Where Does All The Money Go?

Have you ever sat down and wondered how much money you will earn in a lifetime?  And also how much you will  spend in that lifetime.

It may be more than you realise.

As inflation rise, and wages fail to keep up the same pace, more and more households are finding that their money is not going as far as it had in the past.

So let’s use this infographic to see where we are spending our money, and also where we may be wasting money. We hope you enjoy reading it and will share with your friends and colleagues.

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Where Do We Spend Our Money? 

The amount of money a person or household earns each month, is going to be different for each household.  This amount of earnings, in part, dictate how much each household will spend.

You cannot spend it if you don’t have it:)

On average, households in the UK are spending £2,000 a month, but what are we spending the money on???

Transport:  This is the area where we seem to spend the most, £72.70 each week.  And rail fares are only  increasing next year.

Housing, Fuel, and Power:  The next category we spend money on which is almost as high as transport is for housing, fuel and power, at £72.50 weekly.

Recreation and Culture:  We spend £68 a week on this category, after all, all work and no play…

Food and Drink:  For food and drink we spend £56.80 a week, which by comparison to transport, puts things in an odd perspective.

Restaurants and Hotels:  On average we spend £45.10 here for restaurants and hotels.

Goods and Services:  £39.70

Household Goods:   £35.50 a week.

Clothing and Footwear:  We need to dress the part, so here we spend £23.50 each week.  There must be those that shop at Primark to keep this amount low.

Communication:  £16.00 a week.  That seems low when you look around at all the people with smart phones, and the number of mobiles in the country. There are over 83 million mobile phones, for a county with a population of 65 million.  Do the math.

Alcohol and Tobacco:  £11.40 per week here.  That’s not a lot of time in the pub.

Health:  £7.20 spent weekly on health.  We must be a healthy country.

Education:  An even £7.00 here.

In total £455.30 a week spent.

Regional Differences

As you would expect, there are differences in how much we spend each week and month based on the parts of the country we live.  There is that  HYPERLINK “http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/north-south-divide-uk-british-education-economy-gender-pay-gap-difference-a7484046.html”North-South divide that also affects wages and household incomes.

As you can see, the Household Expenditure on Rent per week varies considerable by region:

At the top North of the country this is only £25 per week, but as you move down South it increases to £75 in the Midlands, to as high as £100 to £150 per week, depending where down South you live.

The same can be said about the average Household Expenditure by region:

In the North this is on average £400 per week, with it increasing to £450 to £500 as you move South, and then it gets as high as £600 per week in the far South of the country.

Where is Money Being Wasted?

How we may be wasting money is a subjective thing, as many of us may not consider it wasting money to buy an item, where others may feel that item is not a necessity, so money spent on it is  waste.

According to a survey done this year in 2017, on average we waste £360 each year.

Here are some of the more common ways we waste money:

Takeaway Meals:  25% on takeaway meals is wasted, and as a nation, we do love our takeaways, and this is a  multi-billion pound market.

Lunch and Snacks at Work:  By no taking our lunches to work and buying lunch out, it is estimated we waste 21%.

Under-used TV Subscriptions:  If you have a fancy-smancy cable subscription for your TV that allows you to watch every show ever made and all sports, and yet you never watch them all, you are wasting 19%.

Needlessly High Utility Bills:  You’ll waste 18% here if you don’t shop around for the lowest utility provides and just automatically renew your contracts.

Takeaway Coffees:  Some takeaway and sit-down coffee shops and the speciality coffes can be expensive, so figure 18% here as well.

Buying Too Many Ready Meals:  Cooking for yourself is more healthy and cheaper than ready meals which waste about 16%.

Money Spent in a Pub:  This is 14%, and is it really wasting money socialising and setting the world to right.

Cigarettes and Alcohol:  Some people only smoke when they drink, which adds another 14% to what we waste.

Wasting Money and Our Health

As you can see, some of the ways we waste money, such as takeaways and alcohol and cigarettes, is not exactly the best for our health.

If a man is allowed 2,500 calories each day and eats a lot of fast food, it can take up the majority of his calories for the day.  It can also lead to obesity, with 67% of adults in the UK being overweight.

An average 12 inch pizza has 1,835k and a Whopper from Burger King has 721k.

So Where Can We Save Money?

Now that we know some of the areas we are wasting money, how can we stop these habits and save money.

Here are some areas and ideas to help you stop wasting money:

Utilities:  Shop around for utility providers, use comparison web sites, and don’t automatically renew your contracts.  Also, consider using a smart meter to monitor your gas and electric usage and make adjustments to reduce your consumption.

Food:  Use vouchers and coupons, some loyalty cards and programmes can also save you money.  Take your lunch to work, and eat at home, and cut back on the takeaways.  If you spend £1.66 per day for a sandwich, and try to find one that cheap, that adds up to £169.46 per year.

The same can be said of buying coffee out. If you spend £5 a week on coffee, that adds up to £250 a year for a 50 week period.

Subscriptions:  Review your monthly bills, such as your mobile bill, TV and cable, etc.  Are you under-using these, can you go to a lower tariff.

Taxes:  We all have to pay taxes, unless you have an off-shore account, but for some, we can reduce our taxes and tax liability.  Are you taking and claiming any and all deductions you could be.

Seeking professional tax and accounting help may be a good idea, you need to compare the cost of this advice and service, with what you may save.

Banking:  Do you pay a fee for your bank account?  There are free current accounts available.

Pay off your credit card balances each month, why pay needless interest.

General Tip:  Shop around for everything!  Use comparison web sites to check prices as to what product or service is cheaper.

Now that you know areas where we can waste money, and you may have a few new ones of your own, and we know how we can save money and stop wasting money, what are you waiting for….begin saving and stop wasting!