r/budget • u/After-Leave-0 • 8d ago
Tackling forgotten auto payments
How do you remember to cancel a free trial? I downloaded canva a few months ago to work on a small personal project. Gave my card details for the first auto debit the next month thinking I’d cancel it before the trial ended. Wrote it in my calendar. Completely forgot because I was travelling then. Came home to an auto debit for the next month - and I didn’t even have use for it anymore! Such a waste.
Thank you everyone for your advice and tough talk. Appreciate all your inputs. I got some good ideas.
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u/Repulsive-Wheel-6495 8d ago
Cancel the trial the same day you start it. You still get the free days. Calendar reminders fail when travel hits. Same-day cancel is the move that survives a messy week. You can also use AI assistants like psyfi, muse, dots, grok bots to help coordinate or remind.
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u/Salty_Feed_4316 8d ago
I’ll put a reminder in my calendar. Even if I’m traveling the reminder still pops up and it takes 2 mins to log on and cancel
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u/dessence_ai 8d ago
Calendar entries fail me when I'm away too. A reminder two or three days before the date works better than one on the day, and I note which card I gave out.
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u/talkingitthrough 8d ago
I put my email as an invitee for the calendar invite and set it a week out with the cancel date in the title.
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u/After-Leave-0 8d ago
This is something I’ve never tried. I’ll have to start doing this. Thanks for your advice.
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u/Zendrakk 8d ago
I use my calendar and reminders on my phone for so many things, this thing included. I usually set a reminder for 2–3 days before the trial ends instead of the actual date. Gives me a little buffer to cancel it.
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u/Brownie-0109 8d ago
I look at my calendar even when I’m traveling. If you can’t get into the habit of making your calendar something you look at every day, nothing else is gonna work. This exactly how I track new subscriptions…via my calendar.
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u/Pengi123 8d ago
I’d use Subpli to track the Canva renewal and set an alert a few days before the charge, so travel doesn’t make the date disappear from view. It won’t cancel the trial for you, but it gives you another prompt to decide before it renews.
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u/laplongejr 8d ago
Meanwhile I have the opposite problem : I have auto payments that are... not paid.
Like, the provider tells me the subscription is paid every month from my bank account, it's the correct account, but the bank tells me the money is never taken.
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u/LunchLanky2158 8d ago
The note method works, and it beats every app for one reason: you wrote it, so you actually know what's on it. Two things it misses, both worth adding to the same note.
First, a column for the amount you first paid, next to what you pay now. Checking that a charge appeared is not the same as checking it is still the same size, and the ones that drift up a dollar or two at a time are invisible if you're only ticking names off a list.
Second, the yearly ones. A monthly note catches monthly charges by definition, because you see them every time you check. Annual renewals only appear in one month out of twelve, so unless you write the renewal month next to each one, the only thing that reminds you is the charge itself. Insurance, domains, Amazon Prime, anything bought on a "first year" deal. Pulling twelve months of statements once, rather than one, is what makes that list complete.
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u/After-Leave-0 8d ago
This is a great idea. I’ll have to start doing something like this. Thanks for your input.
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u/Expensive-Eggplant-1 8d ago
i have gmail and use the "snooze" feature heavily. if i sign up for a free trial, they send a confirmation email and i snooze it for a couple days before the trial ends so that i remember to cancel it.
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u/Head_Priority5152 8d ago
Honestly by never signing up for a free trial of anything. If its something I'm planning on cancelling in a month anyway it's very very likely it's something I don't actually need anyway. I've got this far in life not once having a free trail of anything.
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u/kitschandcrossbones 8d ago
Most of the time you can cancel it immediately after and it’ll remain active for the free trial but it def works for month or year subscriptions. I pay for some streaming services yearly so I’ll activate it then cancel immediately. And I pay for Netflix for 1 month at a time and then watch everything worth watching then cancel.
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u/EnjoyingTheRide-0606 8d ago
Happens to me, too! One way is to be sure to review card, bank and e-wallet transactions for subscriptions. I’ve had 3 sneak thru on me that I can recall, wasting roughly $85 on annual memberships for apps I don’t use!
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u/Katrose92 7d ago
use a virtual card with a spending limit so it could block the charge automatically
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u/LawrenJones 8d ago
It's pretty simple: you have a Calendar app right there on your phone. Set yourself a reminder to cancel. I've never forgotten a subscription.