We all know that if we cut our morning coffee and muffin, we would own that Chanel 2.55 by the end of the year. However, it seems that modern life has stifled our ability to save. We secretly understand that the pretty £30 tea dress is a false economy (the cut isn’t perfect, the fabric less than flattering and a 15-year old is working it better than we ever can) but that buying-buzz is too seductive to resist. And we definitely know that shoving a new luxe handbag onto our credit card is very bad news indeed.

In a credit crunch, making mistakes can turn a bag lover into a veritable bag lady. Those lattes and catwalk-copy frocks are more expensive than they seem. We need to train ourselves from being dazzled by what really is just daily bread and start focussing on the cake. Cake is lovely, cake is special, cake is worth waiting for.

Our definitions of bread and cake depend on our individual financial states. Theoretically, bread is anything that can be easily replaced by a budget or free substitute, cake is something that makes our day, week or even year. So, start walking more, drinking office coffee, making lunch, borrowing clothes, selling surplus shoes on eBay… and start focusing on life’s finer extravagances.