While holidays are meant to be a relaxing break, it seems packing not only stresses some women out but also adds to the overall cost of your getaway. 60% of 2000 women who participated in a survey about retail habits admitted that they buy extra clothes for summer holidays despite knowing they already have enough at home.

Even Barbie wants to dress to impress in summer! Flickr

Whether it is a bikini that just looks better than the ones waiting in your chest of drawers, a new style of sunhat or a trendy summer dress, these extra purchases might not even get packed but we still pick them up and head to the checkout.

With luggage regulations as strict as they are, buying these extra clothes cannot help as we then struggle to limit our cases to only the essentials in order to avoid that excess charge at the airport desk. Not only can your overall holiday cost increase as a result of buying surplus flip-flops, you might find yourself shelling out for the privilege of taking your unnecessary purchases away with you.

Summer is a time for barbecuing, beachgoing…and dipping into your savings account. Flickr

The survey that revealed our over-spending habit was carried out by fashion retailer Zalando, and it exposed much more than just summer holidays as a source of frivolous costs. If you thought jetting away to an exotic foreign clime was the only excuse available for adding to the wardrobe, think again. The workplace is another situation in which women feel pressured to buy new outfits, especially for ‘dress-down Friday’. The survey discovered that a quarter of women ‘dread’ the end of the working week because of its call for a more casual look, and feel that it is necessary to wear new items as often as possible to avoid repeating outfits.

Although these two examples show fashion spending to be slightly over the top, at least the extra holiday clothes and work clothes will probably get worn (even if a pair of woolly tights has to be pulled on underneath that summer dress!). However, the survey also found out that nearly two fifths of women have bought either a pair of shoes or a dress that they knew did not fit, just because they liked the way they looked.

Summer holiday preparations break the bank! Flickr

Unless you can diet into the dress, this expenditure seems extremely excessive and pointless. Tucking a pair of un-wearable shoes into your wardrobe or shoe rack not only takes up storage space but also represents empty cash. Unless you plan on framing the dress or literally putting the shoes on the pedestal, what is the point? Zalando’s survey seems to show a range of fashion spending, with some women making a few understandable frivolous purchases, but others just taking their passion for fashion a bit too far.