{"id":837385,"date":"2025-10-04T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=837385"},"modified":"2025-10-03T15:40:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T13:40:45","slug":"south-africans-cutting-off-streaming-services-medical-aid-and-downsizing-their-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/837385\/south-africans-cutting-off-streaming-services-medical-aid-and-downsizing-their-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans cutting off streaming services, medical aid, and downsizing their homes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans are under growing financial pressure, and many are being forced to cut back on services, sell belongings, and even move into smaller homes to stay afloat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new survey by infoQuest, together with Decapod Customer Experience, showed that households are making tough choices as the economy continues to struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research, conducted in August 2025 among 300 consumers, found<\/a> that only 15% of people are very satisfied with their financial situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On average, people rated their finances at just 5.8 out of 10, only a small improvement from 5.4 in 2023, the first real year of recovery from the Covid-19 economic shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to infoQuest, this shows that the current situation for most South Africans has not improved in any substantial way, even after a further two-year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people feel slightly better off than they did a year ago. However, this is mostly because of lifestyle changes rather than higher income. Older South Africans, especially those over 50, are struggling more than younger groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most households are cutting back on day-to-day spending. Nine out of ten are hunting for bargains and promotions, while 85% are spending less on luxuries and impulse buys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating out and socialising have also been reduced by 83% of people, and the same number are sticking to strict monthly budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big sacrifices are also being made. Two-thirds of South Africans have cancelled or reduced subscription services such as streaming, 65% are choosing local rather than imported products, and 62% have switched where they shop for groceries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many are cutting back on hobbies (56%), carpooling or using public transport (51%), and cancelling gym memberships (49%). Alarmingly, almost four in ten have downsized their homes to cope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pressure is so severe that some have paused education (37%), sold or pawned possessions (29%), or borrowed money from family and friends (27%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of informal borrowing is more common than taking personal loans from banks (24%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People also lean on existing credit, with 22% taking funds from their home loan and 20% increasing their credit card limits. More than half say they are struggling to keep up with credit card repayments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More South Africans taking up a second job<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For about a third of households, even essential costs are a battle. Groceries, bond repayments, fuel, and school fees are all areas where many cannot keep up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insurance payments are also difficult for some, but these are less pressing than food, housing, and transport costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make ends meet, many are looking for extra income. 42% of South Africans have taken on a side hustle or second job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

InfoQuest noted that this is no longer just a young person\u2019s solution. It cuts across all age groups. Others are selling what they own to raise cash, with 21% selling household items and 18% selling valuables like jewellery or art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A smaller group has taken more drastic steps, including moving children to cheaper schools (16%), selling cars (7%), or even selling property, renting, or moving in with family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire Heckrath, CEO of infoQuest, says these results highlight both the resilience and the desperation of South Africans under pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe slight uptick in financial satisfaction is a testament to the resourcefulness and hard work of consumers who are taking drastic and deliberate steps to cope with a difficult economic environment,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she warned this should not be mistaken for a sign of economic recovery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUltimately, the report shows that the burden of managing financial hardship has fallen squarely on the individual, with little evidence of a broader economic environment that is substantially easing their burden.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africans are under growing financial pressure, and many are being forced to cut back on services, sell belongings, and even move into smaller homes to stay afloat.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":704959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[23586,17460,853],"class_list":["post-837385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-decapod-customer-experience","tag-infoquest","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837390,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837385\/revisions\/837390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}