You cannot escape the increased costs we are dealing with today. Just about everything, from your utility bills to your first home, costs more today than it did a year ago. To survive this age of inflation, you just need to save where you can, and upgrading some of your outdated, time- and energy-consuming household devices is a big step in the right direction.
It's probably no surprise that it's the best fryers that dominate a lot of our energy-saving conversations. Even local hairdressers and bakers have shared their praise for these time-saving kitchen beasts. We're also keeping an eye out for deals on other appliances, like dehumidifiers and heated clothes racks, that can save your wallet in the long run.
When it comes to building a smart home, there are many ways to make your home more efficient. The best smart locks can let you know if a door has been left ajar, letting heat escape; and the best smart thermostats will turn on your central heating whenever and wherever you want.
Earlier this month, money saving specialist Martin Lewis discovered a simple equation that can help you reduce your winter energy bills in the UK - something the rest of the world can use too. The math involves finding the wattage of an item, then determining how many kilowatts or fraction of a kilowatt it uses, then multiplying that by the cost in kW per hour. But since not all of us can run those calculations when we need to, it may be easier to select a smart home gadget or gadget that you know will save you money in the long run.
We've already done the Lewis calculations so you don't have to. Now, we've rounded up some of the best smart appliances and gadgets that will help you save money on your utility bills.
The must-have smart appliances and devices for 2023
There's a lot to choose from, but if you're careful where you spend your money, you'll start to see your utility bills go down.
Air fryers
Save money while you cook
Features
Product: Air fryer
Function(s): frying, roasting, baking, reheating, roasting and dehydrating
RRP: €XNUMX / €XNUMX
Reasons to buy
+Crisp, evenly browned results
+The window lets you see the food as it cooks.
+Reduces kitchen odors.
Reasons to avoid
-The vegetable plate falls if the basket is too high
-The screen attracts fingerprints.
Air fryers are plentiful these days, in all shapes and sizes, but the Instant Vortex Plus 1-in-XNUMX Air Fryer with ClearCook & OdorErase is the best you can get. We especially like the window, which allows us to watch food while it cooks, like the odor filter, although the smell of food wafting through the air isn't always a bad thing.
Air fryers can save you money by cooking food much faster than a conventional oven. You save time preparing food, but you also save time in energy used. We calculated the power consumption of an air fryer in our article "Do air fryers use a lot of electricity?" In the UK a 98W basket air fryer used for about thirty minutes a day on average is going to cost around zero.XNUMX pence a day, £XNUMX a week or €XNUMX per month, which is a fraction of what it would cost to run a stove. for exactly the same duration.
Air fryers also offer a healthier method of cooking food, as they require less oil/fat. Absolutely no one is going to throw out their regular oven for the air fryer, but technically speaking, the latter doesn't take up that much space.
Smart Thermostats
Save money heating the house
Features
Product: smart thermostat
Functions: controls central heating
RRP: €XNUMX (starter kit)
Reasons to buy
+White and elegant design
+area control
+Works with Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit
Reasons to avoid
-The app is quite difficult to use.
-No self-learning ability
We're introducing tado° in this little roundup because we've heard a lot of good things about it and it's partially accessible right out of the box.
Research has proven that tado° smart thermostats can save users an average of XNUMX% on their heating bills over the course of a year.
These thermostats are simple to use and have a very elegant and simple design. They can be used alone or with auxiliary radiator valves for zonal control. tado° also works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit, meaning you're not limited to just one smart system. Naturally, there are other smart thermostats out there that will save you money on your heating bills, albeit in slightly different ways. Our handy (now) widget displays some of the best free deals right now.
Deshumidificadores
(*two*)
(Image credit: Best Buy)Insignia Thirty Five Pint Dehumidifier
Save money when drying clothes
Features
Product: dehumidifier
Functions: removes moisture from the air
MSRP: € 219
Reasons to buy
+Removes up to thirty-five pints of moisture from the air.
+Led lights
+Suitable for up to two thousand square feet.
