Declutter Your Accounts

The transition from a paper to a digital world seemed fast and furious.

Today the average American has 100 online accounts, according to password management company NordPass. They pay an average of $220 a month for streaming and other subscription services, according to CNBC.

Three quarters of us subscribe to multiple streaming services and a third of have up to four accounts, like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime. Netflix is by the largest, with over 300 million subscribers. Amazon Prime has 205 million and Disney (bundled with Hulu and ESPN+ has 300 million.

With automatic debits and credit card charges, and services merging and combining, it’s no surprise that that people end up paying for duplicate accounts. So, how do we keep track of the multiple digital accounts, especially streaming accounts?

Step One: Inventory

Michael Liersch, head of Advice and Planning for Wells Fargo, says the first step, whether you are single or married, is to do an inventory of your accounts.

“If you don’t remember that you subscribed to it, that gives you another benchmark, which is, are you really using those subscriptions?” he asks. Do they have value to you?

Amazingly, a quarter of streaming service subscribers have at least one account that they don’t use, according to a LendingTree survey. That jumps to 42% among GenZers.

“The bottom line here is a lot of people forget about actually getting all the subscriptions that they recall on the table and prioritizing what they find most valuable to least valuable,” he says. “Either as an individual or in a marriage or in a household with kids or grandkids, that’s really the first step.”

That inventory would include newspaper and magazine subscriptions, apps, streaming services and more. “Perhaps you signed up for a temporary free service as a subscription, one month, three months, six months, and then you forgot that after that period of time,” he says. “You’d be paying for it. And you have to ask yourself, did you get the intended value out of it, or did you forget to cancel it?”

A survey by CNET found that 48% of its survey respondents signed up for a subscription and then forgot about it.

Step Two: Check for Duplicates

After you do an inventory, the next step is to see if there are duplicate digital accounts.

Once you have that list, where are you duplicating things? Are both you and your partner subscribing to the same online news or streaming service, and is there a way to simplify it?

There are plenty of reports of people discovering they have multiple Netflix accounts. What happened to your old Hulu account when it went under the Disney umbrella? Are you still paying? Are you and your spouse both paying for a New York Times online subscription?

Step Three: Consolidate and Track Payments

One way to ensure that you cancel free trials and aren’t paying for one you don’t use is by putting all subscriptions on one credit card or one account. But Liersch says it is up to each individual – there may be other things to consider, such credit card rewards.

But there are also websites and software that can help you keep track of your subscriptions. Among them are personal finance website Rocket Money and budgeting app PocketGuard.

YOUR TURN

Did you inventory and declutter all your subscriptions and online accounts?  How did you do? Share your experience in the comments!

 

Want more financial info?  Check out all of Senior Planets resources at our dedicated finance page.

 

Rodney A. Brooks is an award-winning journalist and author. The former Deputy Managing Editor/Money at USA TODAY, his retirement columns appear in U.S. News & World Report and Senior Planet.com. He has also written for National Geographic, The Washington Post and USA TODAY and has testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. His book, “The Rise & Fall of the Freedman’s Bank, And Its Lasting Socio-economic Impact on Black America” was released in 2024. He is also author of the book “Fixing the Racial Wealth Gap.” His website is www.rodneyabrooks.com

Your use of any financial advice is at your sole discretion and risk. Seniorplanet.org and Older Adults Technology Services from AARP makes no claim or promise of any result or success.