Most prop traders know their daily loss limit. Fewer know, at 1:30 PM after three trades, exactly how much of it is left, and whether the stop on the next trade still fits inside it. That's the moment the limit gets broken: not on one huge loss, but on a normal-sized trade taken with too little room left.

This post builds a small log that answers two questions after every trade: how much room is left today, and can I take the next trade at its planned stop?

Example values only. The 2,000 limit below is made up. Firms measure daily loss differently (from start-of-day balance or equity, with or without open P&L, with different reset times). Check your own firm's written rules and change the setup to match.

1. Set up the log

One row per closed trade. Columns:

• A Date, B Time (a real time value, not text)
• C Trade, D Realized P&L
• E Day P&L so far, F Room left, H Status (formulas)
• G Next stop risk: what you'd lose if the next trade hits its stop

Put the settings to the side: K1 = daily loss limit (example: 2000), K2 = caution level as a share of the limit (example: 25%).

2. Running day P&L

In E2, then fill down:

=SUMIFS($D$2:$D$100,$A$2:$A$100,A2,$B$2:$B$100,"<="&B2)

It adds every trade on the same date up to and including this one. It resets each new date, and the order of rows doesn't matter because it filters by time.

Keep B as real times. If you type times as text, the "<="&B2 comparison stops working and every row shows 0.

3. Room left

In F2:

=$K$1+E2

This assumes a fixed limit measured from start-of-day balance, so a winning trade adds room (2,350 after the first trade above). If your firm doesn't work that way, this is the cell to change.

4. Status: can I take the next trade?

In H2:

=IF(F2<=0,"STOP: limit hit",IF(G2>F2,"Skip: stop too big",IF(F2<$K$2*$K$1,"Caution","OK")))

In order:

1. Room at or below zero: the limit is gone.
2. The next stop risk is bigger than the room left: a single stop-out would break the limit, so skip it or size down.
3. Room under 25% of the limit: caution.
4. Otherwise, OK.

In the example, day one ends with 400 of room left and a planned 500 stop. The sheet says skip, and that's the trade that would have broken the limit. On day two nobody checked, and the last trade takes room to -50.

Add conditional formatting so "Skip" and "STOP" stand out at a glance.

5. One row per day

On a second sheet, list each date once:

=SORT(UNIQUE(FILTER(Log!A2:A100,Log!A2:A100<>"")))

Then, for each date in A2:

• Day P&L: =SUMIFS(Log!$D$2:$D$100,Log!$A$2:$A$100,A2)
• Worst point: =MINIFS(Log!$E$2:$E$100,Log!$A$2:$A$100,A2)
• Lowest room: =Log!$K$1+C2
• Limit hit?: =IF(D2<=0,"Yes","No")

"Worst point" matters more than the day's close. A day can dip below the limit and then recover, and some firms count the dip; check your firm's rules. This sheet only sees closed trades, though. If your firm counts open P&L, a dip while a trade was open won't show up here.

6. Use it before you click

The routine is short:

1. Log the trade the moment it closes.
2. Before the next entry, type its stop risk in G.
3. If H doesn't say OK, don't place the trade as planned.

SORT, UNIQUE, FILTER and MINIFS need Excel 365 or 2021, or Google Sheets. Not tested there, so check them once in your own copy.

If you'd rather start from a ready-made log that tracks your trades and stats, the Trader's Edge Journal is ours.

Finding your subscriptions is the easy part. The hard part is deciding, every month, which ones still earn their place. "I might use it" keeps a lot of them alive. This post builds a small review sheet that turns that into a rule: cost per use, days since you last used it, and a Keep / Review / Cancel column that fills itself in.

It takes about 10 minutes a month. No add-ons, no scripts.

1. One row per subscription

You need a list of what you pay for. If you don't have one yet, your bank or card statement is the place to start. Then add two things you only know yourself:

• Uses (30 days): a rough count. Opened the app, went to the gym, watched something. Guess honestly; it doesn't need to be exact.
• Last used: the date you last used it.

