February 23, 2010
A recent Harris poll found that 63 percent of U.S. adults said they have bought more store brands in the past six months to save money, while another 12 percent said they have considered doing so.
The fact remains that consumers are still cautious about spending and are cutting out small things form their budgets, despite signs that the economy is improving, according to a Harris Poll of 2,576 adults surveyed online between Jan. 18 and Jan. 25.
To keep expenses down, Americans also continue to brown-bag lunch, with 45 percent bringing lunch to work instead of purchasing it, with Generation Xers leading this trend.
Meanwhile, 34 percent of those polled said they have switched to refillable water bottles instead of buying bottled water to save money. Other U.S. consumer cost-saving measure include cutting back on prepared coffee coffee purchases in the morning, dry cleaning, newspaper and magazine subscriptions, as well as cable television services.
The only thing a majority of U.S. adults say they have neither done nor considered doing is changing or canceling their cell phone service (52 percent); only 15 percent have done so, according to Harris.