Brits will waste £30,000 during their lifetime

On average Brits will waste more than £30,000 during their lifetime, after losing track of monthly direct debits.

Researchers who carried out a study on behalf of Sky Mobile found the typical adult pays out over £111 in direct debits every month, with £40 of that being spent on products or services that are forgotten about or never used.

Gym memberships are deemed the most expendable, while museum memberships, subscription to the National Trust and cinema club fees were all also considered direct debits Brits would cancel if they could be bothered.

“It’s important to keep an eye on payments which may unnecessarily drain our funds,” said Sophia Ahmad, director of Sky Mobile.

“To ensure customers don’t waste money paying for data they don’t use, Sky Mobile launched Roll, which automatically rolls over any unused data into their Sky Piggybank every month.”

In addition, one in four respondents have experienced a nasty surprise when they checked their bank balance and found an overlooked monthly payment had reduced their balance.

Meanwhile, one in seven have never stopped to check their outgoings to see where they could save a penny or two.

Of those surveyed, one in two said they found it a struggle to make their wages last until pay day, and one in four found it tough to keep track of spending.