Finance
HOW MUCH ARE YOUR IMPULSE PURCHASES COSTING YOU?
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on June 16, 2017
7 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on June 16, 2017
7 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Every year, British consumers spend £21.7 billion on impulse purchases. More than 50% of consumers make an impulse buy every time they go shopping. AnyJunk have taken a look into how much money we really waste.
Save Vs. Splurge:
Here’s a breakdown of the most common spends in the UK and a breakdown of how much you could save if you avoid cigarettes, take out coffee, and eating at restaurants and staying at hotels.
Cigarettes
With 16.9% of adults smoking an average of 11.3 cigarettes a day in England, here’s what you could save:
Coffee
In 2013, Brits spent £730 million on coffee, with the average male drinking 13 cups, and female drinking 11 cups a week.Some research shows that we even spend more on specialist cappuccinos a year, £608.84, than we do on eating and drinking on holiday – only £359.45. Here’s your spending:
Restaurants & Hotels
For the first time in five years, UK households are spending more than £45 a week on restaurants and hotels. Here’s what eating and staying out costs you:
In total, cutting down on or cutting out all the luxuries above, you could save:
Think about all you could do with your savings! Every month you could slip away for a weekend to Paris, after five years you could afford a down payment on a house, you could buy a brand-new car, and even settle debts and student loans!
A Society of Overconsumption
A UK survey by Grant Thornton revealed that nearly 62% of impulse buys are items that consumers ‘wanted, not needed’, with 21% saying they were items they did not need but which ‘might come in handy’.
Participants were also asked whether they had things at home that they’d bought on a whim, which they have or will never use, and were planning to throw out: 71% said they did.
Between 2016 and 2018, prospects for pay growth in the UK are predicted to fall 0.5%, says a report by TUC, and research shows that living standards are already declining as increasing prices outweigh income growth. According to a study done by YouGov for VoucherCodes.co.uk, it’s not just debt that people are in the dark about – more than a quarter of those with a current account have no idea how much is in there.
So, with Brits consuming twice as many goods as they did 50 years ago, with 62% of impulse buys being wants, 71% of impulse buys likely to end up in the trash and salary declines expected for the next two years, who are the consumers blindly spending, and why?
Over a quarter (28%) of people in the UK with a credit card don’t know how much debt they owe on it, and the same number don’t know the balance of their current account.
With reports stating that we consume twice as many material goods than we did 50 years ago, it’s not surprising that 26% of people admit debt is a part of daily life, with 10.3% believing that purchasing household items is a good reason to go into debt. Consistent spending without thinking about whether there’s a need for the item not only creates clutter, but has serious financial implications.
Start a fresh by chucking out unnecessary clutter with AnyJunk and start being more mindful when spending in order to spend that money on what matters!
Every year, British consumers spend £21.7 billion on impulse purchases. More than 50% of consumers make an impulse buy every time they go shopping. AnyJunk have taken a look into how much money we really waste.
Save Vs. Splurge:
Here’s a breakdown of the most common spends in the UK and a breakdown of how much you could save if you avoid cigarettes, take out coffee, and eating at restaurants and staying at hotels.
Cigarettes
With 16.9% of adults smoking an average of 11.3 cigarettes a day in England, here’s what you could save:
Coffee
In 2013, Brits spent £730 million on coffee, with the average male drinking 13 cups, and female drinking 11 cups a week.Some research shows that we even spend more on specialist cappuccinos a year, £608.84, than we do on eating and drinking on holiday – only £359.45. Here’s your spending:
Restaurants & Hotels
For the first time in five years, UK households are spending more than £45 a week on restaurants and hotels. Here’s what eating and staying out costs you:
In total, cutting down on or cutting out all the luxuries above, you could save:
Think about all you could do with your savings! Every month you could slip away for a weekend to Paris, after five years you could afford a down payment on a house, you could buy a brand-new car, and even settle debts and student loans!
A Society of Overconsumption
A UK survey by Grant Thornton revealed that nearly 62% of impulse buys are items that consumers ‘wanted, not needed’, with 21% saying they were items they did not need but which ‘might come in handy’.
Participants were also asked whether they had things at home that they’d bought on a whim, which they have or will never use, and were planning to throw out: 71% said they did.
Between 2016 and 2018, prospects for pay growth in the UK are predicted to fall 0.5%, says a report by TUC, and research shows that living standards are already declining as increasing prices outweigh income growth. According to a study done by YouGov for VoucherCodes.co.uk, it’s not just debt that people are in the dark about – more than a quarter of those with a current account have no idea how much is in there.
So, with Brits consuming twice as many goods as they did 50 years ago, with 62% of impulse buys being wants, 71% of impulse buys likely to end up in the trash and salary declines expected for the next two years, who are the consumers blindly spending, and why?
Over a quarter (28%) of people in the UK with a credit card don’t know how much debt they owe on it, and the same number don’t know the balance of their current account.
With reports stating that we consume twice as many material goods than we did 50 years ago, it’s not surprising that 26% of people admit debt is a part of daily life, with 10.3% believing that purchasing household items is a good reason to go into debt. Consistent spending without thinking about whether there’s a need for the item not only creates clutter, but has serious financial implications.
Start a fresh by chucking out unnecessary clutter with AnyJunk and start being more mindful when spending in order to spend that money on what matters!
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