I know times are tough for retail and for that very reason, I feel awful posting a blog asking fellow shopaholics to step away from the sale rail, but for the good of a dwindling bank balance it has to be done.Usually by mid-January, the shopaholic - stressed by all those half price or less tags - can start to relax a little as fashion goes full-price again and all they have to avoid are commercial TV channels showing a never-ending loop of adverts displaying happy people on holidays they can't afford to book.
Excessive viewing of these adverts generally results in a shopping spree (which you tell yourself is to cheer you up because you can't afford the holiday) and on returning home laden with bags of unnecessary items, you realise you could have paid for your entire clan to got to the Maldives for a month.
But this year is different...
Sales are still in full swing and showing no signs of retiring back to the stock room. My lunchtime sandwich shop is fraught with the dangers of items bearing labels of temptation - 50% off; 70% off; £1 or less; free if you bring your own bag; tired old tops and stained skirts, which have been kicked around the changing room floor for the last three years, desperately trying to get our attention so they don't have to face the humiliation of the clearance section.
But for the restrained shopper there are still bargains to be had. In a moment of consumer clarity, I found two really great dresses from Zara reduced to just over £20 and perfect for work. I don't normally wear dresses to work, but thought it could be the 'New Me' and ventured out in the little black number this week.
The opinion of one of my esteemed colleagues was that it made me look 'a bit like someone in The Spy Who Shagged Me'. This would be great if I wasn't so fearful that the 'someone' he was referring to was Mini-Me...
