You switch – I’ll be in the pub

Thanks to online price comparison websites and a whole range of web-based financial advice, we're being driven to become a nation of money savers. Through switching mortgages, home insurance, broadband, mobile telephones etc, many of us are, in theory, saving the equivalent income of a modest part-time job. But is it worth the effort?

Take Joanie Wells, a research student I know. She admits that her money saving endeavours are often counter-productive: "It's like finding a pound on the street, but tearing your jeans when you bend down to reach it. I've spent all day getting car insurance quotes when I should have been doing work. You find a really cheap quote, then get greedy, and continue to waste time looking for something better." Joanie reckons that she's spent 5 hours a week on average to save £500 in a year. That works out at £1.92 per hour - just over a third of the national minimum wage.

Apart from wasting time, it could be argued that money saving is addictive; certainly, the ingredients of addiction are apparent - the short-lived thrill of achievement, followed by a period of growing dissatisfaction until the next hit - or bargain.

Some people are convinced it's worth the effort - my friend Chris, for instance, a learning support worker who's married with two children. He claims a saving of £1,100 from a yearly total of 4 hours online research and form filling. "I know my way round the web; I don't dither," says Chris, thus 'earning' £275 an hour for his efforts.

But Chris is unusual - and, anyway, should he be encouraged? Television pundits like Martin Lewis promote money saving as a way of life. We are made to feel foolish for not switching our gas suppliers, stupid for paying too much for our mobile phones, and downright slothful for not taking the time to shop around for the best internet shopping rate.

With almost religious fervour, money saving is 'preached' as a common cause for the common man, a supposed way to 'get back' at big business, not for idealistic reasons, but out of self interest - and a lack of interest in anything else in life.

'Money Saving' plays on two basic instincts: greed, and the fear of 'missing out' - the self-same urges that have propelled banks into the crass lending that has created the credit crunch. Yes, a few people are a very great deal richer. But a great many more people are financially poorer - and poorer in spirit, too.

My chum Mat's attitude is healthier by far. He runs a computer software business, but he'd far rather be in the pub socialising than hunched over his screen hunting down price comparisons and switching deals. "It all looks really fiddly and complicated," he says with a sigh. "Though I would do it if I could just type in my email address and it would all get done for me." ·