Columns: Service (A), Monthly cost (B), Uses (C), Last used (D). Put your review date in J1 (the first of the month works) and your limit for "too expensive per use" in J2. I use 3.

2. Days idle and cost per use

Days idle in E2:

=$J$1-D2

Cost per use in F2:

=IF(C2=0,"",B2/C2)

The IF keeps a zero-use service from causing a divide-by-zero error; it just stays blank. Format E as a whole number and F as a number with two decimals. Then fill both columns down.

Example data: made-up services. One use of a 9.99 service costs 9.99; daily use of 2.99 storage costs about 10 cents a time.

Cost per use is the number that changes minds. A 44.00 gym visited three times is 14.67 a visit. That might still be worth it, but now it's a choice.

3. Let a rule make the first call

In G2:

=IF(OR(C2=0,E2>60),"Cancel",IF(F2>$J$2,"Review","Keep"))

The rule reads:

• Cancel if you didn't use it at all this month, or haven't touched it in over 60 days.
• Review if each use costs more than your limit in J2.
• Keep otherwise.

Example data: the news site and the language app haven't been used in 79 and 122 days, so they come up as Cancel.

The rule is a first call, not the final word. "Review" means you decide: a pricey gym might be fine if you're going more next month. Change the 60 days and the limit in J2 until the results match what you'd decide yourself.

4. Add up what's at stake

Three summary cells to the right:

J4: =SUMIFS(B2:B9,G2:G9,"Cancel")*12
J5: =COUNTIF(G2:G9,"Review")
J6: =SUM(B2:B9)

J4 is what cancelling the "Cancel" rows saves in a year, J5 is how many need a decision, and J6 is your monthly total today.

Example data: cancelling two small, unused services saves 203.88 a year.

5. Make it monthly

On the first of each month:

1. Change the review date in J1.
2. Update Uses and Last used for each row.
3. Act on every Cancel, and decide every Review.
4. Write down what you cancelled and when, so you can check the charge stops next month.

Copy the sheet each month (Duplicate sheet, rename it "Nov 2026") if you want a history of what you dropped and how your monthly total moved.

Honest limits

• Use counts are self-reported. The sheet is only as honest as your guesses.
• Some value isn't per use. Backup storage or insurance-like services earn their keep by existing. Mark those Keep by hand.
• Annual plans need dividing first. Put the monthly equivalent (yearly price / 12) in column B, and note the renewal date somewhere so cancelling happens before it renews.
• Cancel means actually cancelling. The sheet doesn't stop any charge; you still have to do that on each service's account page.

If you'd like the list side handled for you, with renewal dates and every billing cycle converted to monthly and yearly cost, I made a Subscription Tracker for Google Sheets and Excel.

The migration finished and the record counts look about right: 9 Accounts in the old system, 8 in Salesforce. Close enough? Not quite. "About right" can hide a record that never arrived, one that arrived twice, and one that showed up from nowhere, all cancelling each other out. This post shows how to find each of those with two CSV exports and a spreadsheet.

1. Why you can't match on record IDs

Salesforce gives every record a new 15/18-character Id when it's inserted. The old system's IDs don't survive the move, so you can't line the two exports up by Id. You need a key that exists on both sides.

2. Pick a stable external key

Most migrations carry the old system's ID into a custom field, often marked as an External ID (for example Legacy_ID__c). That's the key. Export it on both sides:

• Source: the old system's export, with its ID column.
• Target: a Salesforce report or Data Loader export with Legacy_ID__c, Name and Id.

If there's no shared key, stop here. Matching on name or email is a different (and much fuzzier) job, and this method won't do it reliably.

Example data: the Source sheet with the D4 status formula showing in the formula bar. Fake Accounts; across both sheets there are six problems. Calc's formula bar shows $Target.A$2; in Excel and Google Sheets the same reference is written Target!A$2.

Put the source on a sheet called Source and the target on a sheet called Target, each with the key in column A.

