Nearly two in three UK adults (65%) are now making financial adjustments in response to economic uncertainty, according to Barclays data from May 2026. That means most people are already looking at their spending and wondering where the money goes. The question isn’t whether you should cut back — it’s whether the cuts you’re making actually hit the habits that drain your savings the most.
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This article is general information only and does not constitute professional advice. For your specific situation, consult a qualified professional.
Half of UK adults say they have a budget, but only 9% use a budgeting app. The rest rely on spreadsheets, bank tools, or nothing at all. That gap between intention and tracking is where questionable spending habits live. Here’s what you actually need to know.
What counts as a questionable spending habit
Before you can fix a habit, you need to know what it looks like. A questionable spending habit isn’t necessarily a big purchase you regret. It’s any recurring outflow that doesn’t align with your priorities — and that you don’t notice because it’s small, automatic, or socially normalised.
What I tend to notice is that people focus on cutting the one-off splurge — the holiday, the new coat — while the monthly subscription they never use or the daily convenience purchase quietly eats more over a year. The Barclays data backs this up: digital content and subscriptions grew 12.8% year-on-year, yet only 39% of people planning cuts even consider subscriptions. That’s a blind spot worth weighing against your own statement.
Where your money actually goes — and what it costs you
The numbers tell a clear story. Most people plan to cut the same categories: eating out, clothing, holidays. But the data on what’s actually growing suggests the real leaks are elsewhere.
Here’s a breakdown of where spending is actually rising versus where people plan to cut, based on Barclays May 2026 data and YouGov’s survey of UK adults.
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| Category | Year-on-year change (May 2026) | % planning to cut (YouGov) |
|---|---|---|
| Digital content & subscriptions | +12.8% | 39% |
| Fuel | +11.9% | N/A |
| Furniture stores | +6.4% | N/A |
| Pharmacy, health & beauty | +5.0% | 33% |
| Takeaways & fast food | +2.9% | 42% (cutting meals out) |
| Clothing | +0.8% | 52% |
| Travel (airline) | -12.9% | 44% |
Notice the mismatch. Subscriptions are growing fastest, yet fewer than 4 in 10 people plan to cut them. Meanwhile, clothing — which is barely growing — is the second most popular target for cuts. That’s a sign that people are cutting what feels easy to cut, not what’s actually draining their accounts.
For a 35-year-old earning £35,000, a £50 monthly subscription you don’t use is £600 a year. That’s more than the average person saves by cutting three restaurant meals. The habit that hurts most isn’t the one you notice — it’s the one you’ve stopped noticing.
Three mistakes that keep your savings flat
Treating all discretionary spending the same
Not all non-essential spending is equal. A £15 monthly streaming service you watch daily gives you more value per pound than a £10 subscription you forgot about. Yet most people lump them together when cutting back. The Barclays data shows 45% of those adjusting simply “limit non-essential purchases” — a blanket approach that often kills the enjoyable spending while leaving the wasteful stuff untouched.
What I’d do instead: list every recurring payment from the last three months. Rank them by how much you actually use or enjoy them. Cut the bottom two, regardless of category. That single exercise often reveals a gym membership you haven’t used since January or a magazine subscription you never read.
Budgeting without tracking
Half of UK adults say they have a budget, but only 9% use a budgeting app. Another 39% use spreadsheets, and 36% use no tool at all. A budget you write in January and forget by March isn’t a budget — it’s a wish list. Without regular tracking, you can’t see whether your spending matches your plan.
The fix is straightforward. Pick one method — a budgeting app, a spreadsheet, or even a notebook — and commit to reviewing it weekly for 10 minutes. The YouGov data shows 21% of 25–34-year-olds already use budgeting apps, which suggests younger adults are closing this gap. If you’re in an older age group, the gap might be costing you more than you realise.
Cutting the wrong things first
When 57% of people cutting discretionary spending say the main reason is to offset essential cost increases, they’re reacting to pressure, not planning. That reactive cutting tends to hit the most visible categories first — eating out, holidays, clothing — while leaving the quiet drains untouched.
Consider this: 33% plan to cut groceries, but grocery spending includes a lot of waste. The average UK household throws away £700 of food annually. Cutting grocery waste by half saves £350 a year — more than cutting four restaurant meals — without reducing the quality of what you eat. The same logic applies to energy use: 38% of people are reducing energy at home, but only 16% plan to cut housing or bill-related spending. That’s a mismatch worth checking against your own bills.
