I am going to make a lot of people unhappy today. The good news is you are not included in that group.

I’d like to share with you a quick story about how I reclaimed $215/month back into my business (over $2500/year) so I can pay my bills faster and outsource some of my business more efficiently. And if you repeat the same steps I did, you could also discover quite a bit of “found money.”

Joanna and I are trying to save up to buy a new(er) car. The one we have now is a 2001 Volvo S60, and it’s hit the 75000 mile mark. Unfortunately, the loan is upside down – meaning I owe more on it than I can resell it for.

It’s also coming up on tax time, and the downside of accelerated growth last year is that I know my tax bill is going to be much larger than I’d like it to be this April.

So last week I finally did what I should have been doing much more frequently – taking a closer look at my spending, especially for business.

Running a business of any kind can be expensive, and if you are doing it alone it’s likely you have two many leaky holes in your bucket. Income may be coming in, but unless you plug those holes you may not reach your financial goals as fast as you would like.

Here’s what I did that allowed me to reclaim $215/month back into my bank account. I took a closer look at all those subscriptions that I am paying for. I went into my Paypal account and clicked on History. Then I clicked on Advanced Search and in the drop down menu I found the item marked subscriptions. I then did a search for all subscriptions from the past 12 months.

The resulting report showed me both subscriptions I’m earning and those I am paying out. Each is marked with To/From as well as Completed, Cancelled, or Active. The To and Active are the ones I looked at more closely.

For each one of those, I clicked on details and reviewed what the product/service was. If I haven’t used it in more than 3-5 months, then I clicked the cancel subscription button at the bottom of the page.

Almost all the subscriptions I found like this were for $5, $10, $19.95 per month or so. At these amounts, each time they hit my account, I didn’t really notice too much. But after cancelling those I wasn’t using anymore, the total came to $145/month I was paying in services I wasn’t using anymore!

How can I use that money?

My electric bill generally runs about $150 here. Or I can use it to pay my car insurance and gas for the month. Or I can get 2 teleseminars transcribed. Or I can get 3 sets of graphics created for products. Or I can pay down a credit card bill faster.

However, I realized I needed to take another step. I did the same search, but this time used the dates for the entire 2006 time period. I found another $70/month that I was paying among 6 different subscriptions! So all total, I rescued $215/month that I can definitely be using in more productive ways.

Looking at my bank accounts and credit card statements will likely turn up even more “found money.”

But the real question is, if you do a similar accounting what will you be able to save and then reallocate for a more productive purpose?

Of course, what I am telling you will make a lot of people unhappy. These are the people that have been able to sell you a subscription for a service that you no longer use. And you canceling may make them ticked off at me.

Monthly memberships are all the rage right now in internet marketing circles. And for the sake of full disclosure, I agree with that 100%. In fact, I have a number of my own services that I offer on subscription and it’s a great way to have a more stable income. And if you are using the services you’re paying for, then they are usually a great value.

For example, here are a list of some of the subscriptions that I have now that I kept because of their value to me, and how they create much more revenue than I pay out:

However, the push for more membership/subscription based sites also leaves you and me vulnerable to subscribing to too many things. And it’s only going to get worse if you aren’t paying attention to what you’ve bought in the past.

So here’s my advice…

  1. Go through your own subscription history. The reporting only allows for 12 months at a time, so make sure you go back into 2006, 2005, etc. to see all your payments.
  2. Any service that you haven’t used in more than 4 months, and you know there’s no reason to keep it, cancel it.
  3. Any service you’ve used diligently but hasn’t provided results for you, you should re-evaluate its usefulness to you. If it doesn’t make the cut, then cancel.
  4. Evaluate those services you’ve subscribed to that you simply aren’t ready for. Even if a program is awesome, if you don’t have the time or pre-requisite knowledge to take advantage of it, then it’s costing you more than the benefits.
  5. Before canceling a service you are on the fence about, consider what it will take for you to profit from it. Are you just missing one piece of the puzzle that when found can make a dramatic difference?
  6. Remember key services like hosting, autoresponders, testing/tracking, and mentoring should remain in your budget. But make sure you aren’t paying for more of those services than you are using.

This President’s Day, I hope this helps you find more of those Lincolns, Hamiltons, and Benjamins that can be put to better use!

Bob Jenkins

p.s. Add up all the money you are going to save and tell me what you reclaimed in a comment below. And if you have a particular service or product you absolutely have to keep tell us about that, too.

Article Series - Business Finances

  1. How To Find Over $200 Each Month For Your Business Or Bills
  2. Buy This And Buy That: Offer Overload And What To Do About It

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