finance

OH GOD NO: This is how much the average Aussie is spending on eating out every week.

Guys, it’s time. We need to talk about ~exactly~ how much money is sitting in our stomachs.

Judging by the number of brown UberEats bags in recycle bins around the country – if ours are any to go by, we’re talking A LOT of bags – Aussies are spending more money on eating out and takeaway food than we’d like to admit.

Now, we have a pretty good idea as to just how much. Cheers, Commonwealth Bank.

According to new transaction data from the CBA, their customers are spending more than $640 million on eating out. Every. Single. Month.

And if you’re one of those smug NAB customers, you can wipe that smug smile off your face because it’s more than likely your bank’s data isn’t much different.

Here’s how the figures are broken down:

At restaurants, you friend, are likely dropping around $140 per month. That’s six per cent more than you were two years ago. And UberEats? Yeah, $90 every month is spent chowing on all the takeaway food.

That’s a total of $57.50 on fancy food a week.

Yikes.

Not so delicious now, right? Image: Getty.
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As for why, CBA's executive general manager of digital, Pete Steel, reckons it's because nifty features like PayWave and ApplePay have made our hard earned dosh, well, invisible - with a wave of our debit cards, us Aussies are literally eating our money away.

"85 per cent of all transactions are non-cash now, so we think as money is getting invisible it's a lot easier to spend," he told the Daily Mercury.

It's not exactly groundbreaking - anyone who's ever had to physically hand over a $50 knows it's soul destroying, where as with PayWave, it's pain-free, like it was never even in your bank account.

Now we know the truth, it's probably time to finally embrace the whole batch cooking, meal prep movement everyone bangs on about. We'll be doing that on Sunday.

Or, maybe next Sunday.

Listen: Ladies, The Barefoot Investor wants to go on a money date with you. Find out why in Scott Pape's No Filter interview below...