Street sofas, sauce packets and loo rolls: A third of Aussies taking drastic action to save
The rapid rise in the cost of living has left households doing the unthinkable, according to new research by Finder, Australia's most visited comparison site.
A Finder survey of 1,041 respondents revealed 1 in 3 (34%) – equivalent to 7.1 million people – are resorting to extreme lengths to save money as the soaring cost of everyday expenses depletes household cash reserves.
The research found 1 in 10 (11%) are picking up furniture that people leave on the side of the road to furnish their homes, while 7% are relying on free food or meal services to put food on the table.
Using free public wifi instead of home internet (7%), taking toilet paper from restaurants (7%), and taking dog bags from parks (6%) round out the top five lengths people are going to in order to make ends meet.
Pocketing condiments from restaurants (6%), removing the stalks of broccoli at the supermarket (6%), and ordering off the kids menu when dining out (5%) are all common cost saving tactics.
Sarah Megginson, personal finance expert at Finder, said Australians are encountering unprecedented difficulties.
"Standard ways of saving money aren't sufficient anymore, prompting many to take unconventional steps to make ends meet.
"As budgets become strained, people are feeling like they have no other choice but to take drastic action."
Megginson said while every dollar counts, there are more strategic approaches to saving money than resorting to risky or illegal tactics.
"While these tactics can provide a sense of instant relief, they often only deliver minimal or short-term savings compared to revisiting your larger bills, such as housing, utilities and insurance.
"Renegotiating your rent, refinancing your mortgage, switching to a more affordable insurance plan, or finding energy-efficient options for utilities can seriously lower your monthly outgoings.
"Even small percentage reductions on these larger bills can translate into hundreds or thousands of dollars saved over the year," Megginson said.
| Are you going to any extreme lengths to save money? | |
|---|---|
| Picking up furniture that people leave on the side of the road | 11% |
| Using free food / meal services | 7% |
| Using free public wifi instead of home internet (e.g. library wifi) | 7% |
| Taking toilet paper from restaurants / public bathrooms | 7% |
| Taking dog bags from parks | 6% |
| Taking condiments (sugar, S&P, sauce) from restaurants | 6% |
| Breaking off stalks of broccoli in the supermarket before purchasing | 6% |
| Ordering off the kids menu | 5% |
| Going to student hairdressers, optometrists etc | 4% |
| Asking for free beauty samples instead of buying | 4% |
| Going to the hospital instead of the GP | 4% |
| Smuggling my own drinks into bars | 3% |
| Other | 2% |
| None of the above | 66% |
| Source: Finder survey of 1,041 respondents, August 2024 |
Methodology
- Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker is a monthly recurring nationally representative survey of more than 60,000 respondents.
- Figures in this release are based on 1,041 respondents from August 2024.
- The Consumer Sentiment Tracker is owned by Finder and operated by Qualtrics, an SAP company.
- The survey has been running monthly since May 2019.