3. Check for blank and duplicate keys first

A blank or repeated key makes the missing/extra check lie, so count each key on its own sheet first. On Source, in C2:

=SUMPRODUCT(--EXACT(A$2:A$10,A2))

Change 10 to your last row. Why not COUNTIF? COUNTIF ignores case, so ACC-1007 and acc-1007 would count as the same key. EXACT is case-sensitive, which is what an External ID comparison needs. It also doesn't trim spaces, which is deliberate: a key with a stray space really is a different key, and you want to see it, not have it silently fixed.

Anything above 1 is a duplicate key. An empty cell in column A is a blank key.

4. Match both directions

Now one status formula per row. On Source, D2:

=IF(LEN(A2)=0,"Blank key",IF(C2>1,"Duplicate key",IF(SUMPRODUCT(--EXACT(Target!A$2:A$9,A2))=0,"Missing in target","OK")))

Example data: one record never arrived (ACC-1003), one looks missing because of case (ACC-1007), a duplicate key and a blank key.

On Target, put the same count in D2 (=SUMPRODUCT(--EXACT(A$2:A$9,A2))) and the mirror-image status in E2:

=IF(LEN(A2)=0,"Blank key",IF(D2>1,"Duplicate key",IF(SUMPRODUCT(--EXACT(Source!A$2:A$10,A2))=0,"Extra in target","OK")))

Example data: ACC-1002 was loaded twice, acc-1007 doesn't match its source key, and ACC-1009 has no source record.

Reading the results:

• Missing in target (ACC-1003): the record never loaded. Check the load's error file.
• Extra in target (ACC-1009): a record with no source. Maybe it was created by hand after the load, or came from another file.
• Duplicate key in target (ACC-1002): the load ran twice, or an insert was used where an upsert should have been. Note the source row says "OK", so you only catch it by checking both sides.
• Case mismatch (ACC-1007 vs acc-1007): the same record flagged on both sides. Fix the key, don't loosen the match.
• Blank and duplicate source keys: fix these in the source before trusting anything else.

5. Repeat per object, parents first

Do Accounts first, then Contacts, then Opportunities. A missing Account usually explains missing Contacts and Opportunities underneath it, so fixing parents first saves you from chasing the same gap three times.

What this doesn't check

This only answers "did every record arrive exactly once?". It doesn't compare field values, and it doesn't check that a Contact sits under the right Account. For that, see How to catch wrong-parent Contacts after a Salesforce migration and the SOQL version, How to audit Contact–Account parents after a Salesforce migration with SOQL.

If you'd rather load before-and-after CSVs in a desktop browser and get one findings report for missing records, changed fields and wrong parent Accounts, I made RecordBridge (US$49, one-time).

A short subscription list answers "what am I paying?" A renewal countdown answers "what is due soon?" This post starts from a finished audit list, then adds one Days left column and simple yellow / red highlighting so upcoming renewals stand out.

No scripts. The same formulas work in Excel.

1. Start with a clean list

If you do not have a list yet, build one first: name, amount, billing cycle and next renewal date. For a free starter file with Keep / Cancel / Review dropdowns and monthly / yearly totals, use Subscription Audit Lite ($0+). It is a small .xlsx for Google Sheets or Excel.

This article assumes you already have (or just built) columns like these:

A        B       C              D
Service  Amount  Billing cycle  Next renewal

Example data (made-up subscriptions for illustration, not real charges):

Row  A: Service           B: Amount  C: Cycle   D: Next renewal
2    Streaming service    15.99      Monthly    2026-11-03
3    Cloud storage        9.99       Monthly    2026-11-12
4    News site            79.00      Yearly     2026-12-01
5    Music app            10.99      Monthly    2026-10-30
6    Design tools         54.00      Monthly    2026-11-20

You type A–D. Everything below is a formula. Put Example data (not real charges) above the table so screenshots stay honest.

2. Days left until renewal (column E)

E2: =IF(D2="","",D2-TODAY())

Fill down. Format column E as a number. Positive means the renewal is still ahead. Zero means today. Negative means the date is already past — update Next renewal after the charge posts, or mark the row Cancelled.

