Bronzed, buff and broke
People are potentially spending thousands of pounds a year on non-essentials like eating in restaurants, going out and alcohol. But for those who spend on these items, if they needed to save money, one in five (21%) said they would not be happy to cut back on any of their discretionary spending, while just 3% would forgo their holidays and only 4% would stop going to the gym.
The survey totted up the ten most popular indulgences and then asked those respondents who said they spend money on each of these indulgences whether they would be willing to give them up to save money. Nationwide found:
Only 3% would consider abandoning their holiday
Just 4% would stop going to the gym
7% would give up non-essential transport such as taxis 8% would give up spending on technology (apps, phones, laptops etc.)
17% said they would stop smoking or drinking alcohol
Around a fifth (19%) would give up buying new clothes and accessories
19% would give up snacks, drinks and shop-bought lunches during the working day
19% would give up going out (cinema, pub etc…)
A fifth (20%) would put a hold on playing the Lottery or gambling
One in five (21%) would not give up any luxuries
Nearly a third (30%) would give up eating out
More than half of those surveyed said they eat out in restaurants in an average month (56%), while more than four in ten (44%) enjoy going out to the cinema, pub or theatre. New clothes were the third most popular pastime, with 43% maintaining fashion was their Achilles heel, while 41% spend their money on technology - from apps and computer games to mobile phone bills, laptops and internet. Cigarettes and alcohol ranked fifth for the most popular guilty pleasure, at 38% - the same as those who play the Lottery or gamble each month.
The research shows that the average monthly spend across the areas measured was:
Holidays: £234.64 (equating to £2,816 per year)
Cigarettes/ alcohol: £67.06 (£805)
Eating out: £56.42 (£677)
Clothes: £49.34 (£592)
Going out: £44.23 (£531)
Food/ drink: £43.99 (£528)
Technology: £41.58 (£499)
Gym: £35.29 (£423)
Non-essential travel: £31.66 (£380)
Lottery/ gambling: £28.34 (£340)
Total: £633 (£7,591)
Graham Pilkington, Nationwide’s director for banking, general insurance and protection & investments, said: “We all love our little luxuries, but it is interesting to see how unwilling we are to let them go, even if we feel we need to save some cash. It may be that people don’t quite realise how much money is going on their discretionary spending – for those people looking to tighten their belts it’s worth adding up their non-essential spending to see their monthly totals. Even cutting just a portion of this and saving it; perhaps using the new impulse saver feature on our mobile banking app – could help them build up a sizeable pot of cash over the year.