You can’t escape the skyrocketing prices we’re dealing with today. Just about everything, from your utility bills to a new home, costs more today than it did a year ago. To survive this age of inflation, you just need to save as much as you can, and upgrading some outdated, time-consuming household items is a big step in the right direction.
It’s probably no surprise that the best air fryers dominate many of our energy-saving conversations. Even local hairdressers and bakers are raving about these time-saving kitchen artifacts. We also spotlight deals on other appliances like dehumidifiers and heated drying racks that can save your pocketbook in the long run.
When building a smart home, there are many ways to make your house more efficient. The best smart locks can notify you when a door is left ajar and let the heat escape; the best smart thermostats will activate the central heating when and where you need it.
Earlier this month, money-saving expert Martin Lewis revealed a simple equation that can help you reduce your energy bills in winter in the UK, and the rest of the world can take advantage of it too. The math involves finding the wattage of an item, then figuring out how many kilowatts or fractions of a kilowatt it uses, and multiplying that by the cost per hour in kilowatts. But since we can’t do all of these calculations when we need to, it might be simpler to choose appliances or smart home gadgets that you know will save you money in the long run.
We’ve already done the Lewis calculations so you don’t have to. Below, we’ve rounded up some key appliances and smart home gadgets that will help you save money on your utility bills.
The must-have appliances and smart home products of 2023
There are plenty of options out there, but if you’re careful about where you invest, you’ll start to see your utility bills drop.
Air fryer
Air fryers come in a variety of sizes and shapes these days, but the Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 Air Fryer with ClearCook and OdourErase is the best you can buy. We especially like the windows, which allow us to keep an eye on our food while cooking, and the odor-reducing filter—although food aromas wafting through the air aren’t always a bad thing.
An air fryer can save you money by cooking food faster than a conventional oven. You save time preparing food, and you save time consuming energy. We calculated the energy usage of an air fryer in our article “Do Air Fryers Use a Lot of Electricity?” In the UK a 1700 watt basket air fryer is used on average for around 30 minutes a day and costs around 0.56p a day, £3.98 a week or £17.08 a month, a fraction of the cost of a cooker for the same amount of time.
Air fryers also offer a healthier method of cooking food as they require less oil/fat. No one would ditch a traditional oven for an air fryer, but technically, the latter doesn’t take up much space.
smart thermostat
We’re featuring the tado° in this little roundup because we’ve heard a lot of good things about it, and it’s been relatively affordable to begin with.
Studies have shown that tado° smart thermostats save users an average of 22% on their heating bills within a year.
These thermostats are easy to use with a sleek and simple design. They can be used alone or with additional radiator valves for zone control. tado° also works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s HomeKit, which means you’re not limited to one smart system. Of course, there are other smart thermostats available that can all save you money on your heating bills, albeit in slightly different ways. Our handy widget (below) shows some of the best deals available right now.
dehumidifier
Dehumidifiers have been around for a while, but we probably most commonly think of them as tools for drying damp plaster after a DIY project. Most homes will have one of these appliances, whether in the house, utility room, or garage, but chances are they’re underused. After all, there are many other incredible uses for these gadgets around the home.
Money-saving expert Lewis recently shared that drying clothes in a 200W dehumidifier – rather than a large upright dryer – costs just 7p an hour (UK); 200w is one-fifth of a kilowatt (1,000w) One, one-fifth of 34p is about 7p. Admittedly, dehumidifiers don’t come cheap, with some costing as much as £400, but if you have a lot of laundry days during the week and rely on a tumble dryer to dry bedding and clothes, then a dehumidifier could be a smart investment to make.This Insignia dehumidifier is capable of sucking humidity out of rooms up to 2,000 square feet, so you’re not limited by which room it’s in—you’ll need one standard drying rack (opens in a new tab) Hanging clothes though.
It’s worth noting that, in addition to removing moisture from the air, a dehumidifier removes some heat while purifying the air, so you’ll be effectively drying your body while heating a room in your home and breathing purified air. You just can’t beat the versatility of a good dehumidifier!
smart Lock
You might be wondering how a smart lock can save you money, but we’re thinking outside the box. With the ability to basically control your front door using an app, you’ll have one less thing to remember (your keys) while also saving some money.
One of the things you can do with the August Smart Lock Pro is set up “smart alarms” that let you know when the door is locked or unlocked, when the door is ajar, when the door automatically locks or unlocks, and more. In other words, it keeps an eye on the state of your lock at all times, which is especially useful for those of us who don’t quite remember whether we locked our doors or not. Now you don’t have to waste your troubles on this one, or waste time and fuel to go home and check it out. You also won’t let the heat or air conditioning escape if you happen to leave the door wide open.
The August Smart Lock Pro isn’t the only lock that can do this.In the UK we (also) have Yale Conexis L2 (opens in a new tab), as an alternative. Upgrading to a smart lock is an expense, but it can be a smart and safe investment.
heated drying rack
Heated drying racks are all the rage in 2022, and we expect this trend to continue through 2023.In the UK we see the Dry:Soon Deluxe 3-tier heated drying rack (opens in a new tab) Sold out at the start of fall, only to be available again around Black Friday.
Due to its popularity, there are no discounts on this drying rack, but energy saving is what counts: the drying rack claims to run at just 10p an hour (based on an electricity unit cost of 34p per kWh).It’s capable of holding up to 15kg of laundry on 21m of drying space, and it dries everything in a few hours, so you might spend 40p instead of £2-3 for a tumble dryer
Why are they so good? They dry your laundry faster than non-electric clothes racks, and they’re a lot less expensive than tumble dryers. If you’re outside the UK, our handy widget (below) will show you some of the best deals and availability.
You can save a lot of money by making some simple appliance upgrades in your home. In addition to only boiling the amount of water you need in the kettle (top tip), you can save money by investing in products that use less time and energy. I think most of us will welcome a more affordable 2023 with open arms.
