Tronier added, 'The study showed that the past year has significantly impacted how a majority of Americans spend their money. After that, however, they will go shopping for groceries (54%), spend money on transportation expenses (31%), clothes (25%), medications (21%) and their pets (21%). When the paycheck comes in, 69% of Americans will first tackle their bills. All the same, eight in ten Americans are more likely to buy essential items on sale than non-essential items and luxuries. Nearly as many (52%) are willing to buy things in bulk if they're on sale. Over half (54%) would be willing to spend more than their budget would allow if the item they want is on sale. For most, their stimulus money was spent on the necessities - bills (58%), groceries (34%) and savings (29%).Īmerican spending habits also point towards hunting for the perfect deal. More than two-thirds (67%) of respondents said they received a stimulus check within the past year. Also frequently mentioned were funerals, medicine and health expenses. In addition to budget cuts, 43% of people had to deal with unexpected expenses within the past year, including new bills (31%), new savings costs (22%), clothes (22%) and groceries (19%). For 75% of them, their money problems made them reevaluate their long-term budgets. Two out of five Americans said they had a 'significant' financial setback or loss in 2020.

However, not all spending changes were a choice or simple reallocation of budget.

'We've found search volume on our site continues to remain high in the categories of home improvement and home office and while there's been a decline since the height of pandemic for searches related to essential items, terms like toilet paper continue to be popular with our users.' 'Our internal data supports what consumers are reporting in this survey when it comes to their spending over the course of the pandemic year,' said Ryan Tronier, senior personal finance editor for Slickdeals. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of these nesters feel more pride in their homes since they began investing more money and time into them. More than half (58%) of people said they reallocated their 'going out' budget for staying in, with 41% of people spending more money on redecorating their home. People are still purchasing essential items like toilet paper (35%), water (31%), cleaning supplies (30%), hand sanitizer (29%) and paper towels (28%) more than they did prior to the start of the pandemic. One year later, these habits have calmed down, but 14% of people report continuing to panic-buy. At that time, the most panic-bought items included toilet paper (50%), cleaning supplies (42%), hand sanitizer (41%), water (41%) and paper towels (40%). Nearly half (49%) said they were panic-buying essential goods at the beginning of the pandemic. However, Americans increased their spending on groceries (41%), self-care products (23%), bills (22%), takeout (22%) and healthcare (20%). The study found that over the course of the pandemic year, consumers spent much less money on things like movies (49%), luxury goods (46%), video games (42%), clothes (42%) and entertainment (41%).

The person who spent money like water