Jo & Sparky VS The Cost Of Living Crisis
Last updated 4th Apr 2024
The cost of living crisis is when the cost of everyday goods like food and bills increase quicker than the living wage, so what did Jo & Sparky do? They took it on by spending practically nothing for a whole week. They lived on rewards points, yellow sticker items and discount codes. Here’s what they found out..
Too Good To Go
‘Too Good To Go’ is an app that connects us to restaurants and shops that have unsold food which would normally be wasted. They put it in a surprise bag for people to buy for a lot cheaper than the contents is worth.
Sparky proved that the app might not be the most reliable after his Aldi bag got cancelled last minute. Whereas Jo found that it’s best to set your expectations low. She expected so many cakes that she would have to freeze them and eat them throughout the year. But her Starbucks surprise bag only supplied her with 3 sandwiches that needed eating that day!
Olio
‘Olio’ is another food waste app. Shops leave a range of food that is close to expiry for volunteers to collect. They then advertise the food on the app for anyone to come and collect for FREE!
Yellow Sticker items
All supermarkets reduce food with a yellow sticker when the item is close to expiring. From legs of lamb for 10p to 36 blocks of cheese for £3. Different supermarkets reduce their foods at different times of the day. This is what we know so far…
-Aldi tend to reduce their food before 8am.
-Lidl’s best time to grab a bargain is early in the morning or towards the end of the day.
-Morrisons have several times throughout the day when they reduce food. The best times to go are between 3pm-5pm and then after 8pm.
-Co-Op reduce their items once a day, if you go between 6pm and 8pm you’re most likely to bag yourself a deal!
-At Tesco, they reduce their items 3 times a day. Once at 9am-10am, then again at 4pm-5pm and a final reduction at around 7pm.
-Sparky found that Sainsbury’s reduce their food at around 10am after he spoke to a shop assistant who was reducing the food when he went in.
-Asda put yellow stickers on products early in the morning and towards the end of the day at around 7pm.
-M&S generally reduces prices on its products once in the morning and twice in the afternoon, at 9am and between 2pm and 4pm are the best times to go.
-Waitrose staff discount their food 2 hours before they close.
-Iceland and Food Warehouse discount their food at around 8am, thanks to the intel that listener Becky told us.
Supermarket rewards
All supermarkets have some kind of reward points and ways to get money off your shop. Jo recently found out that she could exchange her £15 worth of Tesco Clubcard points for £30 to spend at Pizza Express.
Airtime Rewards
This is an app which allows you to get money off your phone bill. Big retailers like Boots and Argos give you a percent back of what you spend. This then adds up within the Airtime Rewards app, when you get to a minimum of £10, you can redeem your savings and this will come off your phone bill. All you have to do is download the app, connect your bank card and the app takes care of the rest!
Insider Rewards:
Insider points are for Showcase cinemas. For every spend you get 10% in points to use on snacks or tickets. You also get cheaper cinema tickets at certain times of the week.
Always recommend a friend
Sparky found out that Virgin Broadband gives you £50 in CASH when you refer a friend. That friend also receives £50 in cash too! Many other providers offer these types of benefits for referrals.
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