I do my best not to waste money on unused reservations, subscriptions and bookings.

I travel a lot so that's a huge hidden cost but, fortunately, thanks to a combination of experience and paranoia, that almost never happens.

Over the last 20 years, I've missed my flight twice (once in 2013 and then again last month), I was a no-show once, and twice paid for a hotel room I didn't use. And both times - I need to caveat this - it was simply because my booking was for a longer stay, and one night in the middle of said stay I decided to crash at a friend's place because it was too late.

So, three unused flights and two unused nights over 20 years and hundreds of bookings. I could've done better, but not a bad average.

Then, just last week, I realised I was going to be a no-show once again.

No point dwelling on the how and why, but I'd booked a flight to a destination and made a decision to cancel my trip. Except, my flight was not cancellable.

I asked AI, and it reminded me of something I'd totally missed and forgotten: you're entitled to a tax refund, even on 'non-refundable' tickets.

And so I still cancelled my flight, and got a refund for $60.

Not exactly a life-changing amount, but better than a poke in the eye.