Reasons to avoid
-voluminous
-It will be necessary to meditate on emptying the collected water
Dehumidifiers have been around for a while, but we probably think of them more often as a tool to dry up wet plaster after a DIY project. Most homes will have one of these devices, whether it be in the house, laundry room, or garage, but they are likely to be underutilized. After all, these gadgets have many other amazing uses around the home.
Money-saving specialist Lewis recently shared that drying clothes with a 200W dehumidifier, instead of a full-size pedestal dryer, could cost you as little as sevenpence an hour (UK United); 1000w is a fifth of a kW (34w) and a fifth of 7p is more or less XNUMXp. Granted, dehumidifiers aren't affordable, some cost upwards of $XNUMX, but if you have a lot of laundry days per week and rely on the dryer to dry your bedding and clothes, the dehumidifier could be a smart investment for Fabricate. This Insignia dehumidifier is capable of removing moisture from a two thousand square foot room, so you won't be limited by the room you're in, either; You'll need a standard clothesline (opens in a new tab) to hang on the other side Washing.
It should be noted that apart from removing moisture from the air, dehumidifiers release heat while purifying the air, so you will certainly dry while heating a room in your home and breathing purified air. You can't beat the usefulness of a good dehumidifier!
smart locks
Keep the door closed and the heat in.
Features
Product: smart lock
Functions: automatically lock/unlock the door and set alerts
RRP: €377 / €XNUMX
Reasons to buy
+Very elegant and reserved design.
+It can still be used with keys.
+Comes with a Wi-Fi port
Reasons to avoid
-Expensive compared to the contenders on the market.
-Much bigger than the cheaper august lockdown
-The app may take time to respond
You may be wondering how smart locks can save you money, but we think outside the box. With the ability to basically control your front door with an app, you'll have one less thing to remember to carry (your keys) while saving money.
One of the things you can do with August Smart Lock Pro is set "smart alarms," which let you know when the door is locked or unlocked, when the door is left ajar, when the door is locked or locked. unlock automatically etc. to. In other words, you'll always be able to keep an eye on the state of your lock, which is especially useful for most of us who can't remember whether or not we locked the door. Now you don't have to waste your worries on this issue, or the time and fuel to get home to check it out. It's also not going to let out the heat or air conditioning if you've left a door wide open.
The August Smart Lock Pro isn't the only lock that can do this. In the UK (also) we have the Yale Conexis L2 (opens in a new tab), as an alternative option. Upgrading to a smart lock is an expense, but it can be a wise and safe investment.
hot clothes dryer
Dry:Soon Deluxe Tri-Tier Heated Dryer
Save money by drying clothes with this appliance
Features
Product: heated dryer
Functions: Dry clothes
PVP: €199.99
Reasons to buy
+Supports up to fifteen kg of clothes
+convenient timer
+Costs pennies to run
Reasons to avoid
-You will need to purchase the ventilation cover for an additional €XNUMX to get the full benefit.
Thermal tumble dryers caused a buzz in 2023, and we expect the trend to continue into XNUMX. In the UK, we saw the Dry:Soon Deluxe XNUMX-tier thermal tumble dryer (opens in a new tab) sell out early in the year. the fall season, and will only be free again around Black Friday.
Due to its popularity, there was no discount on this clothesline, but it's the energy savings that matter: This clothesline claims to have a running cost of just ten pence per hour (based on the unit cost of electricity of thirty-four pence per kWh). You can store up to thirty pounds of laundry in twenty-one square meters of drying space, and all the clothes will be dry in a matter of hours, so you'll be spending maybe forty pence, instead of $XNUMX-$XNUMX with the clothes dryer. .
Why are they so good? They dry clothes much faster than non-electric dryers and are much more affordable than clothes dryers. If you're not in the UK, our handy (now) widget will show you some of the best deals and availability.
You can save a lot of money by making simple appliance upgrades in your home. Aside from boiling only the amount of water you need in the kettle (best advice), you can also save money by investing in products that use less time and energy. I think most of us are going to welcome a more accessible 2023 with open arms.