Spring cleaning season is here, making it a good time to take a hard look at your finances before the festive season puts further strain on your pockets..
With household budgets under increasing pressure and financial stress rising sharply among young South Africans, the National Debt Counsellors (NDC) urges households to use the three months before December to review their income, expenses and credit commitments.
This is a good time, says NDC, to make changes "while there is still time for those adjustments to reflect in their bank balances".
The warning comes as South African consumers continue to grapple with the cost of living and debt pressures.
The National Credit Regulator’s latest Credit Bureau Monitor, covering the quarter ended June 2025, recorded 10.54 million impaired credit-active consumers out of 29.24 million credit-active consumers.
Young consumers under particular pressure
DebtBusters’ annual Money-Stress Tracker, based on 18 000 respondents, found that financial stress among consumers aged 24 and younger increased by 18% over the past year, the largest increase recorded among all age groups.
Its second-quarter 2026 Debt Index also showed a sharp increase in the number of young people seeking debt counselling.
Between 2016 and 2024, consumers aged 24 and younger consistently accounted for less than 2% of total debt counselling applicants. This rose to 4% in 2025 and then more than doubled to 9% in 2026.
“This signals that financial stress is affecting South Africans earlier, as they enter adulthood in a much more expensive environment than their slightly older peers,” says Benay Sager, executive head of DebtBusters.
The pressure is being driven by more than interest rates. After two years in which borrowing costs dominated financial concerns, inflation and electricity costs have re-emerged as significant sources of anxiety, he says.
According to DebtBusters, for consumers aged 24 and younger, the rising cost of living and the struggle to meet monthly debt repayments are among their biggest financial concerns. Concern about the cost of living increased substantially between 2025 and 2026, while debt repayments remained a major source of pressure.
The broader household environment is also difficult, with rising food and fuel costs putting pressure on disposable income.
Against this backdrop, the NDC says a financial spring clean should not necessarily mean making drastic cuts. Instead, households should first establish exactly what they owe, what their commitments cost and what they can realistically afford.
“When people ask me where to start, I suggest just three things. Reconcile, adjust and plan. The objective is to know exactly where your money is going, make deliberate adjustments, and then plan for what is coming next,” says René Moonsamy, director at the National Debt Counsellors.
Start with a debt audit
Moonsamy recommends that consumers begin by reconciling every financial commitment.
This includes recurring expenses, insurance, savings, assets and every credit agreement, as well as outstanding balances, interest rates, instalments and other credit costs.
A proper debt audit should go beyond looking at the monthly instalment. Consumers should consider the outstanding balance, interest rate, remaining term, repayment amount, whether the account is up to date and the overall cost of carrying the debt, she says.
Consumers should also obtain their credit reports and compare them with their household records. This can help identify forgotten accounts, incorrect information or debts that may have fallen off their radar, Moonsamy says.
“Most importantly, compare your total monthly debt commitments with what you can genuinely afford after essential household expenses. A debt audit is useful because it moves the conversation from ‘I think I am coping’ to knowing exactly where you stand financially,” she says.
According to Moonsamy, the second step is to adjust the household budget.
She says consumers should identify expenses that can realistically be reduced and redirect the money towards debt repayment or savings.
Small recurring expenses can easily go unnoticed. Streaming platforms, app subscriptions, gym memberships, bank charges, insurance products and data costs can collectively make a meaningful dent in a household budget, she says.
Frequent discretionary spending, including takeaways, convenience purchases and online shopping, can have the same effect.
Moonsamy also cautions consumers to consider how they purchase everyday essentials.
“Repeatedly buying prepaid airtime or data each week may ultimately cost more than an appropriate month-to-month package. The same principle applies across many household expenses where small, frequent purchases can sometimes be more expensive than a properly planned monthly option,” she says.
The final step is to plan beyond the current month, Moonsamy says.
Rather than focusing only on immediate expenses, households should build a realistic 12-month budget that takes account of annual bills, seasonal expenses and periods when household costs are likely to increase, she says.
This is particularly important as the festive season approaches, when spending typically rises.
Young consumers taking action
Despite experiencing the sharpest increase in financial stress, younger consumers are showing signs that they are more willing to take action.
DebtBusters found that under-24s were under the least repayment pressure among the age groups surveyed, with 53% spending 30% or more of their take-home income on debt repayments, compared with an overall average of 67%.
Younger consumers were also 1.5 times more likely to stick to a budget and four times more likely to look for a higher-paying job than consumers aged 55 and older, the group says.
They are also driving the continued increase in subscriptions to online debt management tools.
“This, and the continued growth in young people applying for debt counselling, is positive. More consumers are taking the opportunity to address debt earlier in their professional lives,” says Sager.
Don't wait until the problem becomes a crisis
For households struggling to make ends meet, the message is not to wait until accounts are in arrears before seeking help.
Moonsamy says consumers should not feel embarrassed about seeking assistance.
“People sometimes view debt counselling as a sign that they have failed financially, when in reality debt problems can arise from rising living costs, changes in income, unexpected household expenses, or commitments that were affordable at one point and are no longer.
“Debt counselling is a formal process under the National Credit Act, designed to assist qualifying over-indebted consumers by restructuring their debt repayments into a more affordable arrangement. The earlier financial difficulty is addressed, the more opportunity there is to consider the available options before the situation deteriorates further,” says Sager.
THE NATIONAL