Are Your Subscriptions Still Serving Your Budget This Fall?

Ralph00:00:00

Netflix, Spotify, fitness apps, meal kits, you signed up for them all. Are they secretly draining your bank account? Especially if you barely use them anymore.What if I told you a quick check could reclaim hundreds of dollars for your fall budget? Well, stick with me today because I'm sharing exactly how to find that hidden cash on today's show.

Podcast Announcer00:00:23

This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence.

Ralph00:00:35

Hey there. Welcome back to your Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph and this is the show that helps you answer that big question.And that's how can I become a financially confident Christian? And we are in our series Smart Money Move for Back to school and beyond.Yes, we're studying some smart money moves as we get back into the fall back to school routine. Now yesterday we talked about mastering meal planning. It made me hungry. But we talked about delicious, healthy and yes, bold, budget friendly dinner.So if you missed that show, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out.You can find all of our shows@financiallyconfidentchristian.com now today we're going to dive into another common area where money can silently slip away. And that's one that I. Listen, I'm guilty of this. That's those subscriptions and memberships. So I'm going to answer this question today.Are your subscriptions still serving your budget this fall or are they silently just draining your bank account? Hey, you know that feeling all too well. You sign up for a new streaming service. Oh, I gotta have this one. There's this show I really want to watch.Or maybe it's an app, you know, oh, this apple make me super productive in my life. And so you click on it. Oh, it's just a 30 day trial.And then of course in the fine print it says your credit card will be charged after the 30 day trial. Or maybe you try one of those fun subscription boxes everybody in the neighborhood has you, well I gotta try that too.And you sign up for it and after a while you just forget about it. But listen, they don't forget about taking the money from your account.So that money's still being deducted and worst part is being coming out automatically. You've got those automatic payments. And listen, they're small individually, maybe $6 here, $7 there, maybe 12.95, you get the idea.But they add up to be a significant financial drain every month. It's what I call the silent budget leaks. And it's this overall sense of losing control over your money.And as you think about that, you start realizing that your hard earned money goes to unused services or membership. Hey, it happened to me the other day. I didn't even realize it. I was looking at my credit card statement and I saw this subscription.This is a service I haven't used. And to be blunt, probably 16, 17, maybe a year and a half. And I said to myself, Ralph, why haven't you canceled this?Well, I went out and canceled it. Unfortunately, it was set up to be automatic renewing for a year. But listen, it's not going to renew again.So it's going to remove that frustration and it's going to help us build our financial goals. See, here's the thing. Subscriptions are designed for convenience. Hey, there's some great subscription apps out there.I use them, you use them, Netflix, Hulu, all those type of things. But if you're not using them, and if they're adding up, they can be silent budget killers if you don't review them.And see, here's the big principle that I want to really talk about today. We talk about stewardship on this show all the time, but intentional stewardship requires actively managing these recurring expenses.So let's look at the Bible and see some wisdom there. And I'm going to break this down into a couple of different principles. My first principle is diligence. Take a look at this verse from the Bible.It says, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? Well, I can stop right there and do a whole show right on that.But if you've not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? Wow, that one cuts to the chase, doesn't it? Be trusted with very little.These, these little subscriptions, these little apps and all these kind of things, they add up, don't they? And the Bible is telling us, hey, you need to be aware of these things. You need to be diligent in these things.Well, let's look at our second biblical principle, and that's avoiding waste. I actually mentioned this one on the show yesterday. We talked about planning for fall meals. But this is John, chapter 6, verse 12.And this is straight from Jesus himself. He says, God, gather the pieces that are left over. And the reason I grabbed it today is let nothing be wasted.Yesterday we talked about how that applies to wasted food. Well, today these subscriptions can apply to wasting money. And see, the impact of all of this is that you're just wasting money.So one of the things that I'm really going to encourage you to do is really evaluate those subscriptions because that really leads to diligent stewardship. It's going to identify waste, it's going to, it's going to help you reclaim those lost funds.And hey, then you'll be able to redirect your resources to higher priority goals.Maybe things like debt payoff or savings or hey, think about this more giving and truly align your spending with your true needs and values and free up your finances. So now you might be thinking, Ralph, you're right. Didn't even think about that, man. There's a whole host of those things.I don't even look at the statement because I'm worried about it. So what can we do? How do we stop these silent money drains and confidently ensure that every single subscription serves your budget?And hey, here's another thought. Serves your values well. Your single solution today is this.Intentionally conduct a thorough review of all your recurring subscriptions and memberships. And then I just want you to identify those, or maybe those ones that are no longer serving your values.And then I want you to cancel or, or negotiate them. Now talk about that in a second, because you can also do that to reclaim those lost funds. And hey, in the end, that's proactive financial hygiene.Yes, we can do hygiene for our finances. So here's your one action step for today. And our big goal is to reclaim money from unused subscription. Like I said, I'm guilty of this as well.So my first thing I'm going to encourage you to do, and this is something that I think all of us can do, is list all your recurring subscriptions. Have you ever gone through your bank account or credit card statements and looked at all those