Cost of living crisis 2022 - what have you cut back on?

[Ditto]

This perhaps overlaps a couple of other threads, but with the current rate of inflation and low pay increases, there are many stories of people cutting back - media streaming services like Netflix that grew rapidly in lockdowns being a big one.

 

Have you cut back on anything specific yet or expect to over the next year?

[Dos_Box]

I'm hanging back to see what my next utility bill will be like. I already don't drive very much these days (train and bus where possible) and have pretty much done what I can in the house (to date) to cut back on unecessary electric wasteage, however, @ZeroHour has been going all out on electricity monitoring and has shown me some quite surprising stats where you can very well save a few pennies down the road. Air fryers and electric blankets being a couple as opposed to oven cooking and turning on the central heating at night for example.

His washing machine monitoring was quite a revelation too! We both got it wrong when we guessed what the most energy intensive part of a wash is.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Dos_Box

[mikeprice]

Go on - what is the most energy intensive - spinning???

 

In our case we are quite lucky to be on a fixed tariff until September 2024 - more by luck than management

 

but I have started driving based on when the computer says to change gear rather than doing when I feel I should

seems to have increased the mpg by 5-10 in normal use - which is a lot more than I expected

 

I have also replaced some halogen bulbs with LED ones when they blow - actually give a better light in the kitchen!

 

Oh - and we replaced the outside flood lights with solar powered ones - a bit dimmer but work really well - that one replaced 2 400W bulbs with solar powered LEDs that cost nothing when in use!

 

I am also trying to use my bike for shopping rather than take the car - but I probably would anyway

[hardtailstar]

I've cut back and made following changes....

 

- stopped buying extra food/drink on way to work

- food shop for lunches is all tesco club card prices so 7 days of food is under a tenner.

- Got rid of Amazon prime, I now compare websites rather than just buying from Amazon.

- toiletries are all bought from Poundland or other cheap shop as they are cheaper than tesco for same stuff.

 

Probably make more changes soon when I need to but that's so far.

[mavhc]

Nothing new, always turned things off and picked the items in the supermarket that were discounted, and learned to make my own sandwiches and drinks when I was 5, so never bought them from a shop

[Ditto]

In our case we are quite lucky to be on a fixed tariff until September 2024 - more by luck than management

Oooh - I need to check mine as I believe I was with the some provider as you that collapsed and it all went to EDF - that would be lucky if fixed at lower prices.

[ZeroHour]

Go on - what is the most energy intensive - spinning???

Heating the water, by a country mile, to 40C in the test I did, went to 2460W odd where as spinning peaked at around 405W.

 

 

I calculated the cost for the whole wash cycle at approx 31p.

Edited April 25, 2022 by ZeroHour

[supportman]

Not much although I am now paying more attention to the solar panel output and smart meter!

 

Finally I have some visibility on what we spend on electricity.

[Dos_Box]

Go on - what is the most energy intensive - spinning???

 

In our case we are quite lucky to be on a fixed tariff until September 2024 - more by luck than management

 

but I have started driving based on when the computer says to change gear rather than doing when I feel I should

seems to have increased the mpg by 5-10 in normal use - which is a lot more than I expected

 

I have also replaced some halogen bulbs with LED ones when they blow - actually give a better light in the kitchen!

 

Oh - and we replaced the outside flood lights with solar powered ones - a bit dimmer but work really well - that one replaced 2 400W bulbs with solar powered LEDs that cost nothing when in use!

 

I am also trying to use my bike for shopping rather than take the car - but I probably would anyway

 

That's what we thought too, but it was the heating of the water. From 30 to 40 degrees, it was way more energy intensive than spinning and lasted about twice the length (of energy usage) too. 30 Degrees from now on!

ETA: Ah, beaten to it!

Edited April 25, 2022 by Dos_Box

[Jawloms]

what have you cut back on?

 

The weight of my right foot. Gone from 49mpg to 54mpg over a tank.

[Boredguy]

Virtually nothing to be quite honest. Might cut back on Netflix, but that's purely down to the fact there isn't much on the service currently I want to watch to justify the subscription more so than any issues with overall costs.

[Ditto]

Virtually nothing to be quite honest. Might cut back on Netflix, but that's purely down to the fact there isn't much on the service currently I want to watch to justify the subscription more so than any issues with overall costs.

It's useful to hear from those that haven't too. Our household hasn't changed much, except I nag the kids more about wastage.

 

We've dropped a second phone line, but that's mostly because we switched to FTTP and 900 is multiple times the combined 75 we had before! We went full BT package to match what we had before at about £20 less per month and got Netflix on top.

 

We saved a lot of planned expenditure over lockdowns due to no overseas holidays, both incomes remained and some minimal travel costs disappeared. I get the feeling the current crisis is accentuating the differences between low/lower mid level pay workers and upper mid to high incomes. It in many ways mirrors the picture with many disadvantaged children in schools - neither of these is a good thing for national well-being.

[Alex0x7F]

Aldi is my best friend when it comes to the big shop, Although Uber have been shoving plenty of 30%/40% grocery codes my way recently which I won't complain about!

