What do Brits consider to be the biggest waste of money?
We surveyed 2,017 nationally representative Brits and found that over half believe that purchasing clothes to only wear once is a waste of money. This was the most common answer amongst survey respondents, with 50.65% of respondents in agreement that this is a waste This was followed by:
- 39% of respondents believing that using a taxi service rather than walking or taking the bus is a waste of money
- 38% of respondents believing that spending money on the delivery of an item that you could collect is a waste of money
- 35% of respondents believing that having multiple subscriptions to streaming services is a waste of money
- 35% of respondents believing that having a gym membership is a waste of money
- 33% of respondents believing that buying branded food and drink products when non-branded is available is a waste of money
- 28% of respondents believing that spending money on takeaways is a waste of money
- 16% of respondents believing that buying clothes from stores when you can buy them second hand is a waste of money
Wasting money on clothes
Our survey uncovered that Brits consider purchasing clothes to only wear once the biggest waste of money. 67% of Brits confessed that they believe they have wasted between £21 and £100 on clothes to only wear once in the last year and 22% admit they have wasted between £101 and £250.
16-24 year olds are the age group who admit that they had wasted the most money on buying clothes to only wear once, with 24.63% of this age group admitting this. However, 45-54 year olds had the highest mean value of £98.25 that they have wasted on clothes that they had only worn once over the past year.
The survey also showed that women waste £6.84 more than men, on average, on clothes that they have bought and only worn once.
Wasting money on streaming services
15% of Brits feel they have wasted money on subscription services in the past year, with the average person confessing they have wasted £77.27 in the past year alone.
25-34 year olds feel that they had wasted the most money on subscription services in the past year with 22.88% of respondents believing they had wasted money paying for subscriptions.
One survey found that 47% of people are paying for a streaming service that they never use. This is either due to forgetting to cancel the subscription (which 50% of people have done after a free trial) or because they are holding out hope that the streaming service will offer something in the future that they do not want to miss. Either way, this could be contributing to Brits wasting a lot of money!
Another survey of 2,023 respondents found that a third (33%) of UK households have multiple individual memberships for the same streaming service, however research suggests that they could be saving money if they instead, paid for one household membership.
UK households spend on average, £50 per month for subscriptions, with 32% spending as much as £50 to £300 per month.
What do Brits now think is a waste of money but didn’t think it was before the cost of living crisis?
The cost of living crisis has undoubtedly changed our attitudes towards spending money, and equally what we feel we may have wasted our money on in the past.
According to our survey, only 37% of Brits believe that there is nothing that they feel is a waste of money now, but wasn’t before the cost of living crisis.
However, more than 3 in 5 Brits admit that there is at least one purchase that they now consider to be a waste of money but they didn’t before the cost of living crisis.
The most common things which Brits consider to be a waste of money now, but didn’t before the pandemic, are:
1. Buying branded food and drink products when non-branded is available (16%)
2. Spending money on delivery of an item you could collect (16%)
3. Buying clothes to only wear once (15%)
4. Using a taxi service rather than taking the bus or walking (15%)
5. Spending money on takeaways (12%)
6. Multiple subscriptions to streaming services (11%)
7. A gym membership (9%)
A recent study also found that 81% of Brits have changed their shopping habits in some way as a result of cost-of-living pressures. The ONS reported that around two-thirds (66%) of adults in Great Britain are spending less money on non-essentials in response to the cost of living crisis.
Another survey found that a staggering 83% of consumers said that their purchase habits have changed as a consequence of the cost of crisis with 24% of Brits changing their spending habits a lot, 59% of Brits changing their spending habits a little and only 17% of Brits are not changing their spending habits at all.
This survey revealed that the goods and services that Brits say they will stop buying due to the cost of living increase are:
- Takeaways - 50%
- Dining out - 42%
- Streaming services - 34%
- Food subscription services - 22%
29% of people also say that they have had to cut back on buying clothes since November 2021.
Summary
From the data above, we can see that there are many different goods and services that Brits feel are a waste of money now, but didn’t before the cost of living crisis. However, many admit that they are still spending money on these things. That being said, due to the cost of living crisis, over half of Brits have had to cut back on spendings.