British consumers spend more on daily 'lifestyle' products like snacks and cigarettes than they do on 'big ticket' purchases like holidays and audio-visual equipment, a new study has revealed.

The Egg "Retail Therapy Index" showed that £65 billion was spent nationally on small-scale products, equating to £1,380 per person – compared to £1,134 per person for larger buys.

The change has been exacerbated by price changes, with day-to-day items costing 3.1 per cent more and 'big ticket' costs falling by 6.7 per cent during 2005.

"Whilst we carefully shop around when choosing our holidays, we rarely monitor how and where we spend our daily cash which, ironically, is where the bulk of our spending money goes and where prices appear to be rising," said Egg's chief executive officer Mark Nancarrow.

Egg's research showed that 51 per cent did not regularly monitor their daily spending but did worry over large-scale expenditures.

The Bank of England's latest inflation report predicts that British consumers will continue to drive Britain's economy by maintaining their high demand for goods and services.