Woman admits she did not save any money in the sales

Amy Billingsworth today admitted that she may never have actually saved any money in a clothing sale. "For years I have done as much shopping as possible in the sales and you know if it was a 50% saving I assumed I was saving 50%, - but recently my five year old son came shopping with me and he is good with numbers".

Toby Billingsworth had been helping his mum work out how much money she was saving in the sales on a recent trip to the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. When after 6 hours Toby struggled and blurted out "it's less than zero" Amy realised something may be wrong.

"I have been over it with my girlfriends and none of us really understand the maths of it. When I go shopping in the sales I look for stuff – you know half off. Now clearly what this means is that I can buy something twice as good for only the same money and I am saving half the cost. See, say I would normally spend £80 on a pair of shoes, in a 50% off sale I can buy £200 pair for £100, thus saving £100. But Toby explained that I was not saving anything because by his calculations I was spending more. I really don’t understand how that can be."

We asked Gill Binsworth of the Women’s Academy of Logic to analyse Toby’s research. "Well, the little chap is a dab hand with a crayon, and to be honest the maths is a bit complicated, but clearly if it is a 50% off shoe sale then Amy is saving 50% regardless of what she buys. Toby’s using numbers to prove facts, but that isn’t how it works with Shoe Theory. Now if you excuse me, Bluewater closes in two hours."

Amy’s husband Dave remarked "I have given up to be honest. Obviously to save money you have to spend less on something you would have bought at full price. Spending the same amount or even spending more on something normally more expensive isn’t a saving. As Toby has proved, even a five year old can work this out, but it is clearly beyond a woman in a shoe sale."