Americans Still Cutting Back on the Small Things to Save Money

Majority purchasing more generic brands in past six months

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Nov 11, 2010, 06:35 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- There are always small ways to save a little bit of money. Bringing lunch to work or skipping the morning latte may not feel significant, but the cost savings add up over the long run. A number of Americans have done or considered doing these things and have cut back in other small ways to save money. Over the past six months, three in five U.S. adults (62%) have purchased more generic brands and over two in five (45%) are brown-bagging lunch instead of purchasing it. In June, similar numbers of Americans said they were buying generic (65%) and brown-bagging it (48%).

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These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 3,084 adults surveyed online between October 11 and 18, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

Some of the other findings of this Harris Poll include:

Just over one-third of Americans are going to the hairstylist or barber less often (37%) and have switched to refillable water bottles instead of purchasing bottles of water (37%);
In not so good news for the print industry, over one-quarter of adults (27%) have cancelled one or more magazine subscriptions while 17% have cancelled a newspaper subscription. In addition, one in ten Americans have considered cancelling a newspaper subscription (11%) or a magazine subscription (8%);
One in five Americans have stopped purchasing coffee in the morning (22%) and cut down on dry cleaning (21%) while 14% have begun carpooling or using mass transit;
Media, entertainment and communication may also have taken a hit in these economic times—one in five U.S. adults have cancelled or cut back on cable television service (22%), just under one in five have changed or cancelled cell phone service (17%) or cancelled their landline service and are only using their cell phone (17%);
Breaking this down by generation, Gen Xers (those 34-45) are most likely to purchase generic brands (70%), brown bag their lunch (62%), go to the hair dresser less often (45%) and to have stopped purchasing coffee in the morning (35%); and,
Echo Boomers (those 18-33) are much less likely to have cancelled a magazine subscription (18%) compared to at least three in ten of all the other generations who say they have done this, although Echo Boomers are more likely to have cancelled their landline phone service (22%).

So What?

Financial advisors often recommend cutting back on the little things to save a lot of money. And, in the current economic climate, Americans seem to be listening and saying no to these items. The question is: what happens when the economy turns around? Do they come back and buy that latte in the morning again or has this become a true behavior change?

TABLE 1 SPENDING/SAVINGS OVER PAST SIX MONTHS "Have you done or considered doing any of the following over the past six months in order to save money?" Base: All U.S. adults
		Have Done	Have Considered	Have not done nor considered	Not applicable
Purchasing more generic brands	%	62	12	17	9
Brown bagging lunch instead of purchasing it	%	45	9	13	32
Going to the hairdresser/barber/stylist less often	%	37	8	30	25
Switched to refillable water bottle instead of purchasing bottle of water	%	37	10	22	31
Cancelled one or more magazine subscriptions	%	27	8	23	41
Cancelled or cut back cable television service	%	22	21	40	17
Stopped purchasing coffee in the morning	%	22	7	19	53
Cut down on dry cleaning	%	21	5	16	57
Changed or cancelled cell phone service	%	17	16	50	17
Cancelled landline phone service and only using cell phone	%	17	21	40	21
Cancelled a newspaper subscription	%	17	11	27	44
Begun carpooling or using mass transit	%	14	9	31	45
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2 SPENDING/SAVINGS OVER PAST SIX MONTHS – TREND OF HAVE DONE "Have you done or considered doing any of the following over the past six months in order to save money?" Percent saying "Have done" Base: All U.S. adults
		June 2009	Oct. 2009	Feb. 2010	June 2010	Oct 2010
Purchasing more generic brands	%	62	64	63	65	62
Brown bagging lunch instead of purchasing it	%	47	47	45	48	45
Going to the hairdresser/barber/stylist less often	%	36	43	39	38	37
Switched to refillable water bottle instead of purchasing bottle of water	%	33	36	34	39	37
Cancelled one or more magazine subscriptions	%	29	34	33	31	27
Cancelled or cut back cable television service	%	19	21	22	22	22
Stopped purchasing coffee in the morning	%	15	20	21	22	22
Cut down on dry cleaning	%	20	22	22	24	21
Changed or cancelled cell phone service	%	14	15	17	15	17
Cancelled landline phone service and only using cell phone	%	11	12	15	15	17
Cancelled a newspaper subscription	%	17	21	19	17	17
Begun carpooling or using mass transit	%	13	14	14	12	14
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3 SPENDING/SAVINGS OVER PAST SIX MONTHS – BY GENERATION "Have you done or considered doing any of the following over the past six months in order to save money?" Percent saying "Have done" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Generation
	Total	Echo Boomers (18-33)	Gen. X (34-45)	Baby Boomers (46-64)	Matures (65+)
	%	%	%	%	%
Purchasing more generic brands	62	57	70	62	59
Brown bagging lunch instead of purchasing it	45	46	62	50	14
Going to the hairdresser/barber/stylist less often	37	35	45	39	27
Switched to refillable water bottle instead of purchasing bottle of water	37	36	44	36	31
Cancelled one or more magazine subscriptions	27	18	30	31	33
Cancelled or cut back cable television service	22	22	28	23	13
Stopped purchasing coffee in the morning	22	19	35	20	12
Cut down on dry cleaning	21	15	23	26	19
Changed or cancelled cell phone service	17	16	21	19	10
Cancelled landline phone service and only using cell phone	17	22	22	15	6
Cancelled a newspaper subscription	17	13	22	19	12
Begun carpooling or using mass transit	14	18	20	12	5
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between October 11 to 18, 2010 among 3,084 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

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The Harris Poll® #139, November 11, 2010

By Regina A. Corso, SVP, Harris Poll, Public Relations and Youth Research, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.