subscriptions you have?I actually, as I was preparing for today's show, I thought, hey, this is really a good exercise that everybody should do. And that is just make a list of those things.Hey, maybe whenever you add one, maybe you have a rule, I got to take one off, but at least have a list of those. So to start today, I want you to list every single recurring subscription or every single membership fee.And don't even, don't miss any of them, even the small ones, because, hey, like I said, $3, $5, 7 doll add up to big dollars. So start by listing them. Second thing I'm going to do is encourage you to rate their value. Yeah, this is your time to give them a rating.Ask yourself honestly this question. Do I actively use this service? I asked this of myself when I saw this on my credit card statement. I said, do I really use this?Truth is, I hadn't used it in 18 months. Why am I paying for this? That's the first question. And then ask yourself another question. Does it truly bring me value or align with my values?Hey, if you want to go check out an episode, check out episode 184. I talked all about aligning your spending with your values. And ask yourself this question.This is the one that really sent me for a loop, and that is this. Would I sign up for this today? And just give yourself a quick yes, no, or hey, I'm gonna give you a little hedge.I say maybe, because at least at this point. So list those things out. Give yourself a yes, no, or maybe. And then here's the empowering part.I want you to cancel one of those unused subscriptions. Hey, maybe you cancel a lot of them, but just identify one, at least one of those subscriptions that you rated. No. Or maybe.Or maybe you just don't use it anymore. You don't value that. And then I want you to make the commitment to canceling it today. Hey, do it today. Don't say, hey, you know what?I made that list, Ralph, but I just kind of never got around to doing it. No, cancel today login. Find that cancellation button and. And follow through, because that immediate action is going to give you a win.I'm just going to tell you ahead of time, you might be on the phone a little bit, because a lot of these companies are wise to this. They know you set it and forget it. So you may have to go through their retention people, but just stay strong. You can do it.Now, while you're there, here's one of my little pro tips you could do. You could consider negotiating it. Maybe it's one of those maybe things. You're like, nah, I do see some value here, but it's gotten expensive.You know, I've been a loyal customer for years. I actually did this with satellite radio in one of my vehicles. I said, you know what? I don't really use it that often.So I called to cancel it and they said, well, let me put you on. Of course, they put you on the phone with these retention specials. Here's what these people are trained to do.And they said, oh, you know, Ralph, you really want to keep this? I said, okay, well, what are my options? Well, all Of a sudden, this subscription, listen to this one.This subscription, that would have been, I don't know, call it $20 a month. And hey, if you sign up for a year in advance, listen to this deal, I'll give it to you for five bucks a month.Now, of course, I ended up saying, okay, fine, I'll do it for another year. Now, be careful of that because then you got to put that back on your list and make sure you look at it.But, hey, I was able to negotiate and save some money, and it was a service that I still kind of used, so it was okay to do that. Now you might be saying, Ralph, well, how does this help?Well, one of the things I really, truly believe that it does, it fights that struggle of that money silently slipping away. Listen, these little nickel and dime things, you don't even realize they're gone.But then you get that credit card statement, you're like, wow, my balance just keeps on growing. And if you do what I said today, you're going to identify those hidden budget leaks and free up those resources to reclaim some funds.And here's what you could do with that money. You could pay off debts you could save, and, hey, maybe even do some more giving.And it empowers greater control and peace over those recurring expenses. Well, how about we pray together? Father God, we just thank you for the resources that you provide.And we confess that we often allow subscriptions, Lord, to drain our budget, and they drain them silently. And it really does lead to waste when we're honest about it.So we ask that you grant us wisdom, Lord, to manage our recurring expenses, diligently help us to identify those things and cancel services that no longer serve our values, Lord, that is so important. Or maybe they don't serve our needs anymore. And give us strength to reclaim those lost funds. And, Lord, truly redirect them to your purposes.And may our finances reflect your order and wise stewardship. And we ask this boldly, in confidence in Jesus name, Amen.Listen, active management of your subscriptions is a powerful way to save money and boost your budget health. It's truly a hygienic activity. So take that step today to review your list.Cancel one of those unused subscription services, or, hey, maybe negotiate it to a better rate because you're moving towards true freedom. And now I want to ask you to do me a favor.If this episode has resonated with you, I really would like you to consider sharing it with someone who might need to hear it.You can find all of our resources financiallyconfidentchristian.com so you can say, hey, I heard this guy Ralph, and he's got a great idea about these subscriptions. Send them a text. Send him an email. Maybe in your, in your group, or maybe you got a women's group or, or a Bible study group.Just say, hey, you really should check out this podcast. He really does a great job. Pat myself on the back. Well, tomorrow we're going to be talking about with cooler weather approaching.Now, I'm assuming you're in a place where the weather gets cooler. If you're not, well, we can still talk about this.Are we talking about another common expense, and that is how to prepare for higher fall and winter utility bills with some money and energy saving tips and to keep your home comfortable without breaking the bank. Had this discussion with my son. He's moving into his first apartment and he said, dad, how do I plan for this?Well, we're going to talk about that on tomorrow's show, so make sure you join me. Now, let's all go out there and be financially confident Christians. You can do this. I truly have confidence in you. Have some confidence in yourself.Stay financially savvy. God bless you. And you have a great day today.