Author Topic: UK households spent an average of £517 a week in 2013  (Read 2376 times)

galok

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 6
  • Location: London, UK
  • Loves walking
UK households spent an average of £517 a week in 2013
« on: May 25, 2015, 04:03:59 AM »
Fascinating spreadsheet from the Office For National Statistics, I thought I could use it to give me a feel for how much I was spending against a typical household. Turned out to be hard to do a comparison with averages as I'm probably nothing like a typical household.

E.g.
  • £20.10 per week average council tax spend feels so low mine is closer to £40 per week and I have a modest 2 bed flat (though it's in out region London borough)
    50 pence per week on sugar feels so high, I probably buy a 1 KG bag every 6 months for about £1.

Any thoughts if you've been curious about checking this

Note: Link goes to an Excel Spreadsheet download from ONS.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-spending/family-spending/2014-edition/rft-table-a1.xls

cerebus

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 509
  • Age: 46
  • Location: South Africa
Re: UK households spent an average of £517 a week in 2013
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2015, 04:52:56 AM »
It's hard to make sense of this spreadsheet. Is it including rent/bond payment in that? It looks to be £44 which seems extremely low. A 3 bedroom house isn't easy to find under £300 from what I can see.

forummm

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7374
  • Senior Mustachian
Re: UK households spent an average of £517 a week in 2013
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2015, 07:06:42 AM »
Fascinating spreadsheet from the Office For National Statistics, I thought I could use it to give me a feel for how much I was spending against a typical household. Turned out to be hard to do a comparison with averages as I'm probably nothing like a typical household.

E.g.
  • £20.10 per week average council tax spend feels so low mine is closer to £40 per week and I have a modest 2 bed flat (though it's in out region London borough)
    50 pence per week on sugar feels so high, I probably buy a 1 KG bag every 6 months for about £1.

Any thoughts if you've been curious about checking this

Note: Link goes to an Excel Spreadsheet download from ONS.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-spending/family-spending/2014-edition/rft-table-a1.xls

It's probably more than 50 pence considering that every processed food you buy has sugar in it.

KungfuRabbit

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 286
Re: UK households spent an average of £517 a week in 2013
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2015, 08:28:57 AM »
i spend a lot more than that on "sugar", it depends on how much you cook though.  if you buy all premade food you won't buy much sugar, but if you make your own bread and such you will.  i don't buy white sugar though, i buy raw virgin honey or agave syrup (better tasting and healthier, but $$).

kvaruni

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 92
  • Location: Northern Ireland, UK
Re: UK households spent an average of £517 a week in 2013
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2015, 10:18:49 AM »
As indicated, these are all averages so not that useful. Poor families stick to smaller houses and will spend less, even though they are probably spending almost all of their income. For what it's worth, my council tax is £10 a week for a three bedroom house. Living nowhere near London, like plenty of other people in the UK, we are the cause of the significantly skewed £20 on average per week for council tax (compared to London).