Get productive quickly
This guide explains the app in plain language. You can read it from top to bottom or jump to the section you need.
🚀 1. Start
Create an account, sign in, and begin with the subscriptions or renewal items that matter most. You do not need to enter everything on day one.
Best first five: highest-cost subscription, nearest renewal, longest cancellation notice, most-used service, and one service you think you may no longer need.
💳 2. Add a subscription or renewal item
Open Subscriptions → Add item. Enter the vendor, amount, billing frequency, renewal date, cancellation notice, auto-renewal setting, and your current usage/value scores.
The app annualizes different billing frequencies so you can compare costs more fairly.
🏠 3. Use the dashboard
The dashboard shows monthly run rate, estimated annual spend, upcoming renewals, low-use savings opportunities, and an average risk score. A high risk score means “review soon,” not “automatically cancel.”
🛡️ 4. Renewal Defense Mode
This is your deadline-protection workspace. Review items that renew within 120 days. Use the negotiation, cancellation, and downgrade script builders to prepare before contacting the vendor.
Always verify the contract and actual deadline with the provider.
💰 5. Use Savings Lab
Change the scenario percentages to see illustrative savings from cancelling low-use items, downgrading plans, or negotiating. The results are planning estimates, not guaranteed savings.
🎓 6. Learn from 1,000 case studies
Filter by USA or EU/global, category, difficulty, and keywords. View Only lets you study a case without changing your data. Save As My Plan creates your own editable copy.
The cases are fictionalized educational scenarios based on common real-world renewal patterns. They are not claims about specific named customers or providers.
🧭 7. Build your plan
A plan contains an objective, decision target, steps, status, due date, and notes. Edit anything. The app is designed so your own facts replace the assumptions in a case study.
☎️ 8. Document vendor conversations
Use the Vendor Contact Log after calls, emails, chats, and portal actions. Record what was offered, what you requested, confirmation numbers, and the next step.
🔐 9. Protect your data
Use a unique password. Do not place payment card numbers, passwords, medical records, government ID numbers, or other highly sensitive secrets in notes. Production deployment should use Neon Postgres, HTTPS, secure cookies, and secrets stored only in Vercel environment variables.
🗓️ 10. Recommended monthly workflow
- Open Renewal Defense.
- Review everything renewing within 90–120 days.
- Verify cancellation deadlines.
- Check usage and value scores.
- Contact vendors early when negotiation is worthwhile.
- Update amounts and renewal dates after each decision.
- Review Reports and Savings Lab.
- Export a CSV backup when appropriate.