With the example rows, if today were 2026-10-27, column E would read about:

Row  Days left (example, as of 2026-10-27)
2    7
3    16
4    35
5    3
6    24

Those day counts are example data tied to the made-up renewal dates above. Your live sheet uses TODAY(), so the numbers move each morning.

3. A plain-language status (column F)

F2: =IF(E2="","",IF(E2<0,"Past due",IF(E2<=7,"Due in 7 days",IF(E2<=30,"Due in 30 days","Later"))))

Fill down. You get four labels without scanning every date.

4. Conditional formatting

Select A2:F100 (or just E and F) and add two rules:

• Yellow fill when =$E2<=30 and =$E2>7 (or when status is "Due in 30 days").
• Red fill when =$E2<=7 (covers both the 7-day window and past-due rows).

In Google Sheets: Format → Conditional formatting → Custom formula is. In Excel the same idea lives under Conditional Formatting → New Rule → Use a formula.

You will see near renewals without opening every merchant email.

5. Totals worth a glance

Pick empty cells under the list:

Due in 7 days (count):   =COUNTIF(F2:F6,"Due in 7 days")
Due in 30 days (count):  =COUNTIF(F2:F6,"Due in 30 days")
Past due (count):        =COUNTIF(F2:F6,"Past due")

Optional: sum amounts for rows due within 7 days (only useful if Amount is already a monthly-normalized figure, or if you only care about the next charge as billed):

=SUMIF(F2:F6,"Due in 7 days",B2:B6)

If cycles differ (weekly vs yearly), normalize Amount to monthly in a separate column first — otherwise a yearly $79 and a weekly $12 are not comparable.

6. Keep the list honest

• Update Next renewal after each charge posts, or the countdown goes stale.
• Annual plans often need a cancel several days before the renewal date; check the merchant page, not only this sheet.
• Past-due does not always mean you were charged twice — sometimes the date just was not rolled forward.

Wrap-up

Audit Lite answers what you pay. One Days left column and two formatting rules answer what is due soon. Build the countdown from this post in about 10 minutes on top of any clean list.

If you want a finished file that already normalizes six billing cycles, keeps room for 100 subscriptions, flags renewals (yellow at 30 days, red at 7) and rolls totals onto a dashboard, the Subscription Tracker is $1+ (pay what you want) for Excel and Google Sheets. Delete the sample rows and put your own in.

By Richard C · AIL Studio

Not financial advice. This is a spreadsheet tutorial for record-keeping. Prop firm rules change, and firms define trailing drawdown differently. Verify with your firm's current rules page before you buy or trade. Nothing here is a trading recommendation.

Prop Firm Rules Cheat Sheet (Free, Oct 2026): a free .xlsx that puts drawdown type, daily loss, profit target, minimum days, payout split and price for 10 prop firms side by side (checked Oct 2026 against each firm's own site).

A trailing drawdown is the rule that ends many prop firm accounts. Unlike a static drawdown, the floor can move up after you make money. Two accounts with the same starting balance and the same dollar limit can fail on different days, depending on whether the firm trails at end of day or intraday, and whether the floor locks at the starting balance.

This article builds only that check in Google Sheets: end-of-day trailing, intraday trailing, the lock, and the mistakes that hide a breach. For a full challenge tracker (daily loss, profit target, consistency and the rest), see How to track prop firm challenge rules in Google Sheets.

What "trailing" means (in plain words)

Static drawdown: the floor is fixed. On a $50,000 account with a $2,000 max drawdown, you fail at $48,000 no matter how high you climbed first.

Trailing drawdown: the floor follows your highest balance upward. After you grow the account, you can fail above the original static floor.

End-of-day (EOD) trailing: the peak (and usually the floor) updates from the balance at the close of the trading day. Intraday open profit that disappears before the close often does not raise the floor.

Intraday trailing: the peak updates from equity while trades are open. A winner that reverses can raise the floor, then leave you too close to it.

Lock at starting balance: many firms stop trailing once the floor reaches the starting balance. After that, the floor does not rise further. Some firms do not lock. Check your plan.

