Excerpts from the report: Those who work with families continuously, giving advice on the management of family finances, need to know what changes are taking place in family spending, how spending differs in various parts of the United States, and how it differs among families of different size and composition. Information about family expenditures is also a useful tool in assessing how well families are living. We know, for example, that families that spend more for food are likely to have better diets than those who spend less. After a lapse of many years, a large-scale survey has provided us with data on the spending of farm families in the year 1955. Another nationwide survey provides information on family food consumption, both urban and rural, for the same year. These data, together with urban data for 1950 collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are used here to provide a review of the nature of family spending in recent years.