Cut three monthly subscriptions from $59.85 to $18.12 with ChatGPT's help

Posted

Sep 13, 2026 by Elton Jones (Tom's Guide)

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Last checked

Oct 17, 2026

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Method:

How we verify

Evidence: Article or interviewA newsletter, journalist or interview account of what happened.

Beginner-friendlyNo logins, payments or coding needed. Low risk: paste the prompt and you should get something useful.

Outcome

Tom's Guide's Elton Jones asked ChatGPT for money-saving prompts and used its feedback plus his own research to review his recurring costs. He says he cut his three subscriptions from $59.85 to $18.12 a month by dropping Netflix from $19.99+ to the $8.99+ tier, switching Crunchyroll from $9.99+ monthly to an annual plan working out at $8.33+ a month, and moving to Experian's free credit-report plan.

Agent

ChatGPT

The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.

Let's work this out together. I'll tell you what I know, you suggest options and ask what you need, and we'll narrow it down step by step. Nothing gets booked, bought or sent until I say so.

Goal: Go through my subscriptions together and find cheaper plans, annual options or free alternatives for each.

What I'll share as we go:
- Each subscription with plan name and monthly price
- How much I actually use each one
- Benefits I already get elsewhere (e.g. free credit reports from my card)

You're not my accountant or financial adviser. Show your working, label estimates as estimates, and tell me which points a professional or the official source should confirm.

Rules:
- For each subscription, list cheaper tiers, annual-billing savings and free alternatives, with the monthly cost of each.
- Check current prices on the official site; prices change often.
- Point out overlaps with benefits I already have.
- Total my current and new monthly cost.
- If a site asks for a login, a CAPTCHA or payment details, stop and hand control back to me.
- Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.

Output: A table: service, current plan and price, best option, new monthly cost, and the saving.

You'll know it worked when: I know exactly which plan to switch to for each service and what I'll save per month.

Let's work this out together. I'll tell you what I know, you suggest options and ask what you need, and we'll narrow it down step by step. Nothing gets booked, bought or sent until I say so.

Goal: Go through my subscriptions together and find cheaper plans, annual options or free alternatives for each.

What I'll share as we go:
- Each subscription with plan name and monthly price
- How much I actually use each one
- Benefits I already get elsewhere (e.g. free credit reports from my card)

You're not my accountant or financial adviser. Show your working, label estimates as estimates, and tell me which points a professional or the official source should confirm.

Rules:
- For each subscription, list cheaper tiers, annual-billing savings and free alternatives, with the monthly cost of each.
- Check current prices on the official site; prices change often.
- Point out overlaps with benefits I already have.
- Total my current and new monthly cost.
- If a site asks for a login, a CAPTCHA or payment details, stop and hand control back to me.
- Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.
- For annual plans, show the upfront cost and when it renews so I'm not surprised.

Output: A table: service, current plan and price, best option, new monthly cost, and the saving.

You'll know it worked when: I know exactly which plan to switch to for each service and what I'll save per month.

Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.

Source

https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/7-chatgpt-prompts-that-could-help-cut-your-monthly-expenses-including-one-that-lowered-3-of-my-bills