Switching off properly at nightime before you retire to bed could save you £’s. How many times have we heard about the credit crunch? Are we in a recession, coming out of one, or in the midst of one, with still worse to come?

No matter what, all of us have noticed a significant difference in the money we have in our pockets today.

Anyone with a car should be astonished at the rising price at the petrol pumps and what we are paying for petrol and diesel, and tax over and over again. In my own case I actually had to buy another car unfortunately only last July. My very reliable car decided after years of loyal service to ‘blow a head gasket’, which turned out to be of the unrecoverable form. (Of course at a most inappropriate time I might add. Luckerly for me my son plays rugby and on the night it blew up I had a whole team of 15 strapping youngmen at my disposal to push my beloved car to safety for me. So they definitely scored a try with me that night!). Like many of us, I am not sure if I am angry or just amazed at how prices have risen and continue to rise. For instance when I collected the new car I filled up with petrol, this was back on 27^th July 2007 at the cost of £57. Today I filled up the same car with petrol, (a car I have not even had for a year) and I had to pause at the digits displayed on the petrol pump. This was showing £75.78p, that’s a whole £18.78p per tank extra, every time I fill up just on fuel. I might add I was not the only one gazing at the pumps prices as the man on the other side of the pump made some rather rude remark as we met replacing the petrol nozzles, which I couldn’t possibly repeat at the size of his petrol bill.

On top of this which is just a small proportion, my own household gas and electric energy bill has risen up, up and away (I think the saying goes?). Now to the extent that I was paying £75 a month, less than a year ago, and now I am paying £145 per month and on top of this I am now being told that this will be rising a further 40% before the end of this year.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for many of us, as our weekly grocery bills escalate, with some food products rising by 60% like dairy & butter for instance.

A great way to save is to use a microwave, steamer or hob method of cooking for instance, to save on having a full oven on for hours. This great microwave Baumatic BTM23.1SS Built-in Microwave for instance can be ideal, if not for yourself, then for a relative or son or daughter studying away from home. With its 23 litre capacity and 900w stainless steel microwave oven, its perfect to cut down on cooking time and energy.

Many people have looked at different ways to cut their costs, including switching energy providers or fixing their energy prices. Shopping trends are changing with increases in home delivery, to save on petrol etc. Many are turning back to shop has our grandparents did, close to home and by going to local farmers markets & shops, along with using the internet. We are buying ingredients that would potentially make up to 3 family meals by using left overs, such as cold meats & vegetables to make a further dish the next night, but thats for another blog for you.

I recently read that the average household could actually save £1,048 or even 30% per year in energy bills by simply switching off the lights, television, computer consoles and other items which we all leave on standby overnight (that is just short of 14 full tanks of petrol to me!). The National Audit Office (NAO), who monitor public expenditure, have found out that many builders were not sticking to energy efficiency regulations and that there are not enough home insulations installers and manufacturers in the UK. Also the fact that the UK lagged behind Europe in promoting energy efficient appliances.

Here is a great product as this Kenwood Energy Saving Kettle JK450 saves up to 35% energy when compared with an ordinary kettle. With its 1.7 litre capacity, concealed element, rapid boil feature and removable & washable limescale filter. So all in all this is one practical kitchen appliance to have at the moment.