Money
AI automation to track subscriptions
Finds renewal mail, lists what you still pay for, and reminds you before the next charge. You decide what to keep.
Level: Augment.
Trigger
When a renewal or receipt email arrives
Setup
about 40 min (estimate)
Before you start
- Gmail search — https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190
- Google Sheets — https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6000292
- An AI chat — https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-custom-instructions
- Google Calendar — https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/72143
Steps
Search a year of renewal mail
In Gmail, run one search for receipts, renewals, and trials from the last year. Search help: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190
subject:(receipt OR renewal OR "your subscription" OR trial) newer_than:1y
Ask the chat for a table
Paste the subjects, dates, and the amount line. Delete account numbers and any currency symbol first. Save the instructions if you will run this again. Custom instructions: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-custom-instructions
Turn this mail into a subscription table. Use only what I paste. Columns: name, how often it bills (month or year), renewal date, amount as a plain number, keep or cancel or unsure. If the amount or the date is missing, write missing. Do not invent a service. Do not tell me to cancel anything I did not mark. Mail: [paste]
Put the table in a sheet
Paste the table into a new sheet. One row per service. Sheets help: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6000292
Show the yearly cost
Row 1 is the header: A name, B how often (month or year), C renewal date, D amount, E keep or cancel. Put this formula in F2. It multiplies a monthly amount by 12 and leaves a yearly amount as it is. A sum of column F is the year. Sum help: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093669
=IF(B2="month",D2*12,IF(B2="year",D2,""))
Mark keep or cancel
For each row, write keep or cancel. If you have not used it since the last renewal, lean cancel, then check the mail before you do anything in the shop.
Remind yourself three days before
For each keep, and for each trial you might be charged for, add a calendar event three days before the date. You still cancel in the shop yourself. Create an event: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/72143
Label the next receipt
Add a Gmail filter that labels future receipts and renewals, so next time you search one label instead of the whole inbox. Filter help: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579
Example output
Subscriptions - Cloud storage. Billed every month. Renews on the 4th. Yearly is twelve times the monthly amount. Keep. - A news app. Billed once a year. Renews on 18 March. Opened twice. Cancel. - A design-app trial. Ends on the 21st. Cancel before it renews. Next: a calendar reminder three days before the 4th, and one three days before the 21st.
Power move
One Gmail search finds a year of receipts, renewals, and trials. In the sheet, show the yearly cost, not only the monthly one, so a small monthly charge cannot hide a large year.
What to check
- Each row matches a real email, including the renewal date.
- The yearly figure is twelve times a monthly amount, or the yearly amount itself.
- Nothing was cancelled or paid from this page.
What it can't do
It does not cancel a subscription, pay a bill, or sign in to a bank or a shop. It can miss a charge that never arrived by email. Delete account numbers before you paste. You confirm every keep or cancel yourself.
Privacy
Paste only the text a chat tool needs. Leave out passwords, account numbers, and identity numbers. The steps link to each tool's own help page when a setting matters.