Spending Habits
October tops travel spend league table
Travellers are shunning the traditional peak holiday season to make October the busiest month for cash withdrawals abroad, according to figures from Norwich & Peterborough Building Society.
Cause to celebrate? British drinkers pay less than those in the US and Australia
Brits love an excuse to let their hair down with a night on the town, and new research from Budget Direct shows that they get more for their money than residents of major US and Australian cities.
Brits pay £67 billion to work, and the cost is rising
Workers in the UK collectively spend £67 billion per year on costs they incur specifically because of their job, and these costs are rising, according to research from Santander.
Bargain-hunting Brits haggle to keep costs down
Over half (53%) of Brits have haggled with retailers or service suppliers to bag a bargain on a range of items from new vehicles to furniture and mobile phones to cosmetics.
When it comes to 'readies', women carry just £20.50 on average, and men £27.10
With card payments increasingly the norm, perhaps it should come as no surprise that people typically don't carry much cash nowadays.
Consumer sentiment towards economy continues to improve
The Lloyds Bank Spending Power Report for August found that consumer confidence is rising, reaching a record high, at 115 points, since the survey began in November 2010.
Brits more loyal to their mortgage provider than their partner
More Brits stayed loyal to their mortgage provider in the last year, than their employers or partners - only 2% switched their mortgage compared with 11% changing jobs and 3% changing their partners.
Parents worrying about feeling the pinch as budgets are squeezed
Britain’s parents are a nation of financial worriers, with more than 10.5 million (82 per cent) of those with children aged 18 or under concerned about their family outgoings over the next 12 months, according to research by Barclays.
Back to school nerves set in for parents
Children are not the only ones with butterflies ahead of the new school year, as 44 per cent of parents admit they feel the need to buy their children new back to school items to keep up with other parents.
The top 20 biggest false economies
From buying cheap bras and loo roll to knock-off goods - over half of Brits have been caught out by a false economy - but many still love to bag a bargain.
Pay day countdown: five million workers face new monthly struggle
At the end of the month, many of us have just been paid and are feeling flush, however within three weeks five million (17 per cent) of us will be struggling to pay for day-to-day spending ahead of pay day, and this is happening on a monthly basis, according to Post Office's Current Account Footprint Report.
A third of Brits are proud to be tight
Brits are cutting corners financially by refusing to tip restaurant staff, only heating one room - and sneaking drinks in to pubs, according to research from Aviva.
Pocket money pushovers
Pressure to ‘keep up with the Joneses' will see parents fork out a total of £1.8bn in pocket money this summer, according to new research.
Almost half of Brits in the dark about consumer rights
Government plans to overhaul consumer law may fall flat if action isn't taken to ensure that consumers understand their rights too, according to new research from uSwitch.com.
Half a million Scots have regretted buying something they couldn't afford
New research from Debt Advisory Centre Scotland shows how our minds can deceive us when we're shopping - as the vast majority of Scottish people (82%) have bought something and then regretted it.