Cost of living 2022: How to save money online

Alex.Barker | 16 Aug 2022

The cost of living has been increasing across the UK. In May 2022, the annual rate of inflation was the highest it has been since 1982. Whether it's your weekly shop (grocery price inflation is the highest it has been in 10 years) or gas and electricity (which is going up by a sizeable amount) we are all feeling the pinch. 

Collection of coins on a plate

What can help with the cost of living?

Well, it can depend if you are online or not. If you're not online, it's a lot harder to research the cheaper alternatives to your supermarket shop or your fuel provider. So you've got to stick with whatever provider you have.

AbilityNet encourages people to be online because it opens up a whole new world of opportunity.

Instead of paying over the odds for services, you can actually see if there is a better deal out there.

For example, my wife and I have recently got a puppy and we need to get her insured. If we didn't have access to the internet, it would be really difficult to work out what was going to be the cheapest and best provider to go with.

AbilityNet has gathered together some price comparison sites and it might be worth your while just having a look at the sites to make sure you are getting the best deals. 


Price comparison sites for consumer goods

Pricespy
Kelkoo
Pricerunner
Google Shopping

Price comparison sites for supermarket food

Trolley
My Supermarket Compare

Price comparison sites for utilities

Uswitch
Money Supermarket
Compare the market
Go Compare

 

You can now switch providers to try and get a better deal. We'd advise thinking very carefully about doing this. Get useful tips from Martin Lewis on the MoneySavingExpert website. Uswitch have a really useful article on their website 

Explore other money saving ideas

Collection of food and goods on a table with the text 'Too good to go' on a bagThere are other ways to save money. Here are some suggestions:

A lot of car journeys are made where there is only one person in a car. Liftshare tries to pair up drivers with passengers so you can share costs, reduce your travel impact on the environment, and have someone to chat to on your journey.

Everyone knows that so much food is wasted every year. An app called Too good to go is trying to stop this from happening. 

Food outlets advertise that they have got "Magic bags" available, and if you reserve a bag you can then go and collect it later that day. You save money on tasty treats and retailers get rid of food, without it just going into the bin. Everyone wins! 

Help getting online

Sometimes people are a bit reluctant to go online. However, if you do go online you will find that there are some good deals to be had. If you are wondering how to get a friend or a loved one online, why don't you ask one of our friendly volunteers to come and support you? 

Further resources

AbilityNet provides a range of free services to help disabled people and older people. If you can afford it, please donate to help us support older and disabled people through technology