People are spending less on clothes each week, suggesting they could be looking to better manage their credit card debt.
UK households spent less on average per week on clothing and footwear in 2008 than at any time since 2001, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
The Family Spending report reveals that the average is £21.60, down from a high of £23.90 in 2004-05.
Meanwhile, expenditure on electricity and gas has, unsurprisingly, increased in recent years.
Transport is the single largest area of spend for households, with petrol costs rising above £1 per litre.
As household budgets alter and are stretched further, homeowners are turning to credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent.
More than a million Brits have done this in the past year - six per cent of the population.
In London, this figure rises to one in 12.
Posted by Martin Peacock
