Friendship Day: Survey shows 1 in 5 women borrow their friend's man to save cash

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August

2013.

Friendship Day: Survey shows 1 in 5 women borrow their friend's man to save cash

PRESS RELEASE

1 AUGUST

As Friendship Day falls on this Sunday 4 Aug, a new survey shows 1 in 5 women ‘borrow' a friend's husband or boyfriend to help them with DIY (but so do 1 in 6 men!)

Survey uncovers just how much we borrow and share with our friends to save money

That's what friends are for – we really are a sharing bunch

1 in 5 women borrow a friend's man to help them with handyman chores
70% of women share clothes with friends
Nearly half of young people share the use of their Oyster card with a friend
1 in 6 people borrow a friend's dog to take for a walk (and over a third of 18-24-year-olds)
40% of men share sports equipment
40% of women use their friends instead of paying for childcare
64% of people have borrowed or been given money by their friends – even 60% of 44-55-year-olds
22% of people have even ‘borrowed' a friend's identity to get into a members' club
The West Midlands are the MOST likely to share, borrow and give to their friends
People in Northern Ireland are the LEAST likely to share with their friends

(Kate and Pippa sharing a Whistles jacket, and a Katherine Hooker coat)

As International Friendship day approaches (4^th August) a new survey shows that we are depending on our friends to help us save money in almost every area of our lives, even sharing skilful husbands with them, so they don't have to pay a handyman. 1 in 5 women have borrowed a man from a friend to carry out jobs around the house, but so have 16% of men!

Some 70% of women borrow clothes from each other too, so it's not just Kate and Pippa Middleton, best friends and sisters, who have been known to share the same favourite outfits to save buying a new one. And women are very generous with their friends, with 39% of women actually giving their friends clothes.

A bed for the night is the most likely thing to be given by a friend with 80% of people having stayed with friends while on holiday or travelling, and products such as DVDs, books and games are also very high up the list as things that friends borrow, share and give each other (80% of women share these products regularly).

The survey was carried out by Friends of Friends Travel, (http://www.foftravel.com/), a new social travel marketplace that aims to help travellers save money by enabling them to share services such as accommodation, luggage storage and advice between their friends network for free. Krissa Curran, CEO and founder, says:

"The whole premise behind FOFtravel.com is that friends like to help each other out, and, especially with travelling, there are many ways that your network of friends can help you save serious amounts of money, and FOFtravel.com helps people to tap into that network easily while travelling.

"So we knew already that most people share travel accommodation with their friends - often sharing the cost of a hotel room or a friend letting another friend who is visiting the area stay on their sofa - and this survey confirmed that 80% of people have shared travel accommodation with a friend in some way.

"But, we didn't realise quite how much the sharing culture had permeated into every aspect of our society: from people borrowing cars from each other (15%); to a quarter of people borrowing houses and gardens from each other for events; to half of those surveyed borrowing garden equipment; to 60% of people borrowing each others' tools; and nearly 40% of women sharing childcare. People even borrow their friends' talent with more than a third of people using friends to cook for them (44% of women) and 13% have used a friend to provide entertainment for a special occasion rather than pay for it.

"People are also sharing things that maybe they shouldn't, such as their travel cards, and even their identities! Over a third of 18-24 year olds ‘share' identities so that their friends can gain access into events and clubs."

"There is definitely a sort of underground friends-market going on, with people tapping into their friends network to save money on essentials and also their social lives, especially in tough economic times when every penny counts."

And it seems that the old stereotypes don't follow either, with Scottish people LESS likely to save money by sharing and borrowing with their friends. The Scottish and people from Northern Ireland along with those from the northeast of England were by far the least likely to share and borrow.

The biggest sharers, and those therefore most likely to save money by tapping into their friends' network, were people from the West Midlands (the biggest sharers in almost every category) and also people living in Wales

46% of people from the West Midlands have borrowed an electronic device from a friend, compared to only 21% of people from Northern Ireland
77% of those from the West Midlands have borrowed or shared money with a friend, compared to 53% of people from the northeast
72% of those from the West Midlands have borrowed, shared or been given clothes, compared to only 47% from the northeast

-ends-

Who will R-Patz share clothes with now their friendship is over?

Notes to editors:

Contacts:

Sophie Banks and Angie Cronin
Loudbird PR and Communications
Tel: 07815 147073 or 07970 810302
www.loudbird.co.uk
Follow us on:www.twitter.com/loudbirdPR

Survey conducted on behalf of Friends of Friends Travel by OnePoll
OnePoll surveyed 1000 UK Adults

About Friends of Friends Travel

Notes to editors

FOF Travel is a new online marketplace and social travel network aimed at 18-35-year-olds.
It is designed to encourage people to see the world and enjoy authentic travel experiences through their network of friends and friends of friends.
Members can exchange basic travel necessities such as accommodation, storage space, travel tips and advice plus trustworthy local contacts.
The social travel network's foundations lay in their core philosophy of trust, philanthropy and wanderlust.
FOF Travel is dedicated to satisfying its members' wanderlust through a tight-knit, secure community that relies on the existing trust between friends and the philanthropy that exists in people who sign up.
FOF Travel has two levels of membership: free and premium.
- Free allows users to build their network, view profiles of friends and friends of friends where you can see friends in common, send an instant message to their whole network, filter messages by type, map and list view of contacts and opportunities, send individual messages to access free accommodation, storage space, travel tips and advice, and friendly locals.
- For an introductory rate of £12, the Premium Club membership offers users all of the above along with exclusive money-saving deals from industry partners sent directly to their inbox, the chance to filter opportunities by degree of friendship, location and service type to easily find what they're looking for and save time by sending group service requests to multiple people in multiple locations.
The brains behind FOF Travel are:
- Krissa Curran, CEO and founder
- Mark Strickland, chairman and co-founder
- Daljeet Singh, head of marketing and co-founder.

About International Friendship Day

Friendship Day celebrations take place on the first Sunday of August every year.
The tradition of dedicating a day in honour of friends began in US in 1935.
Gradually the festival gained popularity and today Friendship Day is celebrated in large number of countries including India.

Contact

Friends of Friends Travel
07970810302
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