Finances (private) – my subscription watchdog

1. What was the problem?

Subscriptions start everywhere: in the App Store, Google Play, via Stripe, web shops, memberships and direct debits on the bank account. I no longer had enough overview of what was running, what was double and when something renewed. And many providers hide the cancel button.

2. What is the solution?

A bot of its own for the subscriptions in our household. It searches my mail for receipts, renewals and trial periods, keeps a register and gives advice per subscription: keep, cancel or look into it.

Every Monday morning it does a check: what's new, what renews soon, where a notice period is about to run out. It never cancels or pays without my yes. After every action it updates the overview in Drive. And it works out by itself where you have to cancel; I no longer have to worry about that.

What a conversation looks like

The start on 27 August, first with the Chief of Staff and then with the new bot. My messages are almost word for word, the bot's answers in short.

16:58, me (to the Chief of Staff): "Create an agent for finances; with it I want to monitor all the subscriptions that have started somewhere and keep a critical eye on renewals or cancellations." Bot: creates the bot and gives it its task: search the mail, keep a register, a check every Monday, and never cancel or pay without my yes.

17:00, new bot: sets the weekly check for Monday 9:00 and starts with a broad search of my mail.

17:07, bot: gives the first overview: together just over 150 euros a month in known subscriptions, plus a few without an amount. It puts them in three groups: act now, keep, and look into it. Among other things it spots a Microsoft 365 subscription running double next to the family subscription, and two lots of 2 TB cloud storage from different providers.

Me: "Yes, 365 Personal can go. Go ahead and arrange it." Bot: cancels it via Google Play; the family subscription stays.

Me: "Strava can go, and CoinStats and PocketTube too." Bot: starts the cancellations via the stores where they run.

Me: "If I choose between Google One and iCloud, can you have everything moved to the other one?" Bot: files yes, photos partly, device backups no. At my request it then analyses what's in my Drive.

The result: a register of all my subscriptions and every Monday a short list of what's going on.

3. What did it take?

One sentence to the Chief of Staff to create the bot. Then access to my mail, and later three screenshots of the fixed costs on my bank account and an overview of my credit card. There's no bank connection. In your online banking you can easily export old transactions; that was enough.

4. What went well?

In the first two days I gave my yes to cancel about nine subscriptions, among them double cloud storage, apps I no longer used and a social media subscription. My internet and TV package was changed to a smaller package without sports channels, for about half the old price.

From mail and bank screens it made one complete overview of all fixed costs, with categories, subtotals and a separate tab with history. Reminders are ready for moments when something can be ended or should be looked at again.

5. What didn't go well?

Not every subscription can be cancelled by yourself. Sometimes there was no button and the bot had to email the provider, and a few cancellations stayed without confirmation for a long time. It has to keep following those up.

The spreadsheets went wrong a few times: my own changes disappeared with a new version, a file wouldn't open on the iPad and once the main tab was empty. You solve that by asking the bot to do it again, and better. By now it updates one fixed list.

Who is it useful for?

Anyone with lots of small subscriptions through different stores and apps, who wants more overview.

Connections

Gmail, Calendar and Google Drive.

What access does the bot have?

My private mail, calendar and Drive. Where there's no connection, it uses its browser; I log in there myself when needed. No bank connection: it only gets bank details from me as a screenshot or an export of transactions.

Which files are shared?

Its own folder in Drive with the subscription overviews.

Cost and time per month

Included in my subscription; a separate bot costs nothing extra (see Cost & time). It does the weekly check itself, every Monday.

Difficulty

★★ – starting is one sentence; getting the overview complete and tidy takes some back and forth.

Getting started yourself

1. Create a separate bot for your subscriptions and describe in a few sentences what it should do and what it must never do.
2. Connect your mailbox, so it can find receipts, renewals and trial periods.
3. Let it put all subscriptions from your mail, and if you like an export or screenshot of your bank debits, in one spreadsheet.
4. Go through the list yourself and choose per subscription: keep, cancel or look into it. Agree that nothing is cancelled or paid without your yes.
5. Let it check every week or month what renews or is new, and then keep updating the same list.

Status

In use since 27 August 2026, with a check every Monday.