Cutting-edge technology doesn’t come cheap. Since 2003, I’ve had two MiniDisc players, five iPhones, a CD walkman with a Corrs album stuck inside it, a Microsoft Zune, a portable DVD player (used just once to watch She’s All That in a caravan in Wales), a Game Boy Advance that I threw out of a moving Volvo, and an iPad that was waterboarded by some five-year-olds. Sometimes, it feels like there’s a bottomless pit in my life marked ‘gadgets’ into which I’m constantly emptying my wallet.

But it doesn’t have to be like this. In fact, a whole host of tech manufacturers are now designing gadgets so smart and efficient that – far from draining your finances – they actually pay for themselves. Here’s our rundown of the best pieces of tech that earn their keep.

1. Nest Learning Thermostat

The Nest Learning thermostat is truly smart. Equipped with a motion detector, three temperature sensors and a humidity gauge, the Nest unit knows when you’re home or not and just how warm you like the house. It then creates a unique heating schedule that means you’ll never need to fiddle with the thermostat again. What’s more, it offers remote control via its user-friendly app, and connectivity with lots of other devices, like the Amazon Echo.

The Nest Thermostat team say it’ll save you 10-12 per cent on heating bills on average, which comes in at around £120 a year. It costs £249 including installation, so it’ll pay its way in about two years.

Available at Amazon

2. Nanoleaf Bloom LED Light Bulb

The Nanoleaf is like no lightbulb you’ve ever seen in your life. With its customizable, origami-like, dodecahedron design and vibrant, glowing orbs, it’s as much a work of art as it is an electronic fixture.

Each bulb comes in at a fairly hefty £30, but the price tag starts to make sense when you know it can save you £85 per bulb per year in energy efficiency alone. (The Nanoleaf range is 87 percent more efficient than incandescent bulbs.) Plus, with a 27-year lifespan, you’ll never really have to buy another light bulb again.