Times are changing but the costs still rise
TheOffice for National Statisticsrecently published their annual review of theUK Inflation basket. If you’re not familiar with the national shopping basket it’s basically a list of lots of things regularly bought by UK consumers, these items are monitored and used to calculate the inflation rate, or how much more expensive things are getting. But because trends change this needs to be reviewed regularly, we no longer eat spam or buy CD’s* but it seems we buy soya and jigsaws.
The Inflation rate is used for a multitude of calculations from pension rates, benefits, salary comparisons, right up to economic performance of the UK compared to other major economies. So it matters, both economically and culturally.
Are we all Hipsters now?
The Guardian, paints the new Addition as a Hipster revolution with the addition of soya milk and gin. But there is also a trend of getting active and healthy, e.g bike helmet and micro scooter. Whilst this might seem accurate for the average Guardian reader (myself included) I wonder how widespread this trend is or whether the new additions will be a short term blip in the basket. Are there really millions of us demanding a bottle of flavoured water (another new addition) as a lunch time treat?
Chill out? Cash out?
But let’s just run with this, the question I want to ask is, are there ways to save Money digitally for the newly added Hipster chic products?
I looked at on-line shopping for soy products but the supermarkets are cost effective here and the on-line grocery shops match the store prices so no real benefit here. The best I could do with soy milk was a recipe to make your own. This will save you money but granted it’s a bit of a length to go to.
With gin, (a drink which I despise by the way) I’m assuming the trend is along the artisan lines rather than the cheap ‘mothers ruin’ variety, but there is a lot to be said for theAlditest (can you tell the difference betweenAldiand premium bottle).
Buy regularly? Subscribe
One idea that fits the Hipster theme is on-line subscription services, which generally save you money as the retailer has a recurring income stream, but it also it saves you going to a shop and being tempted to add more stuff that you don’t need. Usingwww.allsubscriptionboxes.co.ukI was able to find a ‘Vegan Lifestyle box’ for £9.50 a month packed with Hipster Gold. Again via, www.allsubscriptionboxes.co.ukI foundwww.ilovegin.comwho will deliver regular gin and tonics to your door whenever you need them, but at £14 a month it’s only going to save you money on the premium end of the market.
What about fitness?
Here it's slightly easier as the 3 products added cycle helmet, scooters and base layer tops are all standard products, and you can save money on those through cashback sites, buying second hand or even just by shopping around online retailers. A quick run down to the localHalfordsand cycle shop looks like a basic helmet costs £10 with most being around £20, and I even saw one for £114, whereas basic helmets onAmazongo for £7 incl postage, with the most expensive that I found was £96. It’s the same with scooters and base layers, just by shopping on line things are (slightly) cheaper, but with cycle safety, you need to make sure the product conforms torecognised safety standards.
*Spam and CD’s were actually removed years ago.
