The festive season can bring out the worst in us.
And by “worst,” I mean spending like there’s no tomorrow.
I’ve just been reading Uber Eats’ annual Cravings Report for South Africa, and it’s eye-watering. Not just the volume of takeaways, but the sheer value of what people are ordering. One super-user reportedly spent about R465,000 in a single year, placing close to 2,800 orders — effectively treating Uber Eats like a daily utility rather than an occasional indulgence.
Then there are the one-off splurges. Alcohol dominated the top end of spending, with single orders including a premium bottle of tequila costing nearly R18,000, and another order stacking tequila with two bottles of whiskey at just under that amount. Delivered from a restaurant. Straight to the door. No raised eyebrows, no awkward wait at the counter — just tap, pay, indulge.
It’s not only the money that stands out, but the behaviour. More than a thousand users placed at least one order every single day of the year. Others showed almost monastic loyalty, hammering the same restaurant hundreds of times, or setting up standing weekly “date night” orders that ran for the entire year. Even the delivery notes tell a story: obsessive meal instructions repeated in ALL CAPS, and long, heartfelt love letters tucked into food orders around Valentine’s Day and birthdays. Takeaway, it seems, has become emotional, expressive — and very personal.
None of this is shocking, of course. December does strange things to rational adults. Extra gifts. Gifting ourselves. Restaurant meals. Lavish parties. A determined march down the bottle store aisle, aiming for the best liquor because, well, it’s Christmas.
And then reality intrudes at the worst possible time. Fuel prices tick up just as people are packing cars for road trips. Suddenly the holiday becomes a staycation. Plans are scaled back, visits postponed, calculators brought out. At close to R23 a litre in some areas, even a modest getaway starts to feel like a luxury purchase.
The financial experts — the people who watch this stuff — always warn that December and early January are where budgets go to die. What you splurge now has a nasty habit of turning January, and sometimes the rest of the year, into a slow crawl out of debt. As someone once put it: you don’t regret stocking firewood in summer — you regret not doing it when winter arrives. And winter, financial or otherwise, has a habit of arriving unannounced.
Still, nobody is suggesting you turn into Scrooge. We all know how that story ends — three ghosts and a complete personality reset. Spending a little makes life enjoyable and memorable. It’s been drilled into us for generations, and the commercial machine has only turned the volume up, starting with Black Friday and rolling straight through Christmas.
So enjoy the season. Within your means. Whatever your budget, do what tickles your fancy. Just remember: you’re the one in charge of the handbrake. You can tap it at any time. Because the only thing worse than an expensive December is spending the next twelve months paying for it.
And tequila, however premium, still tastes the same in January — only then it comes with a headache.
