What’s a dollar here and a five dollar bill there? Well mathematically it’s exactly $6 bucks. But what is it in the long run, after all that’s not a lot of money especially if it only comes out of your bank account or Paypal money every six months or annually. That kind of thinking leads to large stacks of cash over the long run however.
I recently got charged for a subscription to a WordPress theme collection I had used for a friend’s website. It was a yearly subscription that I had totally forgotten about. My friend wasn’t even using the website I had set up anymore. So I had no need to pay for another year of the service, even though I was pleased with what I had received. It simply slipped my mind that it was a recurring service. That is the problem with these recurring subscriptions. They are easy to forget, especially when they are small amounts. This particular fee was about $40, so that was certainly worth contacting the company to get a refund, which they kindly provided.
If you are a super organized person it’s unlikely you will forget about any of these subscriptions that catch folks like me by surprise. You probably have your affairs in order….mine are in disarray usually! So for people in my busy boat it is best to never sign up for automatic subscriptions unless you know you are going to use the service or product for the long term. It’s much better to pay as you go in my disorganized opinion. That way you don’t waste a bunch of dollars on things you are not even using anymore.
I had another ding in my cash stack yesterday when I got popped for $34 on for a yearly subscription to an anti virus upgrade. Again I had forgotten I even signed up for the yearly service. I canceled the service after I saw the charge on my Paypal account, but have to email another division of the company to get my money back. It’s just a hassle and I know it’s my fault for forgetting in the first place. But that’s the whole reason companies like auto recurring subscriptions, folks tend to forget them and keep paying long past their actual need for the service or product.
So take it from a dummy like me. Don’t get nickel and dime’d to death with automatic subscriptions. A dollar here and there isn’t a big deal. It’s the bad habit of not keeping up with such costs that makes one bad with money in other parts of their life.
