THE economy is shrinking faster than Katie Price’s cup size, fuel and food costs more than ever and millions of people may find themselves with an open-ended Christmas holiday from work this year.

Things are bad, and they are going to get worse, so they say. You might expect then that for most people, shopping for shopping’s sake has become a thing of the past.

So why when you wander around Liverpool One on a Saturday afternoon, do you still have to queue to use the changing rooms and everywhere you look skinny wrists are struggling under the weight of bulging shopping bags?

I know Gordon Brown has talked about spending our way out of recession but I am not sure this is quite what he meant.

You would have to be a Russian oligarch not to have noticed that your money just doesn’t seem to go as far these days. Mind you even the mega-rich must have noticed it is costing more to fill up their super-yachts than it did this time last year.

According to a survey in women’s weekly magazine Grazia this week, three quarters of women are worried about the credit crunch affecting their lifestyle and almost half of us are cutting down on our spending. That said 83% of us say we still shop for clothes, accessories and beauty products at least once a week.

However the findings also suggest that most of us are being more selective about what we buy with half of those questioned saying that they are being careful about what they spend, visiting more stores and doing their homework about trends before parting with their cash.

Grazia has, in true women’s magazine style, labelled this new breed of shopper the “recessionista”. Suppose we should be thankful they didn't go for “shoporexic”.

I am as guilty as the next person of indulging myself in a little mood-enhancing retail therapy now and then. But at the moment, like everyone, I have that niggling voice at the back of the mind that I should be putting some money aside just in case, instead of treating any cash I have left in my account at the end of the month, as currency that must be burned on the altar of the high street quickly as possible.

I am trying to teach myself to differentiate between clothing that I need to buy (tights, knickers, a pair of gloves) and clothes that I want (this gorgeous Tony Cohen party dress, £440 at House of Fraser, left).

I am staying out of Primark – when things only cost £2 how can I not need them? – and have even got my George at Asda habit under control (nearly).

Granted, saving up doesn’t have the same instantaneous thrill of putting on a new pair of shoes but it’s got to beat battling with bailiffs.