THE Conservatives last week highlighted how the middle classes are under increasing pressure from the soaring cost of food, fuel and other household bills, but you can save yourself thousands of pounds a year if you know the right websites.

While the official government measure of inflation, the consumer prices index, is at 2.5%, many people complain that their personal rates are far higher – sometimes as much as 9%.

This is because some of the most common domestic costs such as utility bills, food, transport, health and household maintenance have increased by 5.1%, according to analysis undertaken by Capital Economics, a consultancy firm.

In contrast, the cost of luxury goods such as clothing, alcohol, electrical equipment and eating out at restaurants, has increased by only 0.4% – 13 times less than essential goods.

In a document published last week, entitled The cost of living under Labour, the Tories outlined how inflation had affected everyday costs.

“The real cost of living is rising much faster than Labour claims . . . the price of goods and services which are bought frequently have tended to increase more rapidly than the official inflation rate,” they said.

We took some typical households to work out their personal rates of inflation, and then asked comparison sites Comparethe-market.com and Moneysuper-market.com to work out how much they could save.

PROFESSIONAL COUPLE

Emma Haselhurst, 25, and Gavin Collins, also 25, live in Tulse Hill in south London. Emma is a senior account executive for a public relations company, and Gavin is an account manager.

They have a personal inflation rate of 7.5%, according to the Office for National Statistics online calculator, but we saved them £1,598 a year, which would bring their inflation rate down to about 6.8%.

Insurance – £544 saving

The couple currently pay £922 a year for their home insurance with Great Lakes insurance. However, by switching to Homequote Direct, their annual bill would be slashed to just £378. This assumes a rebuild cost of £180,000 for the home and contents cover of £35,000. The excess on the Homequote insurance is also less at £200 rather than £250.

Telecoms – £313 saving

The couple are currently with BT on the Option 1 package with up to 8 megabit (Mb) broadband and free-to-air TV. Their monthly bill is £40.50 – or £486 a year.

If they switched to Talk Talk’s Talk 2 International package, however, costing £14.39 a month or £173 a year, they would receive a similar broadband package as well as free evening and weekend calls. The package also offers free landline calls to 36 international destinations including America.

Supermarket shopping – £364 saving

The couple currently shop at Sainsbury’s and pay about £43a week. Using Mysupermarket, which works out how much a similar basket of shopping would cost in a rival outlet, they found they could save £7 a week by shopping at their local Asda instead.

We also saved them £168 on their mobile-phone bill, £109 on their energy costs and £100 on electrical goods and furnishings by using sites such as pricerun-ner.co.uk or kelkoo.com.

YOUNG FAMILY

Adrian Liard, 36, an accountant, and his wife Angela, 35, an interior designer, have recently had a son, Dexter, aged seven months, and are worried about their household bills. They live in Farnborough in Kent.

Their personal inflation rate is 6.6%, but we managed to save them £1,180 a year. Adrian said: “We have been feeling the pinch from rising prices, especially for household goods. We didn’t think we could make such a huge saving by switching, especially on the mortgage.”

Mortgage – £552

As with most young families, the biggest saving was on the mortgage. The couple have a two-year, interest-only tracker mortgage with Nationwide at 5.68% and pay about £869 a month.

If they switched to First Direct’s two-year fix at a rate of 4.95% and added the £1,498 fee on to the total loan, they would pay £810.55, saving themselves just over £58 a month. However, they would have to pay a redemption penalty of £2,925, but brokers said it would still be worth remortgaging – they would still save £46 a month by adding the fee to the loan.

Electrical goods and furnishings – £175

The couple spent around £1,166 last year on items such as a plasma TV, a DVD recorder and a washing machine.

We took last year’s spend and worked out that, by using comparison sites such as Pricerunner, they could have saved about £175 a year. For example, their Panasonic DVD player, which they bought for £179 from John Lewis would have cost them only £129 from Digital Direct.

Energy – £154

The couple are currently on Npower’s standard tariff for both gas and electricity. They pay £74 a month by direct debit. If they switched to Npower’s Sign Online 10 tariff, however, they would save themselves £12.84 a month.

Petrol – £53

The couple also spend about £80 a month on petrol, but they could use the website Petrol-prices.com.

This allows you to enter a place name or a postcode to find the cheapest and the most expensive fuel in a given area within a 10-mile radius.

