How to save money: switch to cash and reprogram your boiler

We’ll find out shortly whether official statistics agree with economists surveyed by Bloomberg who say UK GDP probably shrank by 0.2 per cent in the second quarter. But at an uncomfortable moment when we know things can only get worse, looking backwards doesn’t help and nor does holding out hope for a miraculous ‘emergency budget’ in September. As for forecasting beyond that, it’s almost too scary to contemplate. Better to shun economists and politicians and focus instead on facts that tell us what’s happening now – such as data from Barclaycard – and things we can do keep our own budgets in balance.

Spending on ‘essential items’ was up by 7 per cent in July year-on-year, says the card company, but on utility bills by 44 per cent and on fuel by 30 per cent – a pretty good sketch of the state of inflation. The average supermarket transaction fell but the frequency of visits rose, as shoppers switched to ‘need-to-buy’ rather than fuller trolleys.