A SAVVY mum has shared her energy-saving hack that can help slash household bills – but it’s left viewers divided.
Posting under the username duchessofthrift on TikTok, the mum shared her money-saving tips for the cost-of-living crisis.
In her latest video, the self-titled “thrifty mum” explained how to save energy with a Wi-Fi curfew.
Electricity prices, on average, have gone up from around 17p per kWh last winter to 34p kWh after prices went up on October 1.
The TikToker suggested that switching off your router after a certain time could see massive gains in saving.
She added that this method would prevent energy being wasted well into the night when nobody is using the internet.
In the video, she said: “As an experiment, the Wi-Fi has gone off at night. There’s a curfew, 10 o’clock, the Wi-Fi goes off.
“The kids don’t have huge data bundles, and as a result, there’s nothing for them to do, so they’ve gone to bed.”
She continued: “There’s been several benefits to this. One, it’s easy to get them off to school in the morning.
“Two, we’ve saved money overnight – there’s no lights left on in the house, those extra boils of the kettle, the toaster, the microwave, all the things that they were using when we went to bed are no longer being used.”
She also explained that her children often fall asleep with the TV on, but because they are smart TVs, they rely on Wi-Fi to work.
The mum admitted that she didn’t think the new idea would go down well with her children who relied on the Wi-Fi day-to-day.
But she claimed that the youngsters have accepted the new rules and gone to bed early as a result.
Her viral videos have seen her amass over 30,000 followers and just over 220,000 total likes.
And the mum’s suggestion proved a hit with followers who praised the golden advice.
One TikToker commented: “My grandson said he felt much better after good night’s sleep when his mom turned the Wi-Fi off.”
And a second added: “My kids have all devices removed at 11pm. At the weekend my 19-year-old is on his ps4 until 3am”.
“My kids used to sneak back down once I was asleep and put it back on,” joked a third.
But others said that the method could actually raise more problems than solutions.
One user said: “Our WiFi goes all wrong if we turn it on and off…”
While another claimed: “As someone who used to work for talk talk, do not turn it off at night, that’s when vital safety updates happen.”
“Be careful with turning Wi-Fi off – easier to hack, plus can cause issues with your speed (Google it),” advised a third.
Experts have previously warned people to switch off Wi-Fi sparingly as safety updates can often come through during the night.
And turning your router on and off too many times could lead to problems with your internet speed.
Most of the country’s biggest Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which include BT and Sky, recommend leaving their WiFi equipment on permanently, all year round.
