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Relaxation tops money spend

Australians have used the benefit of falling prices for everyday goods to splash out on big new homes and time spent enjoying themselves.

A breakdown by the Australian Bureau of Statistics of how families spend their money today compared with 1984 reveals that even as our spending patterns change through the phases of life, they have also changed dramatically through the decades.

And one of the biggest winners appears to be retirees who have turned the proceeds of the most recent housing boom into years of recreational activities.

The bureau found that in the 2009-10 financial year, an average Australian household spent $1236 a week on goods and services. But that varied considerably; families with an eldest child aged between five and 14 spent $1670 a week while a retired couple spent about $855.

But it was how households spent their cash every week that revealed just how much change has gone on across Australia since 1984.

In the mid-1980s, a couple with young children spent the 2010 equivalent of $167.40 a week on housing costs. They spent just under $178 a week on food and non-alcoholic drinks.

Twenty-six years later that family was spending $364.10 a week on housing and $224.50 on food and drinks. Across every household type examined by the bureau the spend on housing had risen sharply. In the 1980s, households spent less than 19 per cent of their weekly income keeping a roof over their heads, but this had reached about 25 per cent by the middle of 2010.

People have been able to do that because the relative cost of most other things has fallen sharply. The big new house needs new furnishings - but the proportion spent on such furnishings has fallen.

The young couple-no-kids household now spends about $60 a week on household items. In the 1980s, that was more than $123 a week.

Other falling prices include food.

As a proportion of weekly budgets, all household types reduced their spending on food.

_Transport spending has also fallen, in part because of cheaper vehicles that are now at their most affordable since the 1970s. Apart from housing, Australians have spent more on recreational activities. _

The big spenders in this area have been cashed-up retirees. In 1984, retirees spent $64.70 a week on recreation. By the middle of 2010 this had risen to $145.60, the biggest increase for any household type.

Bureau official Jane Griffin-Warwicke said the figures confirmed how people spent differently through their years. Not surprising is how children change the way we spend.

"After the arrival of children, not so much is spent on alcohol, eating out or personal care items," Ms Griffin-Warwicke said. "New parent couples spend more on groceries, domestic fuel and power, health insurance and nappies."