Keeping your sanity intact in sales season

Because of the virus, wrote James, we're insecure, constantly comparing our lot with that of others, especially those who have more than we do.

We're also alienated, because we keep many people at a distance in the pursuit of career. The illness also leaves us feeling incompetent because no matter how successful we become it never seems enough; we try ever harder to climb a ladder that has no end.

It's often during the New Year sales-rush that homeless charities in London and other major cities report a rise in middle-class homelessness.

In the midst of relationship breakdowns, unemployment or both, even professional people can quickly use up their savings, max out their credit cards and, when friends and family no longer offer help, find themselves without a fixed abode.

Homelessness is an extreme situation and one that, thankfully, won't directly affect the majority of us any time soon. Yet the fact that it can come on people so quickly, points to the insecurity inherent in living, or spending, as if there is no tomorrow.

Post-recession, we may still have some important learning to do.

The credit card is a useful tool, but using it wisely requires a disciplined mind and steady emotions.

There's nothing better than getting to the end of the sales madness and knowing that you still have your savings, credit rating and sanity intact.