Smart ways to outsmart rising subscriptions

Here's how to get on top of them before they blow your budget. By Neesa Moodley

- By Neesa Moodley

I'm used to my annual Microsoft 365 Family subscription increasing by a nominal amount each year, but the 33% increase this year was a bit of a shocker.

That’s when I tapped into the genius of my loyal Money Cents readers — and found an alternative for just R1,199.

According to the Discovery SpendTrend 2025 report, AI subscriptions saw the highest growth in share of spend, growing more than three times in 2024 compared with the previous year.

Discovery Bank chief executive Hylton Kallner points out that the bank offers a subscription management feature that allows users to manage card links to subscriptions and services.

“This includes creating and managing virtual cards, viewing transactions grouped by card or device, and suspending or deleting card links no longer needed. Users can also manage where their card information is stored digitally by merchants,” Kallner told me after reading last week’s Money Cents newsletter.

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