Last year, household spending increased in real terms for the second year running, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In 2014, homes spent more money on transport and recreation, but less on rent and heating.
Transport became the biggest expense, at £74.80 a week, overtaking housing.
This
was partly because consumers spent a lot more money buying cars, the
ONS said. As many as 2.47 million new cars were bought in 2014, the
highest number for a decade.
Pets and Pay TV
Including rent, fuel and power - but not mortgages - housing costs were £72.70 a week, slightly down on 2013.
Overall, average household spending in 2014 rose to £531 a week in real terms.
However, that was still below the peak of £554 that was reached, after adjusting for inflation, in 2004-05.
One
of the most notable trends was the rise in spending on recreation and
culture, which includes things such as pay-television, pets and going
out to the cinema..
Such items cost UK households £68.80 a week on average, a rise of nearly £5 on 2013.
Food was the fourth biggest expense, at £58.80 a week, or 11% of total expenditure.
Borrowing
The TUC said too much household spending was being fuelled by borrowing.
"While
it is good that consumer confidence is up, let's not pretend that
everything is rosy," said Frances O'Grady, the TUC's general secretary.
"We need a wages-led recovery, not a re-run of the events that led to the last financial crash."
The property agent Savills said the ONS figures show rental costs falling for the first time in a decade.
But
it said average rents had still risen by an average of 36% since 2008,
while the cost of servicing a mortgage had actually fallen.
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