 

Few months left of £80 car finance to go, that will be a nice figure to have back in the wallet.

 

Partner and I are starting to look at purchasing our first home (help to buy scheme!) and planned to have each lightbulb LED homekit compatible, and adding the cheapo TP link smart plugs to TVs etc.

 

I stumbled across a TikTok user 'frugallyfun' who uses a spreadsheet to track his spending and work out a daily average. May end up doing the same, as it's way too easy to lose track of what a cheeky takeaway or starbucks ends up costing!

 

I've downloaded Snoop which shows great in-depth spending analysis and comparison graphs, compared to the bog standard Lloyds bank app.

[DalekSec]

Honestly... Nothing also.

 

In a lucky scenario where I have no mortgage, only issue i currently have is my credit card which is full of dentist appointments! Hence why i'm selling my MBP to clear it!

[supportman]

I stumbled across a TikTok user 'frugallyfun' who uses a spreadsheet to track his spending and work out a daily average. May end up doing the same, as it's way too easy to lose track of what a cheeky takeaway or starbucks ends up costing!

 

If you bank with Monzo (or many other startup fintechs) You can see that kind of info from their app automatically. Its quite cool to track the takeaways over time

Edited April 25, 2022 by supportman

[localzuk]

Main things I changed - turning my PC off (used to be on 24/7), switching my Xbox onto its lower power "off" mode, turning my oven/microwave off at the wall when not in use (the clocks use 5W between them, I discovered) and switching my living room bulbs from halogen to LED. I now use between 3 and 5KWh of power a day.

 

I've not cut back on any subscriptions though yet. Netflix is for the chop though with their new price increase.

[3s-gtech]

I live pretty cheaply anyway - heating is left on low, not much left running at any point, don’t spend much on food, don’t go the pub.

 

My ability to save has been impacted though, and I don’t have much behind me as it is. Not too worried yet, but it shows where the threshold of affordability lies.

 

I spend too much on cars, and I can easily save £75 a month there if I have to, cancelling insurance.

[flyinghaggis]

… switching my Xbox onto its lower power "off" mode.

 

Netflix is for the chop though with their new price increase.

 

I noticed that my Xbox series S gets ridiculously hot on standby so I’m suspicious of how much power it’s drawing in that state! I’ve also set it to power off fully.

 

Netflix has been in the news as taking a hit but I think Sky TV will be the ones hit hardest when people start reviewing and reducing their monthly costs. I’m planning on dropping it in a couple of months time when my renewal is due. I can see it being the first subscription for the chop on most peoples lists.

Edited April 25, 2022 by flyinghaggis

[Techie-v2]

Cut back on the sky subscription which saved almost £50 a month and replaced the tumble dryer with a heat pump one when the old one died, it was about £100 more then a regular one but uses far less energy and ours actually dries the clothes quicker.

 

All bulbs are already led but remembering to turn them off more.

 

Switching pc off when I'm not using it.

[Mr.Ben]

I've bought £88 of Tapo P100 plugs (12 in total for the house)

 

Each one draws about 0.6kwh, but this means all of my Sonos, TVs, Monitors, PC, Printer, lamps and chargers are all turned off at 9:00am, come back on just before I get home at 6pm and then turn themselves off again at 10:30pm (waking up at 6am the following day) , meaning that 30 devices are are off for 16.5 hours per day that they would have been on standby for.

 

It's not a massive saving, but is looking like it's around £25 a month, so will pay for itself by July.

[bossman]

Don't think I can do anymore than what I'm doing already....always have been careful with how I use Gas and Electricity.....I don't think I've done bad for the past year what do ppl think? I have all the usual devices, washer, duel fuel cooker, fridge, freezer and TV....

[jmak]

Don't think I can do anymore than what I'm doing already....always have been careful with how I use Gas and Electricity.....I don't think I've done bad for the past year what do ppl think? I have all the usual devices, washer, duel fuel cooker, fridge, freezer and TV....[ATTACH]65324[/ATTACH]

I think your electricity meter has got it's decimal point stuck in the wrong place [emoji23]

Either that or it's a monthly figure!

 

Can't comment on gas as I don't have that.

[MatthewL]

I've already thinned out what I can before this happened, I just simply don't have the spare cash to treat myself now and again like I used to. One big saving has been fuel not been out everyday and when I do go out I work it all in my favour with after work plans etc.

[bossman]

I think your electricity meter has got it's decimal point stuck in the wrong place [emoji23]

Either that or it's a monthly figure!

 

Can't comment on gas as I don't have that.

It's a smart meter on both services from OVO and it's a yearly useage as you see at the top...this is from their online website which I find absolutely brilliant....it breaks everything down as far as hourly useage to yearly useage....I pay £28pm atm but with the price hikes it's going up to nearly £60pm but will see next month...

[jmak]

It's a smart meter on both services from OVO and it's a yearly useage as you see at the top...this is from their online website which I find absolutely brilliant....it breaks everything down as far as hourly useage to yearly useage....I pay £28pm atm but with the price hikes it's going up to nearly £60pm but will see next month...

I still need to remember to add

/Sarcasm

to the end of some of my posts....

 

It's very impressive, is what I really think.