School of Life Hacks
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    A kitchen table at evening covered with a fanned stack of blank statements, a highlighter, a calculator and a phone, with a hand mid-note.

    Contracts, Renewals and the Calendar

    Auto-renewal is the mechanism that undoes every saving in this course. The fix is a calendar, and it takes forty minutes to build once.

    Module 7 of 84 lessonsWritten in full1 worksheet
    Start this moduleThe whole course

    The lessons

    All 4, in the order they are read.

    1. 1. The auto-renewal machine
      Notice windows, rollover terms and evergreen clauses are designed around the fact that nobody diarises a date twelve months out.
    2. 2. Building the renewal calendar
      One recurring calendar, one entry per charge, each set for the day before the notice window opens, not the day it closes.
    3. 3. Cancelling cleanly
      In writing, to the address the agreement names, with a date and a reference, and keep the proof — because the charge that reappears is common.
    4. 4. The zombie charge
      A cancelled service that keeps billing is a dispute, not a negotiation, and the card network's rules are on your side if you act inside the window.

    The worksheet

    The twelve-month renewal calendar

    One row per charge. The 'act by' date is the one you put in the calendar, and it is deliberately earlier than the deadline. Set every reminder to repeat annually the day you create it, or you will build this sheet again next year.

    The twelve-month renewal calendar
    ChargeRenewal dateNotice period requiredAct-by date (renewal minus notice minus 14 days)How notice must be givenReminder set?
    EXAMPLE — replace14 March30 days, in writing29 JanuaryEmail to the address in clause 9Yes — annual repeat
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