All summer I've been repeating a new phrase.
​​
Outside is expensive.
​
(Frankly, inside is expensive too - have you seen the price of avocados?)
​
​Last week we took Amtrak up to DC to see the Missy Elliott concert.
​
As we walked into the venue I saw a sign for event parking.
​
$100. For 3 hours. Even by DC standards that's banana pants.
​
Everyone's trying to get their piece of the pie where they can. And we're all feeling the financial squeeze - affecting the ability to invest in the things we really want to (read: this means other folks may be slower to buy our products and services).
​
So this week I did a little mid year check-in to review my billable tech stack - and I was able to save $2k in less than 2 hours.​
​​
Here's exactly how I did it.​
​
Cancel what you're not using
​
​The average consumer has over 12 paid subscriptions. (I counted: I'm at over 30 between personal and business. We're not going to even discuss how many fitness apps I have...)
​
Many of us have a bit of domain hoarding problem (pot, meet kettle). $15 here, $20 there. It all adds up. I was paying $1000 a year just in domain renewals!
​
​You may not even remember what you've purchased in the past - here's how to find those recurring fees:

• go through your credit card statements from the last 6-12 months and highlight all recurring and tech payments.
• look at your recent PayPal payments (many subscriptions only bill this way).
• on an iPhone, you can find your subscriptions by going to settings > your name > subscriptions. You'll see what's active, when it renews and what you're paying.

​
​Go to cancel - but ask for a discount to stick around​
​
I reviewed my Amex and saw that my annual Adobe Suite subscription had doubled in price over the previous year. For all my designers out there, there's a hack. You can use chat and tell them you're leaving and ask for a discount to stay.
​
​I saved $350 with a 5 minute support chat...and by paying it on my Amex Platinum I got another $150 reimbursed. $500 saved right there.​
​
​Delete the dead weight
​
​Some services (like your email marketing plan) are priced based on number of subscribers. So many people are reluctant to delete people off their list - but doing a regular clean out of inactive subscribers is a SMART way to increase your deliverability and make room for the folks who DO want to hear from you.
​
​Downgrade your plan​
​
I kept getting a recurring charge from Google Workspace for $45. Enough to be annoying, but not enough to get me to do anything. When I finally dug in, I realized I was paying for features I wasn't using. I downgraded the plan and saved $30 a month. I did the same thing with my internet and saved $100 a month - that's over $1500 a year.
​
Where to look first: email, web hosting, phone and internet plans. ​
​
​Move to an annual plan
​
​In some cases, you may save a LOT by switching from a monthly to an annual plan. I know I'm going to need my course hosting (Kajabi) and my email marketing (ConvertKit) on an ongoing basis. By paying annually v. monthly I save roughly $1k a year.
​
​One final quick cautionary note.
​
​I'm very reluctant to trust free (or one-time payment) software with critical aspects of my business. Here's the problem - if you're not paying for ongoing support, don't expect to get anywhere when you run into an issue. When you're paying a recurring fee, the company is more likely to stay in business, and is more motivated to support customers and keep the product up to to date.

you've got this,
Michelle
​
p.s. I'm just as keen on saving time as much as I like saving money. The next round of Time Genius starts in a few weeks. Get on the waitlist to work 1:1 through Time Genius with me here. ​