How to spot and fix the habits that drain your savings
This section walks through the practical mechanics of identifying your own questionable spending habits and doing something about them. The goal isn’t to live like a miser — it’s to make sure your money goes where you actually want it to.
Run a three-month spending audit
Pull your bank and credit card statements for the last three months. Sort every transaction into three buckets: essentials (rent, bills, groceries, transport), recurring non-essentials (subscriptions, memberships, regular takeaways), and one-off discretionary (clothing, meals out, holidays, gifts).
Most people find that the recurring non-essentials bucket is 20–30% larger than they guessed. That’s where the quiet drains live. If you have a financial advisor or use a budgeting tool, this is the moment to compare your actual spending against your budget. If you don’t have a budget, this audit becomes your starting point.
Apply the 24-hour rule to non-essential purchases over £30
Impulse purchases are the single biggest source of unplanned spending. The fix is simple: for any non-essential item over £30, wait 24 hours before buying. For items over £100, wait 48 hours. During that waiting period, ask yourself: would I rather have this money in my savings account?
This rule works because it breaks the emotional urgency that drives impulse buys. The YouGov data shows 52% of people plan to cut clothing spending — but clothing is one of the most common impulse categories. A 24-hour pause on clothing purchases alone could save £200–400 a year for the average shopper.
Audit your subscriptions quarterly
Set a calendar reminder every three months to review all active subscriptions. Digital content and subscriptions grew 12.8% year-on-year, which means they’re easy to accumulate and hard to notice. Cancel anything you haven’t used in the last 30 days.
For subscriptions you keep, consider whether an annual payment saves money over monthly. Many streaming services, gyms, and software tools offer a discount for annual billing. If you’re unsure about a subscription’s value, try a 30-day pause — most services let you reactivate without penalty.
Build a savings buffer from the cuts you make
The Barclays data shows 35% of people cutting discretionary spending say building a savings buffer is their main motivation. That’s the right instinct, but it only works if the money you save actually moves into a savings account rather than just staying in your current account where it can be spent.
Set up an automatic transfer on the same day you cancel a subscription or skip a purchase. Even £20 a week adds up to £1,040 a year. If you’re not sure where to park that money, a high-interest savings account or a cash ISA keeps it accessible while earning something.
Watch for the emerging spending traps
Two categories are growing fast and likely to become bigger drains in 2026–2027. First, digital content and subscriptions — already up 12.8% year-on-year — are likely to keep growing as more services move to subscription models. Second, takeaways and fast food rose 2.9% in May 2026, the largest uplift since August 2025. Both categories are easy to justify as small, regular expenses, but they compound quickly.
If you’re in the 18–24 age group, where 41% expect to be better off in 2026, these emerging traps are especially relevant. Optimism about future income can make current spending feel less consequential. But the 16% of 18–24-year-olds who use budgeting apps are already ahead of the curve — the rest are more exposed to lifestyle creep.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I be saving each month? ▾
What’s the difference between a budget and a spending plan? ▾
Should I cut my gym membership if I rarely go? ▾
How do I stop impulse buying online? ▾
Is it worth using a budgeting app if I’m not tech-savvy? ▾
What if I can’t cut anything because my essentials already eat everything? ▾
The real cost of not looking
The most expensive spending habit isn’t the one you know about — it’s the one you haven’t checked. The YouGov data shows 36% of UK adults expect to be worse off in 2026, yet only 51% have a budget. That means millions of people are heading into a tighter financial period without knowing where their money actually goes. A single afternoon spent auditing your subscriptions and recurring payments could reveal £500–1,000 a year in savings you didn’t know existed. That’s not a cut — it’s a recovery.
Remember: this article is general information only. For advice on your specific situation, speak to a qualified professional.
If this was useful, you might also want to read Stop Impulse Buys Dead: The Ultimate Guide to UK Savings Discipline.
Sources and Further Reading
Top Financial Tips for Savings in the UK — Practical steps for building a savings habit that sticks, from setting goals to automating transfers.
The Spare Change Millionaire: Micro-Savings That Add Up Big Time — How small daily savings can compound into meaningful amounts over time.
YouGov (2026). UK Financial Outlook 2026: Consumer Spending Trends, Budgeting Habits and Financial Expectations. 🔗
Barclays Corporate (2026). UK Consumer Spending Report — May 2026. 🔗
