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New research suggests we Britons are a 'nation of party animals' who spend £75bn a year on having fun, two and a half times more than 10 years ago.
Research from the Payments Council, called the Way We Pay 2010, showed almost a fifth of total spend (18 per cent) is now on fun activities. This equates to more than £30 a week for every adult in Briton.
The biggest increase in spend has been in restaurants with spend up more than threefold to £30bn in 2009. Pub and wine bar spending has also rocketed to £23bn from less than £10bn 10 years ago.
The report also found holidaymakers are splashing out more and indulging themselves while on trips abroad, with a spending increase of 89 per cent last year to £32bn, and this during a recession.
The report also showed spending has soared on less enjoyable outgoings as well, with mortgage commitments tripling to £79bn between 1999 and 2009 as the housing market continued to race higher throughout the last decade.
Council tax and utility costs have also increased above inflation, according to the report.
Wages are likewise being stretched to cover new regular costs, such as payment for internet access, with spend on that service increasing tenfold since 1999 to £2.9bn as more and more people become connected.
Childcare is another high spend area, up to £3.5bn in total last year.
The Council added that its figures showed the supermarket sector had increased its 'stranglehold on our wallets', taking 55p in every £1 spent in shops last year. This was up from 48p in 1999.
In a further sign of their dominance of the retail industry, the study reported that supermarkets took £18.4bn of spend on no-food items that would otherwise have gone to other retailers, around £369 per adult each year.
The supermarkets also appeared to have cornered the petrol market, with £15.9bn spent on supermarket forecourts in 2009, which is £500m more than in regular filling stations, a sign that convenience is becoming an ever increasing part of consumers decision process.
For more information please visit www.paymentscouncil.org.uk
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