Find every subscription draining your account with Claude

Why this beats guessing

• 💸 People estimate they spend $86 a month on subscriptions, but the real average is $219 a month, about 2.5x more (C+R Research survey of 1,000 consumers: crresearch.com).
• 🫥 42% of people in that same study admitted they kept paying for a subscription they'd stopped using and forgot about.
• 🌏 The viral version uses ChatGPT's Finances feature, which is US only, needs a Plus or Pro plan, and connects your real accounts through Plaid (OpenAI Help Center: help.openai.com). The Claude version below works anywhere Claude does, off files you already have.

Step 1: export your statements

1. 🏦 Find the export. Open your banking app or internet banking and look for Statements, then Export or Download.
2. 📄 Pick CSV. Pick CSV if it's offered (PDF works too, Claude reads both: support.claude.com).
3. 🗓 Go back 12 months. Grab 3 months minimum, 12 months if you can, because annual renewals only show up once a year and they're the ones everyone forgets.
4. ✂️ Optional comfort step. Delete or blank the account number column before uploading, the build doesn't need it.

Step 2: give the files to Claude

1. 💬 Open a new chat. Go to claude.ai and start a new chat.
2. 📎 Drop the files in. Drag the files in, or use the plus button (Claude takes up to 20 files in one chat, so every account and card can go in together).

Step 3: run Prompt 1 (the audit + dashboard)

Copy this exactly:

I've uploaded my bank and card statements. Go through every transaction and find all subscriptions and recurring charges, including annual and quarterly ones that only appear once. For each one give me: merchant name, category (streaming, software, fitness, insurance, utilities, other), amount, billing frequency, and the most recent charge date. Convert everything to a monthly equivalent. Then build me an interactive dashboard with: my total monthly recurring spend, a category breakdown, a month-by-month trend, and a table of every subscription sorted by cost. Flag anything that looks duplicated, rarely used, or like it has quietly gone up in price. Cream background, terracotta accents.

Step 4: run Prompt 2 (the cancel plan)

Stay in the same chat and paste:

Now help me decide what to cancel. Sort every recurring charge into keep, review, or cancel based on cost and how essential it looks, and ask me about any charge you can't judge from the data. Show me the total I'd save per year if I follow the cancel list, then give me the cancellation order, highest saving first.

Bonus prompt: catch the price creep

Compare the most recent charge for each subscription against its earlier charges in these statements and flag anything that has quietly increased in price.

Make it a habit