Examples from the Oct 2026 cheat sheet (still verify on the firm's site): end-of-day trailing appears on plans from Topstep, Take Profit Trader and My Funded Futures; intraday trailing appears on Apex's intraday-trail evaluations; static max loss appears on plans from FTMO and FundedNext. Those are illustrations of types, not a promise that any one plan still works that way today.

1. Settings

These are example data for a $50K-style account. Replace them with your firm's numbers. Whether the floor locks at the starting balance is handled in the floor formula in section 2, not in a separate settings cell.

Static floor for comparison:

B4: =B1-B2      → 48000

2. End-of-day trailing log

Headers in row 9: Date, Daily P&L, Running balance, Peak EOD balance, Trailing floor, Trailing check, Static check (A–G). Put Example data (not real trades) in A8.

Example data (made-up numbers for illustration, not real trades):

You only type columns A and B.

Running balance (column C)

C10: =$B$1+B10
C11: =C10+B11      (fill down to C13)

Peak EOD balance (column D)

D10: =MAX($B$1,C10)
D11: =MAX(D10,C11)      (fill down to D13)

Trailing floor with lock (column E)

E10: =MIN(D10-$B$2,$B$1)      (fill down to E13)

MIN(..., $B$1) stops the floor rising above the starting balance. If your firm does not lock, use:

E10: =D10-$B$2      (fill down)

Checks (columns F and G)

F10: =IF(C10<=E10,"BREACH","OK")      (fill down)
G10: =IF(C10<=$B$4,"BREACH","OK")     (fill down)

Results with the example data

I checked these formulas against the example table in Python (same arithmetic Google Sheets uses for MAX, MIN and running sums). Row 13 is the point: the account is still above the static floor of 48000, but the trailing floor has already locked at 50000 after the Day 1 gain, so −2100 fails the trailing rule.

Once a row shows BREACH, the firm has usually failed the account. Later rows that look OK do not undo that.

Without the lock, the same peak of 52500 would set a floor of 50500, and row 13 would still breach (49700 ≤ 50500). With a smaller early gain, lock vs no-lock can disagree, so match your firm's wording.

3. Intraday trailing (one day of equity snapshots)

EOD formulas cannot see open profit. To approximate an intraday trail, log equity during the day, including open P&L.

Headers in row 20: Time, Equity (incl. open P&L), Peak equity, Trailing floor, Check (A–E). Label A19 Example data (not real trades).

Example data for a single day starting at 50000 with a $2,000 trail and a lock at the starting balance:

C21: =MAX($B$1,B21)
C22: =MAX(C21,B22)           (fill down)
D21: =MIN(C21-$B$2,$B$1)     (fill down; drop $B$1 if no lock)
E21: =IF(B21<=D21,"BREACH","OK")  (fill down)

Same arithmetic check as above. At 11:40 the account is already failed under an intraday trail. The 15:50 close of 50800 would look fine under an EOD-only rule for that day (peak 50800, locked floor 48800, close OK). That gap is why mixing up EOD and intraday is expensive.

A sheet like this is a record. The firm's platform is the official clock and the official equity.

4. Common mistakes

1. Using only the close for an intraday firm. Your EOD log can show OK on a day the live platform already failed you.
2. Forgetting the lock. If the firm locks at the starting balance and you keep trailing above it, your sheet's floor is too high (stricter than the firm) or, if you never trail at all, too low (looser than the firm).
3. Comparing to starting balance instead of the floor. After a winning streak, "I'm still above 50K" is not the trailing test.
4. Logging deposits, resets or payouts in the same balance column. Trailing peaks are about trading equity under the plan rules. Keep admin adjustments in a separate column so they do not inflate the peak by accident.
5. Treating the sheet as live risk control. Daily and intraday limits on many platforms include open trades and update faster than a manual sheet. Use the sheet to understand the rule and to review after the close.

5. Conditional formatting

Select the check columns, then Format → Conditional formatting → Text is exactly BREACH, with a red fill. That makes the first failing day hard to miss when you scroll.

