The nation’s top shopping habits revealed

It’s a scenario that most of us will be familiar with: we spot a must-have item, try it on, and fall desperately in love. The only problem? You’re weeks away from pay-day and the price-tag is less than obliging.

Still, there’s a tried-and-tested defence that we’ve probably all drawn on at some stage or another: “I’ll get loads of wear out of it.” In fact, the line is our number one excuse to justify shopping – according to research carried out by gift card company, One4all.

Incredibly, one in five shop for new clothes every single week, and close-to one in four shop monthly. A massive 78 percent of us treat ourselves to something new when we reach a milestone, and more than half use shopping as a pick-me-up when we’re feeling down.

And now there’s yet another excuse – namely the wholly commendable Shop4Crumlin campaign.

From May 9 to May 17 if you make a purchase using your One4all gift card in any of their 6,000 retail outlets nationwide or online, One4all will donate 50c to Our Lady’s Hospital Crumlin. Better still, if you shop in Brown Thomas, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Arnotts, or Life Style Sports, the retailers will match your donation with another 50c, bringing your total donation to €1.

“The money raised from this campaign will help fund new radiography equipment which will reduce the radiation dose to a child while also improving X-ray imagery,” Crumlin says, adding that some of the money will also go towards its Giggle Fund, which helps put a smile on the face of a sick child.

One4all is now telling people to dig out their gift cards – so if there’s an unused Christmas or birthday present knocking around still, then get spending guilt-free from May 9 – 17.

See one4all.ie and www.cmrf.org