How I Used AI to Cancel $876/Year in Subscriptions for Good

I was paying $73 every month for two tools I no longer wanted to rent.

Better Proposals was costing me $40/month. Squarespace was costing me $33/month, and I had been paying that since October 2024.

That is $73/month. Or $876/year.

And in less than a month, I used AI to start replacing both. The actual website move took about 1 hour. That is what made this feel different.

I do not know how to code. I went to school for business. What I do have is simple creativity and curiosity.

So instead of accepting that I had to keep paying every month for platforms, features, templates, and limits I was not fully using, I started asking AI a better question: can we just build this ourselves?

And the answer was yes.

I recreated my proposal system with Codex, which means I can move off Better Proposals and stop paying for a proposal platform that was not matching the way I wanted to work.

I also moved the CK site off Squarespace into something custom that I own. That means no more monthly fee for features I do not use, no more waiting on a platform to support what I want, and no more being boxed into someone else's version of how my business should run.

If I want a new feature, a better layout, a custom form, a different flow, a new automation, or something specific to how CK actually operates, I can build toward it.

The money matters, but the bigger thing is the ceiling. The monthly fee is visible. The limitation is quieter.

A tool can be useful and still slowly train you to accept its shape. You start designing your business around the software instead of designing the software around your business.

AI changes that. It gives non-technical operators a way to prototype, test, and own tools that used to require a developer, an agency, or another subscription.

The practical use of AI is not only writing faster, summarizing faster, or making more content. It is building systems that reduce the cost of operating.

You make it by yourself, for yourself, and you own it. Even if you cancel the AI subscription later, the file, website, or workflow you created still exists.

My only problem is that I did it so late. Once you realize you can use AI to build the thing instead of renting access to the thing, it changes how you look at every subscription in your business.