And finally…Men splashing out £80 more a month on life’s “non-essentials” than women

A survey of more than 2,000 people, carried out for the VoucherCodes website, found that men typically splash out £80 more than women each month on life’s “non-essentials”.

Men surveyed for the May study said they spend £412 each month on non-essentials, while women said they spend £332 in a typical month.

Women typically estimated that they set aside a higher proportion of their monthly income on essential household bills, utilities and childcare at 22 per cent, compared with the typical figure of 18 per cent for men.

And they said they spend around 22 per cent of their monthly pay packet on groceries, while for men the typical figure was 19 per cent.

Looking at leisure spending, the report found that men spend around £45 a month on eating out on average and women spend £33.

Men said they spend around £40 a month going out drinking and/or clubbing, while women spend around £23.

Around £10 a month is spent by men on average on sports, while for women this figure is £7.

Men said they spend around £18 in a typical month on technology such as TVs, laptops and tablets, while women put their spending on this at around £8 a month.

But women set aside more than double the amount that men do on beauty products and treatments such as hair cuts and manicures, splashing out around £18 a month compared with just under £8 for men.

When it comes to high street shopping for clothes and shoes, women said they spend £32 a month on average. For men the figure is £23.

Men and women spend similar amounts on entertainment activities such as trips to the cinema, at around £14 a month, according to the research.

Both sexes spend an average of around £ 5 a month on downloading games and apps and around £7 a month on magazines and books, the study found.