How many subscriptions do you have on autopay?

If there’s anything that all the people love, that’s surely convenience. It’s easy to set something on autopay and then go on about your day without worrying that you’ll be bothered with payment notifications every single month.

But is that the ideal situation? Subscriptions are fun, but not all of them are worth it. Nowadays, everything can be purchased through a subscription service, from food and drinks to music and entertainment.

The only thing you need is your credit card, your email address, a few minutes to spare so you can open an account, and the motivation and willingness to pay some extra dollars, and you’ll have everything that you need on your phone, laptop, TV, or delivered straight to your doorstep on a monthly basis.

But you still have to filter all these subscriptions, because with so many available at the moment, it’s hard to know for sure which ones suit you and which ones are a waste of time and money.

I have some friends who always complain about not having enough money to take some time off and go relax somewhere, but they never analyze their subscriptions. And believe me when I say that they have a ton of services on autopay. They sometimes even forget about them, but the money is still withdrawn from their credit cards.

Now I’m asking you: is it worth putting different subscriptions on autopay? Tell me your answer in the comments when you’re done reading this article!

1. Amazon Prime

My youngest daughter is 16 years old, she still lives with us and is obsessed with online shopping and DIYs. She loves to try all sorts of things, like skirts, blouses, hair accessories, shoes, and every other fashion object you could think of.

I keep telling her that she spends too much money on things, but she got upset, so she got a job and put her own Amazon Prime subscription on autopay. Each week, there’s a new package on our doorsteps for her, but she says that she somehow saves money, because she doesn’t have to pay those annoying delivery fees.

If you shop as much as my daughter does, it’s probably not a terrible idea to put this subscription on autopay, since it’s less than $15 a month, and the delivery fee for a single product is sometimes more than that. But if you don’t typically shop from them and you only purchase something from time to time, you might waste that money.

However, some people have their subscription on autopay because it gives them many other advantages, such as the possibility to stream different types of content available on the platform, but think about how much you use it before you put it on autopay.

2. Meal kit delivery services

Have you ever tried meal kit delivery services? This is a type of subscription that you can sign up for and receive pre-portioned meals for a few days of the week, depending on how many people you have in your household.

They’re quite diet-inclusive, if we could say so, because they come in many varieties, from regular to paleo, vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, and so on. You could choose how many people you want to feed and how many meals per week you want from them.

When you’re done with these details, you’ll receive a huge box filled with pre-portioned ingredients and pictures of the final result of your food (or at least how it’s supposed to look), as well as step-by-step cooking instructions.

The meal for a person is under $15, but if you purchase a 3-meal per week box for 2 people weekly, that money will quickly add up, so it’s not the smartest idea to put it on autopay.

One trick you could use is to purchase a meal kit delivery once, save the recipes, and if you like them, just go to your regular grocery store and pick up the things you need and start cooking from scratch. This simple tip will help you have fun with your eating habits while not having your subscription on autopay.

Do you feel exhausted each time you have to cook? Or do you feel like you’re in a rut and have no idea what to cook for dinner? I have a hard time coming up with recipes too, but I found that this book is a real help.

3. Music streaming platforms

Who doesn’t love music? I sure do. But if you have a Spotify account or any other account on music streaming platforms, you should think twice before putting this service on autopay.

If you don’t use it every day, why even pay $10 monthly for it? You could use YouTube; it’s free. It might be annoying that before you can have a dance party to your favorite song, you have to wait 5 seconds to close that ad, but hey, what’s free is free.

4. Clothing brand subscription

Fashion is getting more popular each day, and with the rapidity with which new clothes are produced, more and more brands have launched subscription boxes.

But should you put them on autopay? No, you’d better not, because if you sign up for a surprise clothes box that you receive each month, what are you going to do with new items every 30 days?

Yeah, you’ll wear them and feel fashionable, but the room in your closet will become smaller and smaller each time, you’ll have to donate or throw away your old items, and you’ll contribute to fast fashion and pollution, and that’s not good.

So if you want a healthy and thriving environment, as well as more money in your pocket and more room in your closet, don’t put that subscription on autopay.

5. Insurance

Insurance, whether it’s for your home, life, or car, shouldn’t be put on autopay, and experts were kind enough to tell me exactly why. Let’s say that there’s an issue with your expired credit card, or that your policy has changed or been canceled for different reasons. It’s EASY to miss payments and think that everything is taken care of when you have this bill on autopay.

Unlike other services put on autopay, such as a subscription to an online library, if you miss a single payment, you can say goodbye to your policy.

Of course, you might tell me that you don’t have to worry about something like this, because you usually get a call, an email, or a letter saying that there was a problem with your payment, but what if you miss it? You do as you want, but I wouldn’t put my insurance bills on autopay, TBH.

6. Satellite and cable service

If you have a cable or a satellite bill, you’d better not put them on autopay and here’s why: the amount you have to pay each month might vary, based on how many movies on demand you watched.

If you have these ones on autopay, you’re going to notice money on your card telling you goodbye, but you won’t be able to keep track of how much you spend on additional services each time.

Another pretty good reason why you shouldn’t keep these two bills on autopay is that cable and satellite companies have this tradition of increasing their rates almost every year, which might include a couple of extra things, both good and bad, such as fees for new programs to watch.

When it comes to cable and satellite services, I prefer to be more old-school and pay my bills the traditional way, which means an online payment each month. Besides that, I like to take a look at my bill, because I want to know how much I actually consume over a 30-day period.

If you’re a bit old-school like me and say pass to the autopay option, you could renegotiate your services and save some dollars! Count me in for that!

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