When to use a ready-made sheet

Building the formulas once is useful for learning. If you also want a trade log with automatic P&L, win rate, R-multiple, review tabs and a Prop Firm Tracker in one file, Trader's Edge Journal ($14) is a Google Sheets / Excel template from AIL Studio. You get an .xlsx with 15 sample trades and a short PDF quick-start. It is a record-keeping tool: it does not tell you what to trade and does not guarantee results.

Related reading:

• How to track prop firm challenge rules in Google Sheets (daily loss, max drawdown, consistency)
• Prop firm rules compared (Oct 2026)

Not financial advice. Rules change, verify with the firm before buying.

By Richard C · AIL Studio

The prompts below work better for two reasons. They ask for a specific output in a specific format, and they leave clear [BRACKETS] for your own details. They work in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or any other AI chat tool.

Replace everything in [BRACKETS]. The more context you give, the better the answer. If the first answer misses, follow up with "Make it shorter," "Make it sound more like me: [paste a sample of your writing]," or "Give me 3 alternatives."

1. Clarify your offer

I run [BUSINESS] serving [CUSTOMER TYPE] in [LOCATION]. Ask me 8 questions, one at a time, to uncover what makes my business different, then write a one-sentence value proposition and three short taglines based on my answers.

When to use it: Before you write a website, a Google Business Profile, or an ad. If you can't say in one sentence why someone should pick you, every other piece of marketing is harder.

How to tweak it: The "one at a time" part matters. It makes the AI interview you instead of guessing. If the questions feel too broad, add "Focus on why customers choose us over [COMPETITOR TYPE]." Answer honestly and in detail. Your answers are the raw material, so short answers get you generic taglines.

2. Follow up on a quote that went quiet

I sent a quote for [JOB] to [CLIENT] [X] days ago with no reply. Write a polite follow-up that offers to answer questions, restates the main benefit, and makes it easy to say no. Then write a second, final follow-up for a week later.

When to use it: A few days after sending a quote you haven't heard back on. Plenty of owners never follow up because it feels pushy, and that leaves work on the table.

How to tweak it: "Makes it easy to say no" is deliberate. A reply of "no thanks" is still better than silence, because then you can stop waiting. Add details about the job, such as the client's deadline or the problem they described, so the follow-up sounds like you remember them. If you usually text clients, ask for "a text message under 300 characters" instead.

3. Reply to a negative review

Here's a negative review: [PASTE]. Write a public reply that thanks them, acknowledges the specific issue without making excuses, explains what we're doing about it, and invites them to contact [CONTACT] offline. Under 100 words.

When to use it: When a bad review comes in and your first draft of a reply is defensive. Keep in mind that the reply is written for future customers reading it as much as for the reviewer.

How to tweak it: Tell the AI what actually happened and what you've really changed, for example "We've since added a second person on Saturdays." Don't let it promise fixes you haven't made. If the review is unfair or factually wrong, add "Politely correct this factual error: [FACT]" and keep the tone calm.

4. Pick this week's priorities

Here's everything on my plate this week: [LIST]. Help me pick the 3 that matter most for revenue or customers, identify what can be delegated or dropped, and lay out a realistic day-by-day plan.

When to use it: Monday morning, or any time your to-do list is longer than the week.

How to tweak it: Paste the messy list exactly as it is, with no cleanup needed. Add your constraints: "I'm on job sites Tuesday and Wednesday," "I only have 2 hours a day for admin." If the plan still looks too full, follow up with "Cut this to what's realistic in [X] hours total."

5. Check your pricing

I sell [PRODUCT/SERVICE] for [PRICE]. My costs are [COSTS] and I spend about [HOURS] per job. Calculate my effective margin and hourly rate, and suggest 3 pricing options (including a tiered package) with pros and cons.

When to use it: When you're busy but cash still feels tight, or before you raise prices. Seeing your effective hourly rate written out can be eye-opening.

