Britons begin big save - cutting back on spending (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Britons begin big save - cutting back on spending

9:41am Tuesday 24th March 2009 in Family By News Release

Astute spending is helping the average UK salary go 7 per cent further as one in three Britons now visits at least five shops before buying an item.

Savvier spending on both essential and discretionary purchases is saving Britons an average of £1,746 each a year, helping the average UK salary of £25,100 go 7 per cent further, new research from Abbey Credit Cards has revealed.

By shopping around and economising, Britons are making savings in all areas of life as follows which oautlines savings and in brackets percent of adults makign these savings.

· £17.10 per week saved on food (69 per cent).

· £17.27 per week saved on travel (46 per cent).

· £19.47 per week saved on entertainment (61 per cent).

BRITONS SAVE AN AVERAGE OF £1,746 A YEAR

· £229 saved on holidays throughout the year (51 per cent).

· £139 saved on financial products throughout the year (35 per cent).

And the savvy spending habit looks here to stay, with more than half (55 per cent) of Britons planning to further reduce their spending on food this year, 41 per cent looking to reduce travel costs and 48 per cent resolving to cut back on entertainment. Meanwhile, nearly half (47 per cent) of Britons are planning to save money on holidays and 30 per cent are looking to make further savings on financial products this year. The research looked at how the savings that Britons are making are manifesting themselves in terms of shopping behaviour and found some interesting trends.

Rash spending habits appear to be a thing of the past for most Britons, with one in three (37 per cent) checking the price of an item in at least five shops before parting with their hard earned cash and more than two thirds (68 per cent) admitting they will delay making a purchase until the item has gone on sale.

‘Shabby chic’ is also enjoying somewhat of a renaissance, with nearly a third of Britons (31 per cent) prepared to spend a Sunday morning scouring car boot sales in order to snap up a bargain, and a further two fifths (40 per cent) opting to flick through the rails of a local charity shop.

Britons also appear to have lost their traditional reticence when it comes to disputing the price of goods, with four out of ten happy to haggle over the price of a purchase and one in eight claiming they refuse to pay the full price for anything except food purchases anymore.

Callum Gibson, Head of Credit Cards at Abbey, commented: “At a time when people’s finances are becoming ever more stretched, it’s not surprising that Britons are becoming more astute about how they shop and are prepared to shop around and economise to make their money go further. But savvy spending isn’t the only way that Britons can make key savings. Recent research by Abbey Credit Cards found that by transferring to a 0 per cent deal, Britons with an outstanding credit card balance could save an average of £443 a year, a huge saving in today’s difficult economic climate.”