Esther McVey
THE COST of living crisis could change our habits and disrupt lives as significantly as Covid-19 restrictions did. Lockdowns saw the UK’s online dependency leap forward 20 years. Zoom’s online communication platforms saw a surge from 10 million daily meeting users in December 2019 to 350 million the year after, far exceeding the most ambitious business plans, largely due to working from home.
So as we count our pennies, seeing what we can still afford after our annual energy bill surges, we’ll be looking for ways to make our money go further. Firstly by cutting unnecessary spending. Businesses and individuals are reducing travel costs. Why pay return train fares for meetings if you can join one on Zoom? Other obvious cutbacks are takeaway coffees and online “boredom buys”. Data last week showed that purchases on the high street were down by 1.4 per cent but online were down by 7.9 per cent.
The more innovative changes include renting and leasing options now available, and I welcome that.
Not only does it offer value for money, it’s environmentally sound. I grew up in an age when shoes were taken to the cobblers to be repaired and clothes were handed down, but in the last couple of decades we’ve seen the creation of “fast fashion”, mostly made of single fibre materials that cannot be recycled, 300,000 tons of which end up in landfill each year.
So I welcome changes on the high street. M&S are lending customers clothes from £10 for four days, joining the likes of Zara, LK Bennett and Hobbs. So we can wear the latest clothes for a small amount, and they can be passed on for others to use too.
How many “special occasion” items do we all have that have only been worn once?
Reiss have gone further with leasing agreements – £70 a month will keep you in a range of hired clothes throughout the year. Such moves mean less waste for landfill, and less waste for your purse.
The cost of living crisis will lead us all to find more innovative ways to save. The change has started on the high street, but I am sure other sectors will be following suit.
The throwaway society, built up over the last 40 years or so, might well be getting binned itself.
WHY IS cash, the country’s legal tender, becoming so hard to get hold of? It’s not because of the cost of living, it’s down to banks and cashpoints disappearing from the high street at an alarming rate – almost half of bank branches have closed since 2015, and one in four free ATMs since 2018.
Cash makes the world go round, and it helps people on low incomes with their budgeting. Fat-cat banks need to be forced to ensure people have better access to cash.