Another day, another headline about millennial spending. Sigh.
This time, a study by Barclays looked into generational spending habits found that millennials spend more than £3,300 each year on coffee, food, going out, and clothes.
Per the findings, emailed to Mashable, a survey of 20 to 37-year-olds found that the average bill for these items comes to £3,312.74. In a press release, Barclays said that millennials could save “a whopping £10.5 billion a year by making minor changes to their spending habits.”
A breakdown of the spending shows that millennials spend an average of £904.20 per annum on socialising, £738.96 on new clothing, £705.96 on eating out, £522.60 on takeout food, and £441 a on “daily treats (coffees etc)”. That means that millennial coffee expenditure on average amounts to about £36.75 a month, which won’t exactly break the bank (pun intended) in the grand scheme of things.
Also, looking beyond the headline, millennials are actually spending £441 a year on “daily treats” including coffee. That’s £36.75 a month…
But also, yeah, just let me live my life in peace pls? pic.twitter.com/gWFQK4fE8Q— Rachel Thompson (@RVT9) February 20, 2019
Manchester Evening News reported the findings, and its tweet promptly began gaining some attention on Twitter.
Not going to share the piece and give it oxygen but FWIW millennials spending £3,000 a year on clothes and coffee when they face some of the highest living & housing costs in Europe coupled with wages that have stagnated since financial crash seems p reasonable to me
— Vicky Spratt (@Victoria_Spratt) February 20, 2019
For the last time Jesus Christ – personal millennial spending habits don’t negate structural injustice, in exactly the same way as women buying women’s magazines or wearing lipstick doesn’t somehow negate patriarchy. It’s an argument for simple people
— Rhiannon L Cosslett (@rhiannonlucyc) February 20, 2019
Many are of the (rightful) opinion that £3K a year is a reasonable amount of money to spend on food, drink, clothing, and spending time with fellow humans.
This is a reasonable amount of money to spend on food, clothing, social life and coffeehttps://t.co/oSxTGdLtYX
— Karl McDonald (@karlusss) February 20, 2019
Those damn millennials who eat and drink and dress themselves. https://t.co/0UOGdQhAAG
— Donie O’Sullivan (@donie) February 20, 2019
can’t believe millennials spend money on trying to live, the bastards
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) February 20, 2019
Millennials refuse to walk around naked and starving. Selfish pricks. https://t.co/uVC2BBFCXQ
— Nick (@checkyoursheds) February 20, 2019
By this point we’re pretty well-versed in responding to millennial-shaming stories, so naturally the jokes started pouring in.
Back in my day, we would spend precisely one shilling on a log of firewood, around which we would gather and tell stories all through the night, eating sawdust from the mill, and we were happy in a way you millennials will never understand https://t.co/xJ3kDkGkhP
— Kathryn Bromwich (@kathryn42) February 20, 2019
I’m pretty sure my grandma spends this much on the QVC craft channel every month https://t.co/HWcQN51bLm
— Kitty Wenham (@kittywenham) February 20, 2019
Deep that it took a whole study for them to find out that, like other generations, millennials must exchange money for goods and services in order to live. https://t.co/YC75vtJXSX
— Rachael Krishna (@RachaelKrishna) February 20, 2019
Absurd that these pampered millennials fritter away their income on *checks notes* food https://t.co/pxXsD1dBPg
— Eddie Robson (@EddieRobson) February 20, 2019
And how much do baby boomers spend AT THE M&S FOOD HALL https://t.co/6wRfWbUeRB
— Sophie Gadd (@sophie_gadd) February 20, 2019
The author of the Manchester Evening News story tweeted that it wasn’t his idea to report on the findings and that he considers it “a non-story made to make young people look like we squander our money when the reality is we can’t afford a house.”
Getting pelters on Twitter for this – and fairly so. It wasn’t my idea, I also think it’s a non-story made to make young people look like we squander our money when the reality is we can’t afford a house so what else are we going to spend it on? https://t.co/1p105LBro5
— Matthew Cooper (@c00perM) February 20, 2019
Coffee anyone?