How to tweak it: Include all of your costs, including materials, travel, software, and the unpaid time spent quoting and doing admin. Check the math yourself, because AI tools can make arithmetic mistakes. If you want the tiers to make sense to customers, add "Describe each tier the way a customer would see it."

A couple of ground rules

• Don't paste passwords, full card numbers, or sensitive customer data into AI tools.
• Read everything before it goes to a customer. Treat the AI's output as a first draft, not a finished one.

These five come from a larger set of 50 prompts covering marketing, email, customer service, and operations. If you'd like the rest, the full pack is here: 50 AI Prompts for Busy Small Business Owners.

Free download: Subscription Audit Lite

Not sure what your subscriptions really cost? Start with Subscription Audit Lite, a free 30-row spreadsheet that totals every recurring charge and shows what cancelling would save: get Audit Lite (free).

This post walks through a small spreadsheet that fixes that. It works the same way in Google Sheets and Excel, and it doesn't need any scripts.

Step 1: List everything (the hard part)

Spend 10 minutes going through:

• Bank and card statements for the last 12 months (search for "recurring" or scan for repeat amounts)
• App Store / Google Play → Subscriptions
• Your email, searching for receipt, renewal, your plan, trial ending
• PayPal → Automatic payments

Every hit gets a row.

Step 2: The sheet layout

A Subscriptions tab with these columns:

Service | Category | Cost | Billing cycle | Monthly | Yearly | Next renewal | Days left | Status

You only type into Cost, Billing cycle, Next renewal and Status. Everything else is calculated.

Step 3: Normalize billing cycles with a lookup, not nested IFs

Make a Lists tab:

Then the Monthly column (assuming Cost in C, Cycle in D, Status in I):

=IF(C2="","",IF(I2="Cancelled",0,
  C2*IFERROR(VLOOKUP(D2,Lists!$A$2:$B$6,2,FALSE),0)/12))

Every cycle goes through the same rule: cost × payments per year ÷ 12. If you add a "Every 2 years" cycle later, it's one new row in Lists (value 0.5) and no formulas change. Put the cycle column behind a dropdown that reads from Lists!A2:A6, so a typo can't break the lookup.

Yearly is just =IF(E2="","",E2*12). This is the column people find uncomfortable to read, because $14/month looks a lot heavier as $168/year.

Step 4: Renewal countdown + color alerts

=IF(G2="","",G2-TODAY())

Then add two conditional-formatting rules on the Days-left column:

• Red: =AND($H2>=0,$H2<=7)
• Yellow: =AND($H2>7,$H2<=30)

Now you'll see an annual renewal coming early enough to cancel it.

Step 5: The "Review" status

Status options: Active, Trial, Review, Cancelled.

Review is the useful one. It means "I'm not sure I still want this." On a summary tab:

Monthly total:      =SUM(Subscriptions!E2:E101)
Yearly total:       =SUM(Subscriptions!F2:F101)
Up for review/mo:   =SUMIF(Subscriptions!I2:I101,"Review",Subscriptions!E2:E101)
Renewing ≤30 days:  =COUNTIFS(Subscriptions!H2:H101,">=0",Subscriptions!H2:H101,"<=30")

The "Up for review" number shows how much you'd save each month by cancelling the things you're unsure about. Seeing that number tends to get people to actually cancel.

For a spend-by-category breakdown, use =SUMIF(Subscriptions!B2:B101,K2,Subscriptions!E2:E101) next to a list of categories, then turn it into a pie chart.

Step 6: Keep it alive

• After each renewal, move the date forward. The >=0 check keeps past dates out of the "upcoming" counts.
• Don't delete cancelled rows. They count as $0 and show what you've already cut.
• Do a 5-minute check once a quarter.

Summary

The whole setup is one lookup table, three formula columns, two formatting rules and a summary tab. You can build it from this post in about 20 minutes.

If you'd rather not build it by hand, I made a finished template built on the same formulas, with the billing-cycle normalizer, days-left column, yellow/red renewal warnings and a dashboard, for Excel and Google Sheets. It's $1+ (pay what you want): get the Subscription Tracker.

Free download: Subscription Audit Lite