Tuesday, July 26, 2011

am I average in my time and money use?

I like to compare myself to the average man. I don't mean in terms of accomplishments or education, since I am well aware that with my Bachelor's degree I've joined the 6.7% of the world population with college degrees. I am both proud and grateful about this accomplishment. But you know, it's the little things I think about, like: how much do others spend on groceries a week? How often do people do their laundry? How much do people sleep every day?

Deviating from the average on these minor points wouldn't make me abnormal, but still, I am curious. It turns out that Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles data on Americans' daily time use- they have done all the work for me already (ha ha), with the American Time Use Survey in 2009.

For instance, take a look at this:

- The average full-time college student sleeps 8.3 hours a day (really?) and an average of 3.3 hours studying, which is about 23 hours a week. This means that assuming they are taking 15 credits as semester and attending all the lectures, they spend about 8 hours studying outside of classes.

- The average male and female 20-24 years of age sleep for 9.4 hours a day. This means I don't have to feel like a lame ball for going to bed at midnight.

And how the average household spends its dollar$:

- Since the average household of 2.5 spends about $6372 a year on food, that comes out to about an average of $212/month for a single person.

Here's my latest favorite commercial- you gotta live those hours, spend those dollars.

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