Economix Blog: Spending Less on Entertainment and Charity

CATHERINE RAMPELL

Dollars to doughnuts.

Americans ratcheted down their spending on entertainment and philanthropic donations in 2010, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Every year the bureau collects data on how Americans spend their money. Here’s a look at the budget of the average household:

Source: Consumer Expenditures Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics

According to these survey data, the average pretax income per consumer unit (which is, more or less, a household) fell 0.6 percent in 2010, to $62,481 from $62,857. But households disproportionately tightened their spending, which fell 2 percent in 2010, to $48,109 from $49,067. Spending had fallen 2.8 percent the previous year.

In fact, in these nominal dollars, the 2010 level of average annual consumer expenditures was lower than that for 2006.

Just about every major spending category fell last year, with two exceptions: health care (up 1 percent) and transportation (up 0.2 percent).

Percentage-wise, the biggest spending decline was in entertainment, which fell 7 percent last year, to $2,504 a household. The second biggest decline was in cash contributions — including payments to charities and religious organizations — which fell 5.2 percent, to $1,633 a household.

After that came spending on food away from home, which declined by 4.4 percent, to $2,505 a family.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=203ec94df434cbce32c08a5e2457e938