Set a timer for 60 minutes. Grab your banking app (and your credit card app, and your PayPal account, and anywhere else money leaves your possession). Make a cup of tea or coffee — the good stuff, you're about to earn it back a thousand times over. Open a fresh note on your phone or a blank spreadsheet. Ready?
This is the one-hour money audit — a systematic, no-nonsense sweep through every pound that leaves your account on a recurring basis. I've done this every year since 2018, and I have never — not once — found less than £500 in annual savings. The best year I found over £1,200. The worst year I found £520. Every single year, without fail, there is money leaking from your accounts that you either don't know about or have stopped questioning. One hour. That's all it takes to find it.
── Minute 0-5: Gather Everything ──
Before you start digging, you need all your accounts in one place. Open: your main current account (the one your salary goes into), any secondary current accounts, every credit card, your PayPal account, your Apple Pay / Google Pay transaction history, and any other account where recurring payments might be set up (Revolut, Monzo pots, etc.). Don't forget the accounts you rarely use — the old current account you kept 'just in case,' the credit card in the back of the drawer. These are often where the oldest, most-forgotten subscriptions live.
── Minute 5-15: The Direct Debit Deathmatch ──
Go through every single direct debit and standing order on every account. Not the ones you think you have — the ones actually listed. For each one, ask: what is this for? When did I last use it? If I cancelled it today, would I notice within a month? Would my life be materially worse?
UK-specific things to look for: old mobile phone insurance (you might already be covered by your home contents policy), packaged bank accounts with travel insurance you haven't used since before the pandemic (these often cost £10-£20/month), charity direct debits you set up years ago and forgot about (admirable, but intentional giving is better than forgotten giving), and TV licence payments for a property you no longer live at. Yes, that last one happens more often than you'd think.
── Minute 15-25: The Subscription Sweep ──
This is where the money usually hides. Go through every card transaction from the last 90 days looking for recurring payments — same amount, same merchant, appearing regularly. Streaming services, cloud storage, app subscriptions, premium memberships, delivery passes (Deliveroo Plus, Amazon Prime, Uber One), software subscriptions, domain names, hosting, newsletter subscriptions, Patreon pledges, OnlyFans — whatever it is, it goes on the list.
For each subscription, apply the 'One-Week Test': if you cancelled it right now, would you notice or care within seven days? If the answer is no, cancel it immediately. Don't make a list of 'things to cancel later.' Cancel them now, in real time, during the audit. The friction of cancellation is the point — it forces a genuine decision rather than a deferred one that never happens. You can always resubscribe if you genuinely miss it.
UK-specific: check for mobile phone insurance you're paying monthly (compare to your phone's current value — if the phone is two years old, you might be insuring something worth £200 for £15/month). Check for boiler cover plans (£20-£30/month) that might be more expensive than paying for a repair outright. Check gadget insurance on multiple devices — you might be able to bundle them under one home contents policy for less.
── Minute 25-35: The Insurance & Utility Shake-Up ──
Insurance is the biggest single line item where loyalty is punished. Car insurance, home insurance, life insurance, health insurance, pet insurance — every single one of these should be requoted at renewal, every single year. The industry term is 'price walking' — insurers offer competitive rates to new customers and gradually increase premiums for existing ones, betting you won't bother switching. Don't take that bet.
During the audit, check when each policy renews. Put a calendar reminder for 3 weeks before each renewal date. When that reminder fires, spend 20 minutes on comparison sites (Compare the Market, MoneySuperMarket, Confused.com, GoCompare — use at least two for a proper market view). Switch if the new quote is better. If you find a better quote but want to stay with your current provider, call them and ask them to match it. They often will — but only if you ask.
Utilities: when did you last compare energy tariffs? When did you last check if a cheaper broadband deal was available? When did you last look at your mobile phone contract to see if you're paying for data you don't use? These are infrequent decisions — once a year, maybe once every two years — but they're high-value. A 15-minute broadband comparison can save £100-£200 a year. A mobile contract review can easily find £10-£15 a month in unused allowances.
