Deciding what to spend on is a perpetual trade-off, and what was once deemed essential may no longer be.
It is a discussion we constantly have with ourselves and has become acute as the must-haves - education, food, utilities and medical costs - eat up more of our earnings. The delayed spending on nice-to-haves affects big and small purchases, and companies feel it.
Plans for the new bathroom will be shelved because school fees need to be paid, and reserves must be kept for unexpected doctor visits. Summer pyjamas are not needed - an old pair of shorts and a T-shirt you would not let your child out of the house in will do. Don't they say necessity is the mother of invention?
But when it comes to imbibing, South Africans resolutely stick to their guns. Some purchases, like liquid assets, it appears, are imperative.
Results from companies that rely on consumers to spend have shown again this week that it is a struggle out there.
At Woolworths, group sales for the first 20 weeks of the 2018 financial year barely moved the needle with a 2.6% rise. Its fashion, beauty and home category in South Africa eked out just 0.7% sales growth, while like-for-like growth dropped. Food sales in South Africa, up 9.3% - helped in part by the opening of new stores - show where consumers spend their dwindling cash.
And if it is not food, then it's booze.
At Spar, alcohol sales in South Africa through its Tops at Spar liquor stores were strong. The company said liquor sales continued to achieve double-digit growth.
But overall operations in South Africa suffered from "the weak state of consumer buying power and confidence ... exacerbated by retrenchments, political uncertainty and climatic challenges in South Africa", the company said.
When it comes to home renovations, South Africans have put on the brakes. Italtile Holdings reported in a trading update for the 19 weeks to November 10 that like-on-like retail store turnover declined by 5.4%.
The group said that while a pullback in discretionary spending across all income groups was evident, it was particularly the middle market, which its retail brand CTM mostly caters for, that showed signs of strain.
TopT, which targets lower-income consumers, reported double-digit growth, although not as robust as previously, while Italtile, which sells tiles, baths and basins to the well-heeled, showed signs of a recovery.
Furniture retailer Lewis, in its interim results to end-September, also said this week that consumers in the middle to lower market were under pressure due to "increasing living costs, high unemployment and limited prospects in the current low-growth environment".
For some companies that have expanded offshore to reduce their exposure to South Africa, the grass has not necessarily been greener.
Netcare this week warned of a sizable dent to earnings due to challenges at its UK operations, while Mediclinic reported a weak performance in South Africa, the Middle East and Switzerland.
With anaemic retail sales this year, there may be demand building ahead of Christmas, but it is unlikely to make up for the misery that has been 2017.
• Enslin-Payne is the deputy editor of Business Times
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