Household electric appliance sales hit 24-year high amid pandemic

If possible, just open the window to clean the air. And it will save energy.

Not a big buyer of goods, but last year - 2020 - saw a big jump in our household electrical purchases.

New PC, new washing machine, new air-con, new large monitor, new lap-top, new toaster oven, new hairdryer, new lights, new hand mixer - just off the top of my head.

Why? Well some were broken / breaking and all were old - but the Biggie was all were hugely discounted ( up to 50%) and some included no interest time payments or 25% off through programs like PayPay etc.

I guess I added to the deflationary spiral.

It would be interesting to see what things people in other countries bought during the pandemic. I know in the U.K. sales of DIY and baking goods went up. A good insight into a nation’s psyche.

We bought two aircons last year but you can blame them on climate change. We had to have the wiring and ducting retrofitted (major extra work) because we didn't plan on having air cons when we built the house in 2007. Summers have got noticeably hotter for longer.

They are not big purchases and not mainstream yet, but it's very easy to cool lighting now with wifi-controlled plug in sockets and multicolour/dimmable light bulbs. The Chinese ones are well cheap. Since it's all plug in, you can even do it in a place you rent. Its good to change the mood of your place with lighting if you are stuck there all day.

Our purchases were not so much driven by the pandemic as by the high price of natural gas where we live and the fact we have solar panels on our roof. We have moved much cooking away from gas to various different electric cookers all recently purchased (except for the trusty Zojirushi rice cooker we could not live without !) and we bought electric oil radiators to heat specific rooms while we are in them instead of using the big gas furnace. That has reduced our monthly gas bill a good $100 compared to last year while the electric bill has not spiked hugely. We also bought a couple of these cool little Japan market canister vacuums from Panasonic because my wife greatly prefers them to the larger and heavier US branded but Chinese made kludge sold in the US.

 3 draw fridge for ¥50,000 and a smaller vacuum cleaner for ¥6000

Wow. Those prices are equivalent to about $5000 and $600 US Dollars respectively. Appliances must be expensive in Japan! A new top of the line Panasonic vacuum delivered in the US is about $400.

Yep, my mistake.