── Minute 35-45: The 'Small Print' Section ──
Bank fees: if you're paying a monthly fee for a packaged current account, check what benefits you're actually using. Travel insurance? Breakdown cover? Mobile phone insurance? If you're using all the benefits, the fee might be worth it. If you're using one or none, switch to a free account. The same logic applies to premium credit cards — if you're not earning back the annual fee in rewards, downgrade to a no-fee version.
Foreign transaction fees: if you shop online from overseas retailers or travel regularly, check whether your card charges foreign transaction fees (typically 2.75-3% per transaction). A no-foreign-fee card (several UK providers offer them) can save you £50-£200 a year depending on your habits.
Overdraft fees: if you're regularly in your overdraft, check the interest rate. Some UK banks charge 35-40% EAR on arranged overdrafts. That's credit card territory — actually, it's worse than most credit cards. If you have overdraft debt, prioritise paying it down or transferring it to a cheaper form of borrowing. The same £1,000 costs £350-400 a year in an arranged overdraft versus potentially zero on a 0% balance transfer card.
── Minute 45-55: The 'Cancel First' Rule ──
By this point you should have a list of things to cancel. Now actually cancel them — not 'think about cancelling,' not 'put on a to-do list.' Cancel them. Right now. During the audit hour.
For each cancellation, note down how much you're saving per year. Add it up. I guarantee the total will surprise you — not because any individual item is large, but because the accumulation of small recurring costs is almost always larger than you expect. This is the £10 Rule in action at scale. The first time I did this, I was genuinely shocked by the total. Every time since, I'm still surprised — different things, same pattern. Money leaks. It's what money does when you're not watching.
── Minute 55-60: Future-Proof It ──
The audit is only valuable if the savings stick. Set up a recurring calendar reminder — quarterly is ideal, annually at minimum — to rerun this hour. Create a simple tracker: a note or spreadsheet with every recurring payment, the amount, and the renewal date. When something new starts, add it to the tracker. When something gets cancelled, remove it. Keep the tracker alive.
For subscriptions you decided to keep, set a calendar reminder for one month before each renewal. When the reminder fires, ask the One-Week Test question again. Things you genuinely valued a year ago might not be things you value now. Preferences change. The subscription you needed during lockdown might not be the subscription you need today. The tracker makes those decisions explicit instead of letting them drift into auto-renew oblivion.
── The Annual ROI of This Hour ──
Let me put some numbers on this. In 2024, my audit found: a premium app subscription (£5.99/month, unused = £71.88), a cloud storage plan I'd downgraded but not actually downgraded (£7.99/month = £95.88), a streaming add-on for content I'd finished watching (£4.99/month = £59.88), an old gym membership still running despite having moved to a different gym (£19.99/month = £239.88), and several smaller recurring payments totalling about £15/month (£180/year). Total: approximately £647 saved from one hour of honest scrutiny.
In 2023, the savings were over £800 — partly because I'd let the tracker lapse and spent 18 months without running the audit. In 2025, I caught a broadband auto-renewal that had jumped from £28 to £48/month — a 20-minute call to the provider brought it back down to £26. That single item saved £264 for the year. Every year, there's something. Every year, the hour pays for itself many times over.
This isn't about pinching pennies or living a joyless, spreadsheet-driven existence. It's about making sure your money is going to things you actually value — not leaking away to companies that are betting you won't notice. An intentional life costs less than an inattentive one, and the difference compounds. One hour. A cuppa. And hundreds of pounds back in your pocket. That's a deal worth taking.
Nothing on this site is financial advice. All numbers are personal examples from my own experience — your situation and savings will vary. Always check the terms of any financial product before switching. Some contracts have early termination fees. Some packaged accounts provide genuine value that's worth the fee. Use your judgment.