Somewhere between Netflix, Spotify, iCloud, Adobe, Notion, ChatGPT, Claude, Amazon Prime, and that one gym app you forgot about, most people are hemorrhaging money to subscriptions. The average person pays for 12. Most can't name them all.
The old solution was to spreadsheet it. Track every subscription, review monthly, cancel the dead weight. It never worked. The new solution is to route each subscription through its own virtual card — and cap it.
One card per service
Create a dedicated card for Netflix. Cap it at $16 per month. If Netflix ever tries to charge more, the card declines. You get a notification. Now you know.
Do the same for Spotify. For Adobe. For the gym app. When you want to cancel a service, don't cancel — just delete the card. The next time they try to charge, the card no longer exists.
Why this is better than canceling
Half the reason people don't cancel subscriptions is that the cancellation flow is deliberately annoying. Some services require you to call. Some hide the cancel button. Some try to save you with a discount you don't want.
Deleting the card is one tap. It's also unignorable.
The bigger point
Subscriptions are how modern software gets paid, and that's fine. What isn't fine is that most billing systems assume you'll forget. Virtual cards flip that assumption. You're not the one who has to remember — the card is.