Consumer spending fell sharply in September, according to the financial management Web site provider Mint Software Inc.
Consumers who use the Mountain View, Calif., company's Web site to track their spending habits reduced their spending by 2% over the first eight months of the year, Mint said Monday. In September their spending dropped 4%, or an average of about $200.
The decline corresponded with a increase in users of Mint's financial management tools. Total enrollment climbed sharply in September, the company said; an average of 3,000 people signed up each day, compared with an average of 1,500 for the eight previous months.
"To see how effectively users were able to cut back in response to September's tumultuous market news is really inspiring," Aaron Patzer, Mint's founder and chief executive, said in a press release.
Most of the cutbacks were made in entertainment, shopping, and travel, Mint said; spending in each of those categories fell 7% in September. Fuel expenditures dropped 6%, home spending dropped 4%, and food and dining expenditures dropped 2%.
Gifts and donations, a category that includes donations to political campaigns, dropped 1% in September and has dropped 25% since the start of the year, Mint said. The only spending category that increased was utilities, which rose 2%.
