Households to be asked to track spending habits for two weeks

More than 6,000 households will be asked to take part this year, with high-level data to be published on how Irish households spend their money from next year onwards.

Households are to be asked to track how much they spend across the space of 14 days as the State’s statistics body tries to get to grips with the nation’s spending habits.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said to help itself and the public understand how inflation affects our pockets, it will now conduct the Household Budget Survey annually instead of every five years.

More than 6,000 households will be asked to take part this year, with high-level data to be published on how Irish households spend their money from next year onwards.

Senior statistician Ger Doolan said: “While only certain households will be selected for the HBS, we would encourage everyone to take note of their daily spending for 14 days to give them greater awareness of where they are spending their money.

“Collecting your receipts and keeping a spending diary makes it easier to track spending. 

Previous participants of this survey have told us they get a better sense of their spending habits, and given the impact of inflation on food, heating, and other outgoings, the challenge is timely.” 

The CSO said one previous participant said keeping receipts on everything they spent helped identify how much “junk” they were buying, and they planned to save money and lose weight as a result.

Another said: “I knew I was spending almost €20 a day on a pack of cigarettes and a coffee on the way to work but writing it in the diary helped me realise that this amounted to more than €5,000 a year. 

"As a result, I am cutting back and will put the money towards a holiday instead.” 

Each household will have to collect every receipt and document their spending in a notebook supplied by the CSO.

It said there are two main advantages to taking part, the first being households will get a better sense of where their money is going and can prompt them to make changes if necessary.

The other is to allow the CSO to get more accurate date of items being purchased, the percentage of incomes spent on bills and groceries and how consumers’ habits are changing.

Each household will have to collect every receipt and document their spending in a notebook supplied by the CSO. File picture: PA

“Every item that you spend your money on needs to be included such as the big shop at the weekend, utility bills, children’s activities, gym membership, phone and TV costs, as well as the cup of coffee bought at the garage when you are filling up the car, or that impulse buy at the till such as a bar of chocolate or a packet of chewing gum,” Mr Doolan said.

“It’s worth pointing out that no household or individual will be identifiable from the data they provide. 

"However, if you are selected to take part, your spending habits are crucial to help us accurately reflect the cost of living in Ireland.” 

In February, the CSO said it would also change what items are included in its national basket of goods which it uses to compile Ireland’s snapshot of inflation in the Consumer Price Index.

Over time, goods that may have been included in the index are replaced by new ones. 

In 1975, the price of telegrams were captured, for example. In 2016, mobile phone and broadband services were captured for the first time.