A price-rise notice is easy to react to in the moment. It is also easy to get wrong in either direction: renewing without thinking, or cancelling something that is still worth its new price. A short spreadsheet check helps because it replaces a gut feeling with three comparable numbers.
The 3-line check
When a price-rise notice arrives, write down three lines for that subscription:
- New monthly fee — the price that will actually be charged next.
- New yearly cost — the monthly fee stretched over a full year.
- Its share of the monthly budget — how large this one item is compared with the whole monthly budget.
The formulas are simple:
- yearly = MonthlyFee*12
- share = MonthlyFee/MonthlyBudget
- days-to-renewal = next renewal date − TODAY(), flag when ≤ 30 days
The last line is a timing check, not a price check. If renewal is more than 30 days away, there is time to compare options. If it is 30 days or fewer away, the decision needs to be made before the next charge, not after it.
Worked example: template example rows, not real bills
The numbers below are template example rows, not real bills and not a record of anyone's actual subscriptions. They are included only to show how the arithmetic works.
| Template example row | Old monthly fee | New monthly fee | Old yearly cost | New yearly cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Streaming item (template example row) | ¥28 | ¥35 | ¥336 | ¥420 |
That single change is +¥7 per month and +¥84 per year (¥420 − ¥336 = ¥84). On its own, ¥7 a month can look too small to worry about.
The point of the check is the total. In the same template example rows, the streaming item combined with the other 7 example subscriptions gives a template total of ¥346.34/month and ¥4,156/year. A single rise looks small; the total is where it shows. That is why the yearly figure and the budget share matter more than the monthly increase alone.
Three decision rules, by the numbers
Use the three lines above, plus one honest usage question: how often is it actually used?
- Small share and used often → keep. If the new fee is a small share of the monthly budget and the service is used regularly, a price rise does not automatically make it poor value. Keep it, and record the new price so the next review starts from the correct number.
- Big rise but rarely used → downgrade or compare yearly pricing. If use is rare, first check whether a lower tier covers the actual use. Then compare monthly and yearly pricing on the same basis: yearly pricing only helps if the service will still be used for the full year.
- Not opened in a year → cancel, don't pay for "maybe someday". "Maybe someday" is not a usage pattern. If there is no realistic plan to use it, cancelling is the cleaner decision, and the item can always be resubscribed later if the need returns.
These are decision rules, not a verdict for any particular service. Two people can look at the same price and reasonably reach different answers because their budgets and usage differ.
A closing honest note
This is a method plus example arithmetic, not a savings promise. The template example rows above are not a claim that anyone will save a particular amount, and everyone's list differs. Run your own numbers: put in your own monthly fee, your own monthly budget, and your own renewal date, then apply the same three lines.
If a ready-made layout helps, try the free budget sample here: free budget sample. The full Subscription & Bill Tracker is here: Subscription & Bill Tracker ($0.99).
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