How to find the $200 to $600 a year leaking out of your bank app

I hate wasting money. Not in a clip-coupons way. In an I-remember-what-broke-felt-like way.

When I started this company, dinner was ramen noodles. Every night, for longer than I want to admit. I still can’t eat them. Not one bite, not even now. And one morning, I came outside and discovered my car was gone. Repossessed, right off the street, while I was inside working.

So I do this exercise every month. Not because I’m disciplined. Because I know exactly what the other side of not paying attention looks like.

It all adds up fast: streaming services, delivery fees, apps, games and, of course, the two gym memberships, the Peloton subscription while the bike collects dust and a ClassPass that keeps charging you while gobbling up your “expired” credits.  

Our brains hide the evidence. Behavioral economists call it mental accounting. I don’t think twice about my $6 matcha, but that’s $2,190 per year. Broad bank categories such as groceries can hide a $60/month wine habit beside the eggs.

🔍 Feed AI the boring data

Open your bank or card app and copy last month’s transactions. Merchant descriptions and amounts only. No account numbers, no logins, no full card digits. Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok with this prompt:

You’re a financial analyst. Sort my transactions from last month into clear categories including dining, subscriptions, transportation and impulse buys. Flag every recurring charge, including ones hiding behind generic merchant names. For each, show the monthly cost and the annual total. Then rank my five biggest leaks by annual dollars: [paste spending].

No avocado toast lecture. It simply notices the multiple streaming services and the membership for the gym you last visited in February.

💰 Then make it cut

Go one layer deeper:

Based on those leaks, give me three cancellations to make this week with dollar amounts and their cancellation pages, two spending caps with a specific monthly number and one cheaper swap for my single most expensive habit. Total up what I’d save over 12 months.

Your statement isn’t lying to you. It’s just very quiet.

Cancel the dead subscriptions the same day you see them. Your future self is a liar with a busy schedule. Run the exercise again next month. Subscriptions grow back like weeds, usually right after you forget the free trial ever existed.

Find $17 a month, and that’s $204 a year back in your pocket. Find $50, and you’ve hit $600. Same lifestyle, more money, which is the only raise you can give yourself without scheduling a meeting.

📩 Send this to someone who swears they don’t spend money on anything.