How you could save HUNDREDS of pounds a year by avoiding this one thing

SUBSCRIBING to services like Netflix or Graze Box has become second nature - but they could be costing you £223.44 a year.

Now, experts are warning customers not to get "trapped" into paying for services when they're just not using them.

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Four out of five Brits have now signed up to a subscription service for everything from magazines to food to gym memberships.

And research from the last three years show that 37 per cent of us are still throwing away hard earned cash on subscriptions that we simply don't use.

"Subscription services are the holy grail for companies," said money expert, Jasmine Birtles.

"Once you get someone signed up to regular payments, you have them nearly trapped.

"It’s human nature that once we are signed-up to something it feels like too much of an effort to unsubscribe.

"That’s why a lot of money and effort goes into getting people to subscribe to services rather than it be a one-off."

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A study earlier this year by TopCashBack found that nearly a quarter of us continue to pay for a subscription because we find it too hard to cancel them.

At the time Natasha Rachel Smith from TopCashBack said that thanks to the number of services available, it's "easy to get carried away" with signing up.

Jasmine, who runs consumer website Moneymagpie.com, agrees, warning customers not to let "ignorance" be the reason why you continue to waste money.

"Many of us don’t look at our bank statements for months," said Jasmine, "so we don’t know what money is going in and out. It’s worth digging out."

She also blamed "inertia" - the feeling we get when we know we should do something but we just can't be bothered to actually do it.

Subscriptions get you hooked often by offering customers discounts to commit to the service.

Before signing up, make sure you really are getting a good deal by shopping around and checking other sites.

And of course there's the convenience of getting instant access to a service, something Consumer Psychologist Kate Nightingale said is a growing trend.

"Due to the ever-increasing availability of products and services, the need for instant gratification is growing," she said in a .

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"Consumers are now accustomed to receive instant access to a product or service they require, such as countless songs or films through online streaming services."

Basically this means that we want things now and subscription services let that happen.

If you're thinking now might be the time to review your subscriptions in a bid to save some money, they are fairly easy to cancel, you just have to be bothered to do it.

Many subscriptions can be cancelled with just a month's notice.

You can opt out of any subscription services by calling up the provider or via the 'Account' page on their website.

Jasmine said: "If you consider you are trapped in an unfair contract, complain to the company. If they will not release you you could complain to your local Trading Standards or the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

"You can also use the forms on  to complain about this. Put the details in and they get the complaint direct to the person who deals with these issues."

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