What Is the ‘Couch Economy’ Costing You?

I get groceries delivered about three times a month. From my couch, I can also order dinner, buy a dress for an upcoming wedding and stream a movie. Many months, a solid chunk of my budget gets spent without me even leaving the house.

In the couch economy era, more and more domestic spending is happening online — 58% in 2026 in the U.S., compared to 48% in 2019, based on Visa transactions. About a quarter of active U.S. Visa cards are used for 10 or more online or in-app transactions per month, a near-doubling since 2019.

“What we can see is a meaningful shift in how and where consumers transact,” said Mohamed Bardastani, principal CEMEA economist at Visa, in an email. “The strongest evidence is the rise in frequent online and in-app purchasing.”

Visa’s research doesn’t show whether people are spending more overall or whether these transactions are replacing other spending.

So is the couch economy good or bad for your wallet?

At first glance, being able to shop, DoorDash dinner and stream at home seems like a great setup. (Jeeves, bring me my groceries.)

But it comes with a cost. When I use Instacart to buy groceries, I pay a service fee, a shopper tip and a markup on items at the store I usually order from. When I’m short on time, it may be worth it to me, but it’s not free.

“You’re saving some time, but you’re paying for it,” says Martin Lynch, president of the Financial Counseling Association of America.

Being a part of the couch economy doesn’t have to harpoon your budget. In fact, as long as you have a budget and your digital shopping life fits within it, you’re in good shape.

“I think you just need to have rules around it,” says Shampaigne Graves, a women’s consumer expert and founder of Women’s Research Solutions, a market research and sales strategy firm in Dallas.

For instance, she says, you might decide that a restaurant must be at least a few miles away before you order delivery from it. And you can audit your streaming subscriptions and keep no more than three per month, or whatever number works for you.

“These subscriptions are raising prices all the time,” Graves says. “But we aren’t necessarily checking our statement at the end of the month to see how that really impacts us.”

For Lynch, grocery delivery was worth the price when he broke his leg a couple of years ago. As the person in the family who bought groceries, he felt he could still contribute by doing the shopping online. “I could make my wife’s life easier,” he says.