Online shopping can mean you end up spending more than you anticipated on your credit cards
With statistics now showing that almost £1 in every £10 is being spent on online purchases, internet shopping is fast becoming one of the easiest ways to shop.
You know how it is - you sit down to check your emails, and before you know it, you're on your favourite store's website, adding things to your online basket at an alarming rate. It's just too easy to click 'buy', and when it handily saves your payment details, you don't even have to move to root around in your bag to find your credit card.
Just think about it - there's no pushing and shoving with other shoppers as you fight for your place flicking through the sale rack, you don't have the traumatising experience of trying on your selected garments in a tiny cubicle, with the often very unflattering lighting, and most importantly - there's no queuing.
And the current January sales look even more appealing when they're set out so nicely on a website, not resembling a battleground, with ripped trousers and make up stained tops.
Online retailers offer a huge selection of clothing which will never be featured in their high street stores, and they replenish stock quickly so most of the time, you CAN find something in your size.
Then there's the overwhelming advantage - online shopping needn't involve your man. You see them lined up around the edge of the lingerie section, or stood outside a store with a face that clearly says 'I'm sulking because my wife/girlfriend has been in that shop for an hour, whilst I have been and done all of my shopping, with time to spare for a coffee'.
But whilst online shopping has so many positives, it also has that one huge stickler - delivery costs. Some sites charge up to £10 to deliver your clothing, with the promise of it arriving the next day, but even the charges for regular delivery can cost £5. That's when you start looking around to find a few more things to add to your order - if you're paying that much for delivery, you may as well make it worth it, right?
And when it does arrive, there's always the worry that it won't match up to the picture or description on the site, and that lovely pale green dress turns out to be a sludgey shade of vomit.
If you have enough self control to only buy exactly what it is you need, then we applaud you. But it can be so easy to get carried away, and it's only when you get your card statement through and see that you spent £250 on, well, not a lot, that you realise where you went wrong. Did you really need those pumps in seven different colours? Probably not, but when the temptation is there, it's hard to resist.
So next time you hear the online stores calling your name, think about it - do you actually need anything? Can you spare that extra cash on a new pair of heels, or are you only buying them because they've been reduced, and will go nicely with the dress sitting in your basket all alone?
And if you really can't resist, check out the many online discount code websites, which have the latest promotional codes to get free delivery or some form of discount on your order.
Georgia Smith