How Does Your Spending Compare to Your Neighbours?

February 9, 2009   0 Comments   budgeting

Part of an effective budget is tracking how you spend your money, otherwise known as your spending habits.  In order to do this, you need to monitor what you spend your money on, whether it`s your monthly rent expense, your daily coffee dose, or that TV you bought six months ago.  From here, you need to figure out how much money you spend each week, month, and year, so you can track your spending and make an effective budget (more on this later).

One useful trick to help you figure out if your spending is within reason or way out of wack is to compare your spending patterns with friends.  Ask your friends how much they spend on food each week, or how much their monthly housing costs are – you might be surprised to find out their answers

But have you ever wondered what the spending habits of people in other countries are?  The New York Times has a very cool tool which will allow you to look at what people in other countries are spending on:

1. Clothing & Footwear
2. Electronics
3. Alcohol & Tobacco
4. Household Goods
5. Recreation

What`s interesting to note is that Canadians spend on average $200 – $400 per capita on electronics, whereas Americans spend $400 – $1,000 per capita, and Norway spends over $1,000 per capita.

Also of interest is that Canadians spend $400 – $1,000 per capita on clothing and footwear, whereas the Americans, Brisith, French, Italians, Swiss, Swedish, and Germans spend over $1,000 per capita.

You can also check out this NYT article on the same subject.

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Tags: budgeting, spending habits