Aussies dipping into savings accounts for mobiles, not petrol

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Article by Mozo

Australian savings accounts may be being dipped into to provide money for more homely items, if a new report is anything to go by.

Research conducted by the Australian showed that households are spending more on their cell phones than their cars.

In addition, people – potentially including those with cheap credit cards – are forking out more on food, electricity, gas and water, in what the news provider describes as spending on things closer to home and demonstrates a shift in consumption patterns.

Fuel for motors is at a low, representing 2.4 per cent of a family’s budget, it stated, while mobile phones pipped it at 2.5 per cent.

"The swings and roundabouts suggest the typical family put off the purchase of a new vehicle in 2008-09 [and] drove their existing car less often," the publication asserted.

Furthermore, people boosted their savings acounts by making home-cooked meals and having nights in "in front of the flatscreen television".

In related news, it was recently reported that the recession prompted people to withdraw some $4 billion from their savings accounts in panic, the Reserve Bank of Australia reported.

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