by You can’t escape the price spike we’re grappling with today. Almost everything from your utility bills to that first home costs more today than it did a year ago. To survive this era of inflation, you just need to save where you can, and upgrading some of your outdated, time-consuming and energy-consuming home gadgets is a big step in the right direction.
It’s probably no surprise that it’s the best air fryers that dominate many 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 plenty of ways to make your home more efficient. The best smart locks can warn you if a door has been left ajar, letting heat escape; and the best smart thermostats will turn on central heating when and where you want it.
Earlier this month, money-saving expert Martin Lewis revealed a simple equation that can help you lower 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 them, it may be easier to elect a smart home device or gadget that you know will save you money in the long run.
We’ve already done Lewis’ calculations so you don’t have to. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the top smart home appliances and gadgets that will help you save money on your utility bills.
The must-have smart home appliances and gadgets for 2023
There’s plenty to choose from, but if you’re careful about where you invest your money, you’ll start to see your utility bills go down.
Air fryers
Air fryers are plentiful these days, in all shapes and sizes, but the Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 Air Fryer with ClearCook & OdorErase is the best you can get. We particularly like the window, which allows us to keep an eye on the food while it cooks, as well as 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 in food preparation, but you also save time on energy used. We calculated the energy consumption of an air fryer in our article “Do air fryers use a lot of electricity?” In the UK a 1700W basket air fryer used for around 30 minutes a day on average will cost around 0.56 pence per day, £3.98 per week or £17.08 per month which is a fraction of what it would cost to run a stove. for the same duration.
Air fryers also offer a healthier method of cooking food as they require less oil/fat. No one is going to throw away their conventional oven for the air fryer, but technically speaking, the latter doesn’t take up as much space.
Smart Thermostats
We’re featuring tado° in this little roundup because we’ve heard so many good things about it and it’s relatively affordable from the get-go.
Research has shown that tado° smart thermostats can save users an average of 22% on their heating bills over the course of a year.
These thermostats are easy to use and feature a sleek and simple design. They can be used alone or with additional radiator valves for zonal control. The tado° also works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit, meaning you’re not limited to just one smart system. There are, of course, other smart thermostats available that will all save you money on your heating bills, albeit in slightly different ways. Our handy widget (below) displays some of the best deals available right now.
Dehumidifiers
Dehumidifiers have been around for a while, but we probably think of them most often as a tool for drying out wet plaster after a DIY project. Most homes will have one of these devices, whether it’s in the house, laundry room, or garage, but chances are they’re underutilized. After all, these gadgets have so many other amazing uses for the home.
Money-saving expert Lewis recently shared that drying your clothes with a 200W dehumidifier – instead of a large pedestal dryer – could cost you as little as 7 pence per hour (UK United) ; 200w is one-fifth of a kw (1000w) and one-fifth of 34p is about 7p. Granted, dehumidifiers aren’t cheap, with some costing upwards of £400, but if you have a lot of laundry days in the week and rely on the dryer to dry bedding and clothes, the dehumidifier could be a smart investment for Fabricate. This Insignia dehumidifier is capable of evacuating humidity from a 2000 square foot room, so you won’t be limited by the room it’s in either – you’ll need a standard clothes airer (opens in a new tab) to hang up the laundry though.
It should be noted that in addition to removing moisture from the air, dehumidifiers release heat while purifying the air, so you will effectively dry while warming a room in your home and breathing. purified air. You can’t beat the versatility of a good dehumidifier!
Smart locks
You might be wondering how smart locks can save you money, but we think outside the box. With the ability to essentially 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 to set “smart alerts”, which let you know when the door is locked or unlocked, when the door is left ajar, when the door is automatically locked or unlocked, etc. to. In other words, it will always keep an eye on the status of your lock, which is especially useful for most of us who can’t quite remember whether we locked the door or not. Now you don’t have to waste your worries on this issue, or the time and fuel to get home to check it out. You also won’t let the heat or air conditioning escape 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 we (also) have the Yale Conexis L2 (opens in a new tab), as an alternative. Upgrading to a smart lock is an expense, but it can be a wise and safe investment.
Heated clothes dryer
Heated dryers were all the rage in 2022, and we expect the trend to continue into 2023. In the UK we saw the Dry:Soon Deluxe 3 Tier Heated Dryer (opens in a new tab) sell out at the start of the fall season, only becoming available again around Black Friday.
Due to its popularity, there was no discount on this drying rack, but energy savings are what matters: this drying rack claims to have a running cost of just 10p per hour (based on the unit cost of the electricity of 34p per kw/h). It’s capable of holding up to 15kg of laundry in 21m of drying space, and all the laundry will be dry within hours, so you’ll be looking at spending maybe 40p, rather than £2-3 with it the clothes dryer.
Why are they so good? They dry your laundry much faster than non-electrified dryers, and they are much cheaper than the clothes dryer. If you’re not in 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 simple appliance upgrades in your home. As well as boiling only the amount of water you need in the kettle (best tip), you can also 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.
