I VE stumbled across a sure-fire way of saving a bundle of money, enough to keep me very comfortable in my dotage. It does not involve investing in off-shore accounts or dodgy dealings. No, this is very simple. All I have to do is stay in on Saturdays and

I'VE stumbled across a sure-fire way of saving a bundle of money, enough to keep me very comfortable in my dotage.

It does not involve investing in off-shore accounts or dodgy dealings.

No, this is very simple. All I have to do is stay in on Saturdays and not go on the internet.

Why I did not think of it myself I cannot understand. Perhaps it is because it is so obvious.

But it took a press release from a bank's credit card arm which brought it home to me.

This revealed that Brits will each spend more than £549,000 over their lifetime - just on Saturdays.

After toiling away at work during the week, we splash out when the weekend arrives, spending an average of £175 each on food and drink, clothes, travelling and entertainment. That's more than £9,000 a year.

Most people are not as tight-fisted as me, it seems. A survey shows that more than half of the population - 54 per cent - believe that as they work so hard during the week they deserve to fork out their cash at the weekend.

Almost a quarter admitted they spend their week at work thinking about what they are going to do with their money once Saturday arrives.

But three-quarters spend more money at the weekend than they intend to, and more than a third feel guilty about it once Monday morning arrives.

Become a hermit as Fridays disappear, it will be well worth it.

The same survey comes up with the statistic that there is an average spend of £47 a week on new clothes and shoes.

There is something else which might persuade people to curb their spending. It is another report just out which uncovers the fact that almost one in 10 people in the UK admit to wearing only 10 per cent of their wardrobe.

Almost a third of Brits put clothing away and forget about it. Nationally, there's an estimated 2.4 billion items of unworn clothes gathering dust on hangers or on shelves. There's a few of them in wardrobes I know.

What gets me, with the knowledge that there are pieces with the price tags on them taking up space, I still hear the plaintive cry: "I've got nothing to wear."

I'm a great advocate of charity shops which have long lost what was always their undeserved reputation for having tatty trash on offer.

The stuff you find in them these days is usually great quality. And just think, if everybody had a super spring clean and sorted out all those unworn clothes which never adorn their bodies and donated them to their local charity shop, there'll be enough to fill the shelves for years to come.

And then, with the cheap prices being asked, people will be able to switch their allegiances from the High Street stores and save loads of money by restocking their wardrobes with only ever-so-slightly-if-that used clothes.

Take a tip Chancellor Darling, that's the way to revive the economy.