Subscription creep is the silent leak in South African household budgets. It starts with Netflix and ends with cloud storage, gym fees, kids’ apps, antivirus renewals, and the AI tools you barely use.

A few rands here and there add up to hundreds every month; and thousands by year-end. The problem isn’t just the cost, it’s the invisibility. Debit orders renew quietly while you’re busy with work, school runs, and social engagements.

A 90-minute cancel sprint can reset the balance. Start by opening your banking app and sorting transactions by merchant. List every repeating debit, then tick what you truly use weekly. Everything else gets a 30-day freeze.

Most services – Spotify, YouTube Premium, and Adobe among them – let you pause without penalty. Apple users can check subscriptions under Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions, while Android users can open Google Play → Payments & Subscriptions.

Local gym contracts often need a month’s notice, but email cancellations are legally valid.

The savings can be shocking. Cutting just four unused services at R200 each frees up R800 a month, or R9 600 a year; enough to boost an emergency fund or pay off high-interest debt. Redirecting that amount into a money-market account at 8% interest turns waste into wealth.

The deeper shift is psychological. Cancelling feels like deprivation until the first debit-free payday. Then it feels like control. In a high-cost, low-growth economy, discipline is a form of income.