The cost of living crisis continues to bite with the average UK energy bill predicted to hit almost £3,000 a year this winter - up from little more than £800 a year ago
So we all need to cut back, but too often that means missing out on life’s luxuries, whether that’s cancelling a foreign holiday or just putting that little snack back on the supermarket shelf.
As part of our Your Money Matters series, our investigations team has identified some ways to save money which you may not have heard about - and which won't impact your quality of life at all.
70,000 people in Norfolk can save £250 a year on broadband
A monthly broadband bill is as inescapable now as the ones for electricity or council tax, but most people don’t know that low-income households qualify for half price tariffs.
There are around 70,000 universal credit claimants in Norfolk, and almost all may be paying twice as much as they need for broadband, missing out on savings of £200 to £250 per year.
Those eligible for the BT Home Essentials package can get unlimited broadband for £15 a month, less than half the price of the BT deal for those not on UC, which is £32.99 a month.
That would save £215 a year and Which? research found eligible customers could save an average of £250.
But the scheme has been so underreported that by February of this year only 55,000 of the estimated 4.2m eligible UK households had signed up.
Other providers also offer social tariffs, including Virgin Media a £15pm and Sky Basics at £20pm, both for an average 36Mbps connection, like the BT offer.
Speed promises should be taken with a pinch of salt however due to rural Norfolk’s poor connectivity - a postcode check revealed that Norwich UC claimants would get 36Mbps speeds, but those in Cromer could be guaranteed only 1-3Mbps.
The social tariff is available to those receiving universal credit, the guarantee credit element of pension credit, jobseeker’s allowance, income support, and employment and support allowance.
Ben Wittams of usave said: “A handful of broadband providers offer social tariffs… BT is a great choice for users in Norfolk as they have great coverage, over 90pc, and offer the most competitive social tariff available on a 12 month contract.”
But he warned some companies’ deals are better than others. Compare tariffs and and apply here.
Save £100 or more on prescriptions
Unless you are under-16, over-60, or on benefits, NHS prescriptions on England cost £9.35 per item - and for people on regular medications for their mental or physical health that can really rack up.
But many people don’t know that if you take multiple medicines regularly you could save a lot by getting a prepayment certificate.
Prepayment covers an unlimited number of prescriptions per month, and costs £30.25 for three months or £108.10 for 12 months.
By contrast, someone picking up two items a month would pay £224.40 in a year and someone on three medicines would shell out £336.60.
Apply for a prepayment certificate here.
Buy the same medicines for less
We all know that generic ibuprofen costs much less than Nurofen capsules - but did you know you can buy identical medications for less than the brand-name equivalents?
In Boots on Riverside in Norwich this morning, a 16-pack of day-and-night Sudafed capsules for congestion and headache relief costs £4.89.
Boots own brand Max Strength Cold & Flu Relief Day & Night capsules, also a 16 pack of 12 day tablets and four nighttime tablets, costs forty per cent less at £2.99.
But the tablets inside are identical.
The two items have the same product licence number: PL 12063/0073.
PL codes are exclusive licence numbers issued by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for each medication when it receives its UK licence.
Unique PL codes are issued for each particular drug from each particular manufacturer. The website moneysavingexpert has previously reported on instances of identical drugs being marketed differently.
Raj Thakrar, pharmacist at Woodgrove Pharmacy in Norwich explained: “If it’s got the same PL number that means it is the same drug produced by the same factory.
“So in this case they produced two lots, one packaged as Sudafed and another lot, in different blisterpacks, branded Boots.
“It’s exactly the same - the same active ingredients and the same other ingredients - because it’s the same PL number.”
Make your driving 10pc more fuel efficient to save £160 a year
The average UK motorist drives around 7,400 miles a year at around 36mpg, according to an analysis of 800,000 vehicles. That takes 205 gallons, or 934 litres, of petrol in a year.
At January 2021 prices that cost £1,083 a year, but at today’s record prices it’s £1,784 - meaning an increase of ten per cent in fuel efficiency would save that average motorist £161 a year.
Inflate your tyres
Driving on underinflated tyres will wreak havoc on your miles per gallon, because extra power is required to overcome the extra friction of having more rubber hitting the road.
A 2012 US study concluded that underinflation of 20pc will increase fuel consumption by four percent - and a tyre with 25pc of the air let out still looks fully inflated.
And 2020 research by Halfords found 23 million UK road users driving on underinflated tyres and only 40 per cent could correctly identify a low tyre pressure warning light.
Filling your tyres to the correct level is quick, easy, and costs just pennies at the air pump at any petrol station.
Tyres naturally lose one to two PSI a month (and more when air temperature drops between seasons), so this should be checked every few weeks.
Lighten up that right foot
Accelerating burns more fuel than anything else you do in your car, and when you brake you’re effectively “wasting” the energy of the car’s momentum. And then you have to accelerate again.
So the best way to make your driving more fuel efficient is to accelerate gently, change gears quickly, and anticipate the upcoming road conditions so you aren’t braking unnecessarily.
In urban areas that means accelerating gently and changing up through the gears as quickly as you can at the lowest revs possible, probably at around 2,000rpm.
So don't race away from the lights, and your wallet will thank you as well as your passengers.
Limit your top speed to 60mph
A 2012 study found that limiting your maximum speed to 60mph reduces fuel consumption by 10pc but adds only two minutes to the average journey time.
Simon East, CEO of DriveGain, the iphone fuel-saving app which conducted the research, said: “Unless the roads are totally clear, other traffic on your route will tend to slow you down considerably.
"Drivers are wasting a lot of fuel for very little difference in their arrival time”.
Change your supermarket
More than 65 pc of us shop at the UK’s four biggest supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons) while Aldi get about 9pc and Lidl less than 7pc.
But consumer magazine Which? found Lidl was the cheapest supermarket in May 2022 for the sixth consecutive month, while Aldi took the top spot in June.
A basket of 52 items cost £75.61 at Aldi and £76.99 at Lidl last month, compared with £85.22 - £91.03 across the Big Four.
And recent analysis of 33 grocery items by The Grocer magazine showed that swapping Big Four own-label products to Aldi own-brands can save shoppers over £300 a year.
Since this article is about cutting costs without sacrificing quality or luxury, it might be worth pointing out that Aldi and Lidl products come out well on taste tests too.
In blind taste tests conducted by Which?, Lidl’s baked beans were preferred over Heinz, which cost more than twice as much, and Aldi’s orange juice came out top despite costing half the price of Tropicana.
For those with a sweet tooth, Lidl’s Mister Crunch crunchy peanut butter (25p per 100g) outperformed WholeEarth, KP and Sun-Pat (63p per 100g), while Nutella’s popular chocolate hazelnut spread (£2.90 for 350g) was beaten by Lidl’s Choco Nussa spread (£1.09 for 400g).
Now those are some tasty savings.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here