You Forgot About Six of Them, Didn't You
A 30-day free trial. A one-time HBO binge that turned into 11 months of autopay. A workout app you used twice in March. A photo backup service running on a phone you haven't opened in a year.
This calculator counts the dead weight on your statement and tells you what those zombies are costing per month, per year, and over the time you've been ignoring them.
What This Calculator Does
You tell it how many active subscriptions you have, the average monthly cost, how many you actually used this month, and roughly how long the rest have been dormant. The calculator computes how many of them are zombies, how much they cost per month and per year, your lifetime waste so far, and a graveyard tier that gets darker the bigger the pile is.
The zombie count is the number the rest depends on. Most people guess low.
How to Use This Calculator
Active subscriptions. Open your bank or card statement, search for "monthly," and count. Streaming, news, apps, fitness, software, cloud storage, dating apps, niche newsletters, audiobooks, the works.
Average monthly cost. Most subscriptions cluster around $8 to $15. If yours skew expensive (Apple One, Adobe, Notion teams), bump up.
Subs you actually used this month. Be ruthless. Opened it once for 90 seconds doesn't count.
Months since you used the rest. A rough average. Three months means "I started ignoring them recently." Ten months means "I've been paying for memories."
The Formula Behind the Math
zombies = total_subs - used_recently
monthly ghost spend = zombies * avg_monthly
annual ghost spend = monthly ghost spend * 12
lifetime waste = monthly ghost spend * months_avg_unused
For 12 active subscriptions at $12 each, 4 used recently, and 7 months of dormancy:
That $1,152 buys roughly 17 months of premium Netflix, three years of an excellent newsletter, or a single dishwasher repair.
Tips and Things to Watch Out For
Annual subscriptions hide. Anything you paid yearly may not show up on a monthly statement. Search by year and add those in.
Bundled subscriptions count separately. Apple One, Amazon Prime, and Google One bundle multiple services. Even if you cancel the bundle, you may already pay separately for the same thing.
Family plans you don't use. If you're paying for a family plan but only using one slot, you have a hidden zombie inside an active subscription.
The "I'll cancel next month" loop. It's the same loop that built the graveyard. Pick one to cancel today.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find subscriptions I forgot?
Search your bank and card statements for the word "monthly" and for round numbers like "$9.99," "$12.99," "$14.99." Email search for "renewal" or "your subscription is starting" usually surfaces another two or three.
What's a normal number of subscriptions?
Most US households have between 8 and 14 active subscriptions, with about 60% to 70% getting regular use. A graveyard count above 5 is high; above 10 is alarming.
Why is the lifetime waste sometimes higher than the annual ghost spend?
Because you've been paying for them longer than a year. The lifetime line uses the months-since-used input as a multiplier, not 12.
Should I cancel everything?
No. The healthiest move is to cancel the zombies, audit the actives quarterly, and replace one paid subscription with a free or library alternative if there's an easy swap.