Unsubscribe to Your Subscriptions and Save

By applying a simple strategy to your subscriptions just once a year, you might be able to save a substantial amount of money each month. At the very least, you will gain a picture of what you actually use, and this knowledge can help you enjoy what have even more and help guide you to wiser decisions in the future.

Step 1: Easy Pick'ns

Make a stack of all your newspaper and magazine subscriptions. If you don't read it all anymore pick up the phone right then an cancel it. If you just skim it from time to time, check the magazine's website. Many magazines and newspapers have much of their content on-line and this might be enough for your occasional info fix.

Give careful thought to the ones you are keeping. Are you keeping a newspaper subscription just for the coupons or the crossword puzzles? Coupons are only a savings if you use enough each week to save more than the cost of the paper. Check out printable coupon sites instead. You can get your crossword puzzle fix either free on-line or get more bang for your buck by purchasing a puzzle book. If it's the financial news, maybe a money focused magazine would be a better investment.

Step 2: Do Without For 30 Days

Are you unsure about giving up a subscription? Put it on a thirty day trial or, if it's easy to restart (like a movies by mail) subscription, just cancel it and make a note on your calendar that you can have it again in thirty days if you still want it. Do you have an expensive cable package or pay a monthly fee to be able to record shows? Stop watching the extra channels for thirty days. Don't record anything. Yes, you do risk losing losing the value from a month, but think of the savings if you are able cut it out after that first month. On-line games and music services that charge a monthly fee are another good candidate for this strategy.

Step 3: Contract Subscriptions

Find out when your cell phone contract or the gym membership you don't use is up. Since these services have no reason to let you know when you can cancel, you might already be able to switch. Once you know when it will expire, mark it on your calendar or use one of the many free email reminder services to get an alert when you can cancel or change your contract.

Step 4: Subscriptions of Habit

The last type of subscription is a little more subtle. We sometimes have weekly or even daily subscriptions we don't even think about. Maybe you �â'¬Å"subscribe�â'¬ï¿½ to a weekly pizza or dinner out every Friday. A lot of us subscribe to a cup of coffee every morning. Take a look at these habit subscriptions and what they are costing you. You might be surprised by how much a simple change in habit can save you over time. Not sure you want to give it up? Unsubscribe for thirty days to find out if it's really worth it.

Subscription services can be a great thing, but it's important to make sure you are getting the ones that have true value for you. Even if your needs and desires remain steady over time, you can still benefit from reviewing your subscriptions. The Zen of Pet Ownership might have been the best magazine for the philosophical pet lover when you subscribed four years ago, but is it still? Take a look at the alternatives. The worst that can happen is that you walk away satisfied that you getting the most for your dollar already.

Resources:

http://www.memotome.com/ (free on-line email reminder service)

http://coupons.smartsource.com or http://www.coolsavings.com/ (free coupon sites)

http://games.yahoo.com (Lots of on-line games -- including crossword puzzles)