I was very flattered that my husband thought I was two dress sizes smaller than I am, but I couldn't squeeze into his gift for love nor money, so back it had to go.

The item had gone down in price by at least a third, so I actually ended up returning home with more cash than I had gone out with.

With sales in full flow in all the shops and some amazing knock-down prices, one can't help wondering at the insanity of our retail system.

Even with such huge discounts, it's difficult to believe the retailers, particularly in the big chains, are foregoing a reasonable profit margin for themselves.

So does that mean the rest of the year we are being ripped off in spectacular fashion?

Many shops hold ad-hoc sales unannounced at odd times and I have got fed up with seeing items I bought a few weeks earlier now on the rails at a much reduced rate.

The retailers are not playing fair with their customers.

They should set a fair price and stick to it and sales should be reserved for stock that is genuinely last season or end-of-range.