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Subscription Purge · Leak Detection

Subscription bleed · monthly, annual, 5- and 10-year lifetime cost.

Subscriptions compound silently — $15/mo looks small until you see $1800 over ten years. This tool stacks your lines, sums the monthly bleed, and projects the 5- and 10-year lifetime cost. Every dollar cut here extends the runway on the Runway Zero calculator.

Part of: Big Life Decisions, By the Numbers

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Fields marked optional can be skipped; results update as you type
Subscription Purge · Leak Detection
Active Drains
Sinking Ship · Hull Leaks
2 visible leaks · each represents ~$30/mo of drain
Monthly Bleed
$58.00
Verdict: Moderate_Drain
A few leaks · quick cleanup recovers real cash
Annual cost
$696
5-year cost
$3480
10-year cost
$6960
→ Pipe this monthly recovery into the Runway Zero calculator — every $50/mo cut extends your bankruptcy date by weeks.
Monthly bleed = Σ(line_monthly). Lifetime = monthly × 12 × years. Subscriptions compound silently — the 10-year column is why.

Before you act on the result

Logic tools help expose a tradeoff, but they cannot see the full situation around the decision. Use the result to slow down the choice and name the assumption that matters most.

If one input drives the answer, test that assumption before treating the result as stable.

More about this tool

How to use this tool
  1. Add every active subscription (streaming, cloud, apps, memberships) with monthly cost.
  2. Monthly bleed = Σ(line). Lifetime = monthly × 12 × years.
  3. Under $25/mo = minimal · $75–150 = serious · $300+ = taking on water.
  4. Pipe monthly recovery into the Runway Zero calculator — every $50 cut extends the bankruptcy date by weeks.

Examples

5 typical subs @ $12/mo avg
Monthly $60 · Annual $720 · 5-year $3600 · 10-year $7200 · Moderate_Drain.
15 subs @ $20/mo avg
Monthly $300 · 10-year $36000 · Hull_Breach — kill the bottom half now.

Next up

Subscriptions trimmed? Recalculate your runway.How Long Will My Money Last? → Keeping a sub? Find the lifetime-purchase crossover.Subscription, or Buy It Once? →

Frequently asked questions

› What about annual plans?

Divide by 12 and enter as monthly. The math is the same; the psychology is different — annual feels cheaper but compounds identically.

› Why the 10-year projection? Troubleshooting

Without inflation adjustment it's conservative. The real 10-year cost is worse once prices creep, which most subscriptions do annually.

Tips & related reading

See the Big Life Decisions, By the Numbers hub →

Tips & how-tos

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