How to Track and Budget Your Email & Cloud Subscriptions
Part 3 of the Cost Clarity Series
If you missed the earlier articles, you can catch up here:
Part 1: Why Are Technology Costs So Vague and How Can You Get Clarity?
Part 2: The Simple Formula to Find Your True Monthly Cost per Computer
HAPPY THANKSGIVING 🤗🦃
Even though it’s Thanksgiving today, I didn’t want to take a break from sending our newsletter. At the same time, composing a big formal Thanksgiving message felt like it might fall flat as I’ve always believed actions speak louder than words.
So here’s what I’m genuinely excited to share:
This week, I’m continuing our mini-series called “The Real Cost of Technology” with a true gesture of gratitude.
We’re launching something brand new for our clients: a technology subscription tracker designed to bring total clarity to those hidden tech costs that quietly eat away at your budget (and your peace of mind).
And in the spirit of giving, I wanted to make this available not only to our clients, but to everyone who follows us along even if we haven’t met yet.
If you’re a CTS client, you’ll soon gain access to this tool. With all the details managed for you behind the scenes, all you need to do is take a look whenever you want that sense of calm around your numbers.
For everyone else, you can grab the very same template, totally free, and use it to untangle your own tech expenses on your terms.
Here’s to a Thanksgiving marked by both words of gratitude and actions that truly support and care for you.
Now, a quick reminder before we dive in:
This article is part of our Cost Clarity Series. A plain-English roadmap demystifying every area of your technology spend so you finally get calm, not chaos, around your tech budgets.
In Part 1, we tackled why understanding your tech costs changes everything for your business.
In Part 2, we showed you how to calculate the real monthly cost of a computer, so you are not guessing, you are steering.
Now, Part 3: it’s time to shine a light on the most “obvious” (yet most ignored) pile of business tech expense… your email and cloud subscriptions.
Let’s fix this together so you can finally see every line item, know what it’s for, and bring all those renewals out of the fog and onto your radar. ⛴️
The Overlooked Cost Hiding in Plain Sight
Let me let you in on a little industry secret.
Email and cloud subscriptions are the easiest numbers to find…and yet, they are the most overlooked, the most misunderstood, and the most likely to spawn “mystery charges” that drive business owners up the wall.
Most owners have no single place to track what they are paying for, let alone why there’s money leaving their account every month. It’s a classic case:
Licenses are “magically” added as staff arrive or depart
Subscriptions auto-renew on forgotten cards
One stray credit card, assigned to an employee a year ago, is still quietly paying for an app nobody uses
Every new client we’ve ever taken on is paying for things they’d forgotten sometimes for years. And they knew it! The problem wasn’t their intelligence. It was simply not knowing where to start, or feeling it would swallow a whole weekend.
The real cost isn’t just wasted money. It is the anxiety that creeps in, making you hesitate to get the software tools your team really needs, or dreading that next tech-related conversation.
Every forgotten renewal or unused license is like leaving a faucet running. The water seems cheap when it's only a few dollars here and there, but slowly and surely, it can flood your office and drain your tank.
Why This Matters 🌊
Look, this isn’t just about dollars and cents.
It is about giving yourself a sense of control and calm, no matter the size of your ship.
Even if you’re a small studio, you’re still sailing in the same waters as the big ones, and a small leak could have a bigger impact on you than it would on them. So if the large studios are budgeting and knowing every expense they have before it hits their expense sheet, you should do the same.
The Simple Math of Subscriptions ✍️
Here’s the fun part.
There’s no fancy formula here. Just know what you are paying for, and why.
To start a tracker:
Write down every recurring tech expense you can find. Every app, license, and subscription that helps your business work.
Note what it costs you per month (or divide annual by 12 if billed yearly).
If you pay an IT partner, admin, or have security add-ons, include those ongoing recurring costs here (we’ll cover project-related IT costs in the next episode).
What goes on the list?
These are your business “lines of applications” and related services. The tech stuff that keeps your operation humming.
Email: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace
Creative Tools: Adobe Creative Cloud, Photoshop, InDesign, AutoCAD, SketchUp
Project Apps: Asana, ClickUp, time tracking
Communication/Internet: VOIP, Internet, maybe your CRM
Every single tech tool and service you pay for on a recurring basis should end up on the list.
