How to quit the ‘buy now’ habit in eight easy steps – and shop smarter with forever in mind

• ‘If you pay more than £4, you’re being ripped off’: the fair price for 14 everyday items

Introversion is rarely useful, but it saved me a fortune in my younger years. So keenly did I loathe going to the shops that I just didn’t spend much money. I was perfectly happy, albeit a little bored and usually dressed in the same clothes.

Then online shopping happened. The lure of one-click, next-day consumables unleashed my inner impulse buyer like a starving castaway at a buffet. I never quite became a shopping addict, but the thrill of home delivery fuelled a period of slightly unhinged affluenza. My house filled with stuff while my bank account drained. I accumulated retro camera kit (70% unused to this day), expensive books about using said camera kit (100% unread) and an untold number of dresses that I bought only because I could send them back for free. I never did send them back, of course, and I never wore them, because I never wear dresses. But they were so pretty.