(Click here to learn how to save for a rainy day.)

Seventy-eight percent of respondents said that once they recovered financially they were going to save more. The lack of savings has made people feel particularly vulnerable. "I am still busy learning a hard lesson. I did overspend and I got too much credit and, yes, I am going through a hard time trying to get everything paid off. In future, when I have extra money I will save."

Interestingly, however, this view was not necessarily shared across all income groups. The majority of the middle and lower income respondents were adamant that they will not return to their previous way of spending as the lessons learnt have been too hard. Yet upper income earners feel that people will return to their previous ways of spending once they have more money available as they see it as part of human nature.

While lower and middle income earners were tending to stick to budgets, higher income earners were tending to use their credit cards to maintain some level of expenditure.

Cutting back on costs

The research showed that people are looking for ways to save such as changing bank accounts (you don?t necessarily have to switch bank accounts to save; click here to learn how you can save without switching), excluding extended family from funeral cover, removing non-breadwinner?s cover from insurance and changing from a full medical aid to a hospital plan.

Any additional savings are not going into products, but rather bond repayments (click here for an article on how paying extra into your bond is the best investment ever). Performances and fees on investments and products are also being scrutinised more carefully with people cancelling if they feel the products are not delivering.

While many of these cutbacks are a sensible reaction to tighter budgets, people are also canceling products that are leaving them financially vulnerable. There are incidences of people cancelling life insurance and not telling their partner, as they don?t want to be seen in a negative light. Respondents also said that cancelling these products was making them feel that they were not good enough provides.

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