Ontarians eat out most frequently; brown-bagging once more a week can help Canadians save
TORONTO, July 9, 2012 /CNW/ - While some Canadians seek out low-cost alternatives for lunch, many are spending hundreds of dollars a year on their midday meal, a new survey by Visa Canada confirms.
"Sixty percent of Canadians surveyed reported they buy their lunch once or more a week, an expense that can add up over the course of a year. With a little understanding of budgeting and a lot more brown bags in their briefcases when they head out the door each morning, it is easy to trim this unnecessary and costly expense," says Melissa Cassar, head of corporate and public affairs at Visa Canada.
The survey reveals that the majority of Canadians who buy lunch - 61 percent - are spending between $7.00 and $13.00, while nine percent are spending between $14.00 and $25.00. Regularly dining out for lunch at these prices can significantly affect the budgets of Canadians, no matter what their income level.
"If you think about a brown bagged lunch costing about $2 to $3 per day, compared with this survey's national average of $8.80 for those who buy their lunch, getting into the habit of spending an extra ten minutes each day preparing a sandwich or packing leftovers will put more money back in your pocket every week," says Cassar.
Other findings from the survey include:
"One of the most telling findings of this survey was that 30 percent of Canadians plan on spending less on lunch this year. Corrective measures like brown bagging create real savings," says Cassar, "and they are as easy as pie - the one you make at home rather than the slice you buy at the coffee shop."
Financial education has been a global priority for Visa since 1995. In 2008, Visa made a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative to share its financial literacy programs with 20 million people worldwide by May 1, 2013, and Visa is well on its way to achieving this milestone.
More money advice and perspective from Visa Canada is available at www.PracticalMoneySkills.ca.
About Visa
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.
About the Survey
From March 16th to March 17th, 2012, an online survey was conducted among a sample of 1,000 Canadian adults 18 years plus, who are Angus Reid Forum panel members. The Angus Reid Forum is owned and operated by Vision Critical. Individuals were sampled according to Census data to be representative of the Canadian national adult population. The full dataset has been statistically weighted according to the most current gender, age, region, education (and in Quebec, language) Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. The margin of error is ±3.1%, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
Image with caption: "Canadians who buy lunch spend $8.80 on average, according to Visa Canada - an expense that adds up. (CNW Group/VISA Canada Corporation)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120709_C6204_PHOTO_EN_15943.jpg
Erin Sufrin
Visa Canada
[email protected]
416-860-3869
Janine Allen
Fleishman-Hillard
[email protected]
416-645-3657
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