A recurring-expense audit is just a deliberate look at everything that charges you on a schedule: streaming, apps, gym, insurance, storage, memberships, and the free trials that quietly turned into paid ones. The goal is not to cut everything — it is to see the full list so you can choose.
Start with your statements
Pull at least two months of statements for each card and bank account you use, and three or more if you have them. A monthly charge only reveals itself as recurring once it has appeared at least twice — and anything that bills every other month, quarterly or yearly needs substantially more history than that.
- Download the statements as PDF or CSV from each bank’s website.
- Scan for anything that repeats on a similar date each month — same merchant, same or similar amount.
- Write down the merchant, the amount, and how often it hits.
- Flag the ones you had forgotten about, and the ones that cost more than you remembered.
Watch for the sneaky ones
- Annual renewals — a $99 charge once a year is easy to miss on a monthly scan.
- Price creep — a subscription that started at $9.99 and is now $15.99.
- Duplicates — two music or two streaming services you rarely both use.
- App-store bundles — charges that read as “Apple” or “Google” rather than the app’s name.
Turn the list into decisions
For each charge, ask one question: did I use this in the last month? Keep, cancel, or downgrade. Add up what you keep so the monthly and annual total is a number you actually chose, not one that accumulated by default.