Do it at home and save money, say in-tertainers

They say that home is where the heart is, but during the recession it's where the head is too - according to new research by Abbey Savings.

Indeed, Abbey's research finds that money concerns are causing people to retreat further into their homes during their entertainment and leisure time - rather than blow their cash on expensive high street services - saving them a whopping £3.9 billion a month.

The findings are part of Abbey Savings' Inside vs. Outside report, which tracks the percentage of units of ‘paid for' entertainment activities taken inside vs. outside the home.

The report shows that the average Brit now consumes a massive 57 per cent of their monthly ‘paid for' entertainment activities inside of the home and only 43 per cent outside. Abbey savings has dubbed the phenomena as ‘in-tertainment'.

But in-tertainers are not missing out, in fact by substituting high street entertainment such as cinemas, gyms, pubs and restaurants for DVD rentals, home workouts, dinner parties and takeaways, Britons saved a colossal £3.9 billion last month, that's £89 per person.

That said they still spent an impressive £1.7 billion entertaining themselves at home - an average £38 per person. In fact, in-tertainers now hire 1.7 million DVDs, consume 63 million takeaways, hold 16 million dinner parties and spend 53 million hours a month working out at home.

The report also found that working Britons are spending large chunks of their holiday entitlement at home, with the average worker taking half their annual leave in their property. And as many as 31 per cent of workers will spend more than three quarters of this year's holiday allocation at home, with the overriding reason - according to 37 per cent of staycaters - being to save money.

But it's no wonder Brits are so keen to hole themselves up at home, as more and more properties sport the luxuries previously associated with boutique hotels. Some 14.2 million people claim to own high end home cinema equipment; 5.5 million have a cappuccino maker; 2.7 million own home gym equipment and a further one million have an in-home Jacuzzi.

Reza Attar-Zadeh, Director of Savings and Investments, commented: "The recession has made people far savvier when it comes to saving money, and millions of us have worked out that in-tertaining is a great way to cut back without missing out. So much so, that a whopping 57 per cent of our monthly, paid for entertainment is now being consumed in our homes.

While it is great that people are saving over £80 per month by in-tertaining, we'd encourage them to ensure their money is working as hard as possible for them in a competitive savings account"

Abbey, along with Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, offer a range of savings options to suit all your savings needs, including competitive instant access accounts, ISA's and fixed rates. For anyone looking to build up a lump sum and save each month our Fixed Rate Monthly Saver offering a highly competitive 4 per cent gross/AER fixed for one year on deposits of £20 up to £250 per month. Lower rates apply in a month any withdrawal is made. For lump sum savings our 2 Year Fixed Rate Bond offers a great rate of 4.20% gross/AER on a minimum of £10,000.