Keeping spend in hand.
WHAT TO DO FIRST
Set billing alerts before provisioning anything.
WHAT TO REVIEW MONTHLY
Total spend, in your own currency The largest line items Anything that grew
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Resources not in use Duplicate or forgotten services Storage accumulating Test environments still running
WHAT TO TURN OFF
Anything not actively needed.
Non-production environments outside working hours, where practical.
WHAT TO RIGHT-SIZE
Resources provisioned larger than necessary.
Over-provisioning is the most common waste.
WHAT TO CONSIDER
Committed pricing for steady predictable workloads, where the provider offers it
WHAT TO BE CAUTIOUS WITH
Long commitments before you understand your usage.
WHAT TO TAG OR LABEL
Resources, so you can tell what belongs to what.
Untagged resources become unremovable because nobody knows what they do.
WHAT TO ASSIGN
Ownership of the bill to a specific person.
WHAT NOT TO DO
Review annually.