Once you start, you will be shocked at how quickly this “fog” clears up.
Building Your Subscription Tracker 🧮
Let’s keep this painless.
You can do this in Google Sheets or Excel. Whichever feels easiest.
It takes less than an hour to knock out your first version, and from there, it almost runs itself.
Here is what we recommend (and use for CTS clients):
Sheet 1: “Subscriptions”
| Column | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Who gets paid (like Microsoft, Adobe) |
| Product | The app/service purchased (like 365 Business Standard) |
| Quantity | Number of seats or licenses |
| Billing Frequency | Monthly, annual, or one-time |
| Monthly Cost | What you pay per month (or annual divided by 12) |
| Annual Cost | Great for budget forecasting |
| Admin | Person/email who owns or manages the account |
| Notes | Renewal dates, login info, comments, or reminders |
We don’t have a changelog sheet included in ours, as we track those changes elsewhere in our support system, but you can easily add your own changelog sheet if you wish to document when and how every change is made.
Sheet 3: “Descriptions”
Just a quick tab explaining every column. Super helpful for any teammate who helps later.
OUR WAY OF SAYING THANK YOU, THIS THANKSGIVING
👉 Download our free template here.
Note: We continuously update our subscription tracker for our clients. The copy you download may look slightly different, but it will always be the best version we have.
Get the Full Picture with the Overview Page 🚦
One of my favorite features of our subscription tracker is the Overview page. Think of this as your ship’s bridge. A clean, at-a-glance dashboard that gives you a snapshot of your entire technology spend before you ever dive into the details.
On this summary sheet, you’ll be able to:
See your total monthly and annual spend across all subscriptions, updated automatically as you add or update items in your list.
Spot your spending by payment frequency whether monthly, annually, semi-annually, or any custom schedule you use. This makes forecasting cash flow simple and helps you plan for those bigger renewals before they sneak up on you.
Quickly count the total number of subscriptions your business currently maintains.
Just like a captain checking gauges on the bridge, the Overview page keeps you oriented, so you know exactly where your budget stands at any given moment. One glance and you’ll see if anything’s off course, no hunting through endless rows needed. 📊
This is the secret ingredient that turns subscription tracking from “yet another spreadsheet” into a daily leadership tool.
It’s your numbers, accurate, clear, and in full view.
Avoiding the Common Mistakes 🚩
A few things everyone trips over at least once:
Paying for seats no one uses
Forgetting to cancel old software when you upgrade or switch solutions
Letting renewals sneak by on old or multiple credit cards
Multiple admins or accounts managing separate tools, hello, confusion!
Never reviewing the list because “well, it works fine… right?”
You can’t control what you can’t see.
Treat your new tracker like radar. It shows what’s lurking beneath the surface, before it bumps your bottom line.
The Value Beyond the Numbers 🚦
After you set this up, I promise, it will pay you back way beyond dollars and cents.
Our clients always think it is "just for budgeting." Turns out, they use it for everything:
Quick annual reviews (hello, fast ROI)
Auditing which tools are being used, by who, and why
Deciding when to switch from monthly to annual plans for savings
And most importantly, making better, more confident decisions with every tech investment
You do not have to wait for your IT partner to do this.
You can start now.
But if your current IT support never gives you this clarity? It is time to ask why.
No serious business should be left guessing what they are paying for.
Your Next Step: Make Progress, Not Excuses ⚓️
Look, when it comes to your business, your clients always come first.
But working on your business and not just in it is the only way you level up.
I know projects like this get pushed to the back burner. The good news? This is one “internal project” you can finally handle, because you have the template ready to go.
My best advice:
Don’t delay. Take a small step now.
Decide: Will you ask your IT partner to step up, or will you and your team just start logging charges as you see them?
Once it is started, keeping it up takes minutes, not hours.
Add subscriptions in as you see the invoices show up.
As you start to fill it in, you’ll see progress fast and a lot more clarity than if you just wait for the “perfect time” to fix it all.
If you want to see how we keep delivering a personalized and informative dashboard for our clients’ technology to help them navigate with clarity, just reach out. I’m always happy to chat.
Up Next:
In the next episode of our Cost Clarity Series, we’ll tackle network and internet costs.
First step: Build your tracker, download ours below, or call your IT partner today. Either way, you’re done guessing. Now you’re truly in control.