Subscription costs underestimated by consumers

ATLANTA - Most families today have subscriptions of some sort like video, food, and maybe clothing. But a new survey shows that we don’t really know how much we spend each month. 

C+R Research finds we spend 2.5 more than we estimated. On average consumers guess that they spend $86 a month on subscriptions when in fact it's more like $219.  

Businesses of every type love consumers who use auto-pay and auto-renewal payment for monthly subscriptions. Yes, it’s easier for you and them, but businesses count on us to forget about them. And we do. Sometimes you will buy into something for months that you forget you even subscribed to. 

What you do to stay on top of this is to get a subscription manager. 

Here are three ways to track your subscriptions. Use your phone. These options are free and already in place. If you use Apple, go to settings, then your name, then subscriptions. The list will be right there. 

For Android users, go to your Google Play section, tap your profile icon, then make your way to your subscriptions. 

There is also Rocket Money and Mint. They both do a number of financial things for you and tracking subscriptions is one of those goodies. 

This is also a good way to do that seven-day, free trial so that you will get a reminder to stop it before you start paying monthly, if you are not interested in the product.