Sunday 8 May 2022 09:47 AM How to work out your OWN inflation rate using the ONS calculator trends now

The cost of living is soaring across the country, but no two households are feeling it in exactly the same way. There is an official overall inflation rate – currently 7 per cent, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. 

But your personal inflation rate may be higher or lower, depending on how you spend your money. 

For example, gas bills and transport costs have risen by several times more than the headline inflation rate (by 28.3 and 13.6 per cent respectively). 

So if you spend a higher proportion of your income than most on energy bills and driving, your personal inflation rate is likely to be above average. 

Inevitably, lower income households will feel the impact most, having fewer options of things to cut back on and also spending more on items that have seen the worst inflation, such as energy bills, rent and food. 

You can find out your household's inflation rate using a calculator provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

You will be asked to input information from which it will calculate your overall inflation rate and tell you how your costs have risen since last year. 

Go to ons.gov.uk and tap in the words 'inflation affecting your household' in the search box to find the calculator.

If you would prefer to find out your own rather than your household's inflation rate, wealth manager Rathbones also has a calculator. 

The Mail on Sunday's Personal Finance team decided to give the ONS version a go – and found the causes of our households' inflation varies wildly. 

The ONS calculator measures Consumer Price Index including housing costs.

The ONS confirmed my bills have gone up by £340 a month – but that was no surprise to me. 

I have two children at university, but they are now spending more time at home – and bringing their friends too – rather than having to pay so much for heating and meals at college. 

Our grocery bills have rocketed, as we must now feed a hungry but undiscerning 20-year-old son Harrison plus a 22-year-old daughter Sophia, who has Gwyneth Paltrow tastes for exotic ingredients. 

The family is now bolting down a staggering £600 a month in food thanks to its rising cost as well as mouths to feed. I make my own beer, which saves money. But even so, we (I) knock back an embarrassing £200 on booze. 

But the biggest kicker is transport. Regular trips up and down the motorway to the universities of Leeds and York, plus the cost of my commute by train into work from our home near Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, are really adding up. Plus, there are cars on the drive which all need fuel. 

Together with garage bills, vehicle tax, insurance and car loans – plus trains and car parking – my expenditure on travel now adds up to an eye-watering £1,200 a month – hundreds of pounds more than just a year or two ago.

I love Monday mornings. It's the time of the week when our smart meter resets and the display reads: 'You have spent £0.00 so far this week.' After that, the pounds add up very quickly. The ONS calculator says energy bills are one of the biggest contributors to inflation in my household and I'm not surprised. 

I'm very lucky. I live in a household of three working

read more from dailymail.....