As cost-of-living challenges persist, 67 per cent of B.C. residents are looking to cut back on spending in 2026 \u2014 13 per cent higher than what it was last year \u2014 according to a survey from TD.<\/p>\n
Fifty-five per cent of British Columbians plan to reduce eating out or ordering food, 54 per cent shop less in retail, and 50 per cent plan to cut back on entertainment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really seeing a pretty notable consideration by British Columbians, in thinking about their spending,\u201d said Julia Kelly,\u00a0VP of Business Banking, in an interview with Daily Hive.<\/p>\n
Seventy per cent of survey respondents said that the cost of living and inflation were their biggest financial challenges. While inflation has been cooling in many parts of the economy, grocery prices are still edging upwards.<\/p>\n
Dalhousie Agri-food Analytics Lab\u2019s\u00a0Canada\u2019s Food Price Report (CFPR) 2026<\/a> forecasted that overall food prices will climb by four to six per cent in the next year, with an average family of four expected to spend an additional $994.63 more on groceries than they did in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cYou really have to be proactive in thinking about where your dollars are going to go, when your dollars aren\u2019t going as far,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing B.C. residents really start to think about, \u2018Where am I going to prioritize my needs versus my wants?’\u201d<\/p>\n She said\u00a0 these discretionary categories \u2014 like dining out, retail, or entertainment \u2014 are the areas \u201cwhere there\u2019s opportunity to really revisit where you are putting your dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n Other ways that B.C. residents said they would cut back are by shopping around more to save on purchases (38 per cent), switching from name brands to generic or store brands (38 per cent), and cancelling some or all subscription services (33 per cent).<\/p>\n Further saving strategies include \u201cno spend\u201d challenges, finding a side hustle, and thrifting.<\/p>\n Kelly added that people in B.C. are trying to take advantage of loyalty programs, trying out budgeting apps and planners.<\/p>\n A Statistics Canada report published last summer<\/a> backs up the financial insecurity people are feeling, which showed that B.C. has one of Canada\u2019s highest costs of living. A recent report from MNP Ltd., an insolvency firm, showed that 45 per cent of British Columbians say they\u2019re $200 or less away from insolvency,<\/a>\u00a0and only 49 per cent have six months of emergency savings.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a strong expectation across B.C. that household finances will face added strain in the year ahead, heightening concern about economic security,\u201d said Linda Paul of MNP Ltd. in a release.<\/p>\n But the B.C. trend is reflected on a national level, with the TD survey finding similar results Canada-wide.<\/p>\n \u201cWith sustained periods of increased cost, Canadians are trimming their monthly budgets and looking at different ways in which they may be able to do so,\u201d said Kelly.<\/p>\n On a positive note, she added that Canadians are prioritizing their discretionary dollars for Canadian-owned small businesses.<\/p>\n And while housing costs remain high<\/a>, many Metro Vancouver cities have seen their rents drop over the last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Are you planning on cutting back on spending this year? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n With files from Daniel Chai<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As cost-of-living challenges persist, 67 per cent of B.C. residents are looking to cut back on spending in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-409709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}