Are we all drinking less?

“The average American family spent $40,817 on goods and services in 2003. Where’d the money go? More than half of the typical family budget went for the house (33¢ of every dollar) and car (19¢). After paying for food (13¢), medical bills (6¢), a little booze (1¢) and more, families had a nickel left to spend on entertainment.”

This from WHAT U.S. CONSUMERS ARE BUYING AND WHY (free registration required) from Ad Age’s ‘American Demographics.’

I love this statistical stuff. But what I find most amazing about the article is that household spending has increased dramatically since 1950. BUT spending on food & alcohol accounted for 32.5% of spending in 1950, 26.0% in 1960, 22.6% in 1972, 16.2% in 1984, 15.2% in 1993, and 14% in 2003. How can this be? Spending has increased tremendously, but not for food and alcohol. I can tell you that neither my wine budget nor our liquor budget has decreased in the past 10 years. But kids’ll do that to you.

Of course, I understand that statistics can be misleading… or not. The cost of food has dropped. The number of 2-income households has increased dramatically since the 50′s. And housing costs have become a much larger percentage of our spending. So please forgive the lighthearted interpretation of the stats. And all you info-geeks – check out the article, if you get a few minutes. This is the kind of info you usually have to pay for.