The subscription is cancelled. The money is still in the account. It sits there without instructions, and nobody has told it what to do.
I am not an expert. I have cancelled a lot of subscriptions and I have spent the money on some things I would buy again and some things I would not. This is not advice. This is just what I do.
Shark-shaped toaster
about forty dollars. Shark rating 0.4.
This is the first thing I thought of, which tells you where I am. Bread goes in. It comes out shaped like a shark. It tastes like bread. Donna asked what was wrong with the toaster we already own. Nothing is wrong with it. That was not the question she was asking.
about twenty-five dollars. Shark rating 1.6.
Small, cheap, and it makes the money feel organized. I labelled the cables behind the television. I labelled the jar. I labelled Donna’s phone charger while she was holding it. She has asked me to stop. I have not stopped, but I have slowed down.
about forty dollars. Shark rating 2.1.
If the thing you cancelled used to bring coffee to the house, this is the replacement. Whole beans keep longer than ground ones and the grinder is the part you keep. This is the argument. I have made it twice. Donna has heard it twice.
about thirty dollars. Shark rating 2.9.
Heavy, cheap, hard to break, and it will outlast the subscription by a wide margin. Do not buy one if you already have one. Do not buy a second one because the first one is dirty. I have done this. I am not proud of it.
about thirty dollars. Shark rating 3.4.
A new one. You stand under it every morning. That is the whole pitch and I stand by it. The old one works fine. The new one works better. This is the only purchase on this page I have never regretted, which is not a high bar, but it is a real one.
about thirty-five dollars. Shark rating 3.8.
The thing that annoys you every week. There is one object in your house you have been working around for years. A knife that does not cut. A lid that does not fit. A cable that does not reach. You have adapted to it, which is why you have not fixed it. I bought the knife. The annoyance stopped. I had been paying the subscription and living with the knife.
Jar with a label on it
no money spent. Shark rating 5.0.
A jar. Any jar. Write on the label where the money came from. Cancelled money is invisible until it has a container, and then suddenly it is a thing you can see. Mine sits on the shelf by the door, where I have to walk past it.
One thing you keep putting off
no money spent, for now.
There is something you have meant to buy for a year and never quite did. Most of the time you did not need subscription money for it. You needed a reason. The reason has arrived. Be careful here. This is the most expensive sentence on the page.
Nothing, for one month
no money spent. Shark rating 5.0.
Leave it alone. Do not spend it and do not move it. Find out how it feels to not have decided yet. This is the most sensible item on the list and I have never once managed it.
The jar has a label on it. The money is inside. I made it nine days. I have looked at the shark toaster twice this week without buying it. Donna says she has heard that before.