month.
I generally refer to all these small subscription charges as "inconvenience ware."
Typically I'm pretty good about canceling trial subscriptions and inexpensive apps and services either before they start costing anything or moment they actually turn out to be less than expected. To be honest, I am consistently underwhelmed by most of these.
However, my archaeological journey through my latest bank statement revealed that I am not quite as diligent as I'd like to think that I am!
At the end of the process, I had eliminated $31 worth of monthly charges spread out across eight different applications/subscriptions.
Of course, to some people $31 might not sound like a heck of a lot, but if you look at it on an annual basis you're suddenly looking at $372. In my budget, that's definitely more than "a handful of change!"
It seems to me that in 2026 a disturbing number of ventures are quite successful with business plans that amount to little more than "because it's only $1.99 a month for the first year."
Then the true cost suddenly turns out to be $89, charged as a single payment in advance. And by the time people are ready to do something about it, any grace periods have long since expired. It's all rather shady, don't you think?
Regardless, it is these shady practices that inspire me to be particularly diligent about staying on top of small subscriptions fees!
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2026.05.20 01:50 PDT
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