Since my arrival in London, I've turned into even more of a shopaholic. You'd think it'd be difficult in a place as expensive as London, but what I failed to count on was the fact that I'd be arriving a couple of weeks just before the sales, meaning that I would get my London salary at least twice just before the heavily discounted winter sales commenced.

I'm not planning on listing out what I've bought, although suffice it to say that my booty ranges from undergarments all the way to overcoats. Life for this hedonistic capitalist has been good.

As if the brick-and-mortar stores aren't enough, there's also the ever-present treasure trove of eBay. And now, via DailyCandy, there's StyleShake, a site which allows you to decide your very own dress (selecting colours, cuts and style) and - if you so wish - purchase it from as low as GBP99. That may not sound cheap at all to those back home, but, trust me, in a place where nice dresses which don't look as if they're incredibly cheap and which everyone else and their mother isn't wearing will probably cost in excess of GBP150.

The dress-making process itself will take around 10 days. I haven't purchased anything from there yet as I'm attempting to restrict my expenditure on items I can wear to the workplace, but that's seriously tempting me to break my self-imposed restraints.