Feeling broke in NJ? Your subscriptions may be the real culprit

We all do it.

Then you forget about it.

Many people in the course of a hectic schedule and the high cost of living in New Jersey, may not notice another $5 charge on a credit card that is already near maxed out.

Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash

Free trials and forgotten charges

On the show Tuesday, I mentioned that over the holidays, I signed up for Apple TV. I don't remember exactly who wanted to watch what show, but for $6 I thought, why not?

Of course, it's now a permanent fixture and with the limited time Jodi and I have to actually watch TV, I'm not sure it makes sense.

That said, after I mentioned it in the studio, my phone, which is always listening, prompted me to buy an app that will help me cancel unwanted and unnecessary subscriptions.

I didn't bite and instead took a couple of hours to go through my credit card bills and see if there were charges that I had forgotten about.

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What I found after combing through credit card statements

It took me about three hours of going through a couple of cards to find $251.77 in monthly charges that I promptly canceled.

It wasn't easy to track down all of the right connections to cancel, but I got the job done.

Some of the charges were duplicates — we have two subscriptions to Paramount and a subscription to ROKU left over from many years ago.

I also was finally able to cancel a subscription to Constant Contact, which is an email service I have been paying for since 2003 and haven't used since 2012.

It was only $5 a month, but it's $5 a month back in my bank account, so I'll take it.

Photo by Ross Parmly on Unsplash

Airline Wi-Fi, mystery charges, and the money I got back

The biggest offender I found was a $49 monthly charge for Wi-Fi on American Airlines. I also found a charge for $164 in Lithuania.

No, I didn't take a quick trip, and the day of the charge, I was on air and then in yoga, so I challenged it, and Amex reversed it.

All in all, I received $294 in refunds and saved $251 a month in recurring fees.

Wow, was that liberating.

It was worth every minute of my time. I recommend taking a look at your credit card bills, and if you have the time to do it, you don't need a service; just a little hard work and attention.

Weird things NJ taxes - and some they don't

In general, New Jersey assesses a 6.625% Sales Tax on sales of most tangible personal property, specified digital products, and certain services unless specifically exempt under New Jersey law.

However, the way the sales tax is applied in New Jersey sometimes just doesn't make sense.

New Jersey puts out an itemized list for retailers that spells out what is, and what is not, taxed.

Perhaps because this is New Jersey, there are some bizarre and seemingly contradictory listings.

Gallery Credit: Eric Scott

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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