Posted by One of our best practices in operating a business is to carefully review our recurring credit card charges every year. And this applies in our personal lives as well with our personal credit card recurring charges. We wanted to put this idea into your brain with the hopes that it will save you a ton of money in the coming months and years!
Please take some time to review the recurring charges on your credit cards. And just because you recognize a charge, don’t move on too quickly… is that charge accurate? It’s possible the charge is higher than it really needs to be due to add-ons you might have forgotten you added… years ago!
The Copier Story
Like most businesses, we have a large, multi-function copier in our office. Typically, the monthly pricing for these machines is based on your historical printing volume. When we reviewed our monthly charges for the copier this year, Caitlin noticed that we were being charged for 4,000 color copies/month. We used to print color brochures every month, but that has changed with the pandemic. So with a phone call to our copier company, we’re saving about 70% off our monthly fee.
The Book Binding Story
This story comes from another company in NARPM (National Association of Residential Property Managers.) The owner noticed a large piece of equipment in the back office and wondered what it was used for. After asking around, they figured out it was an old book binding machine that they were still paying for every month! They hadn’t bound any pamphlets in a decade. Subscription canceled.
The Personal Life Story
There are so many little charges you might have signed up for. Spotify accounts. Trial periods of add-on premium channels through Amazon Prime Video. A magazine subscription you don’t really read any more. And one of the worst cases… a monthly cell phone bill that has a line item for your actual phone… that should have been paid off years ago but you never called them after the 24 month hardware payment period ended. And they kept on charging you!
You might be surprised how much you can save if you go through your personal credit card statement carefully! We would love to know if this story got you thinking or was the catalyst that saved you money. Please tell us in the comments! And good luck out there.
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