Using the site, the couple could save around 6% if they went for the cheapest petrol rather than the most expensive. This would save about £53 a year in total, assuming the difference between the most expensive and cheapest remains the same. We also saved the family £246 a year by switching their telecoms package.

SINGLE PROFESSIONAL

Amanda Franklin, 27, is a chartered accountant and lives in London. She has a relatively low personal inflation rate of 2.5% because she spends a lot of money on luxuries such as eating out, cosmetics and holidays, which have not gone up as much as essentials. We still managed to save her £2,417 a year.

Mobile phone – £1,896

Amanda could make a huge saving by switching her mobile package to suit her lifestyle.

She is a frequent traveller abroad and also makes regular calls to Australia, where she has family.

She is currently with O2, paying £40 a month. However, because of her international calls, she ends up paying around £200 a month.

If she switched to 3 mobile’s Mix and Match 1100 tariff for £27 a month and added the International Calling Saver add-on for another £15 a month, she would have 1,100 free texts or minutes a month. She would be able to make unlimited calls to 23 international destinations – including Australia. Her monthly phone bill would be reduced by £158 to £42.

Insurance – £51

Amanda has an annual world-wide travel insurance policy, including winter sports cover, with Amex.

The policy costs her £90 a year. By switching to Flexicover, through the price-comparison site Moneysupermarket.com, she could get the Premier Cover policy for £39 a year.

We also saved £276 on her telecoms package and £194 on her energy bills.

PENSIONER COUPLE

John and Rosie Dinning, aged 71 and 65, live in Worthing in West Sussex. They are both retired. Like most older couples, their personal inflation rate is high at 5.7% because more of their spending goes on essentials.

Insurance – £465

The couple pay £421 a year for insurance on their Peugeot Boxer Motor Caravan with Saga insurance.

They could pay £100 less if they went for a similar policy with Yes Insurance.

They also have a Fiat Punto 2000 model, for which they pay £180 a year. Again, the policy is with Saga. If they switched to Broker Direct, they would save £24.

Their buildings and contents insurance is also with Saga. They pay £42.49 a month. If they switched to Homequote Direct they would save £341.

Energy – £174

The couple are with EDF energy and pay by monthly direct debit for dual fuel. Their annual cost is £971, but they could save £174 by going online and signing up to NPower’s Sign Online 10 tariff.

Petrol – £72

The couple spend around £200 a month on petrol. However, if they use the website at Petrol-prices.com, which finds the cheapest petrol within a given 10-mile radius or less, they could save around 3% of their bill – about £6 a month, or £72 a year.

John said: “It seems very unfair that pensioners are being hit so hard by inflation.

“Being retired, we like to go out and about a bit but fuel is now very expensive.”

We also saved the Dinnings £186 on their telecoms package and £150 on their home furnishings.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY ONLINE

Mysupermarket.co.uk: Compares the cost of products in the four main UK supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Ocado (Waitrose). Users select the goods they would normally buy to create a shopping basket. The website calculates how much the shopping would cost in each of the stores.

Sendmediscounts.co.uk: The site constantly updates users with special discount codes from high-street retailers. Most of the discounts are for online customers. All you have to do is enter a pass code when you reach the check-out section of the website to get the savings. Last week, there was a 5% discount code for dishwashers at Dixons, for example. Other participating stores include John Lewis, Threshers and Body Shop.

Quidco.co.uk: Many discount sites have teamed up with cashback websites such as Quidco.co.uk and greasy-palm.co.uk to offer moneyback offers. These sites give you extra discounts if you make the purchase through them. Quidco offers a 10% discount if you make HMV purchases via the site as well as 7% for John Lewis goods.

Pricerunner.co.uk : ‘Shop-bots’ such as savebuckets.co.uk or pricerunner.co.uk are also useful. These scour the internet to find the cheapest deal for your item online. If you wanted to be savvy, you could use a combination of these sites with discount sites to bolster your savings. You can save around 15% in most cases.

Petrolprices.com: This helps you to find the cheapest fuel within three miles of your postcode, saving up to 7p or more a litre. On Friday, the Oak service station on Dunmow road in Felsted, Essex, charged 115p a litre for unleaded. However, three miles down the road at the Tesco forecourt in Great Notley, it cost just 107.9p.

Noodle.co.uk: This offers money each time you make a call on your mobile. It is a free service that can be used alongside an existing contract. Customers make 2p a minute if they make or receive a call in peak hours and 1p at other times. You can also make money by signing up a friend.

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