LIKE most women, I consider my bargain-hunting skills so finely-tuned they should really be up there at the top of my CV.

BOGOF (buy-one-get-one-free) and three-for-two are my watchwords.

I can spot a 75 per cent off item in Debenhams at 100 paces, and I worship at the church of Primarni.

It’s this passion for a bargain, in part, that makes it almost impossible for me to walk past a pound shop.

I love pound shops.

And I’m not ashamed of that fact.

OK, I might be slightly ashamed of that fact . . . and often keep one eye on the window to see if anyone I know is walking past as I happily fill my basket with cut-price toiletries and other assorted gems.

But even though there is the occasional urge to hide your carrier bag when you've been to a pound shop, it's something I'd recommend to anyone.

The best thing about pound shops is that they stick two fingers up at snobby people and celebrate not having much money.

They might have rubbish window displays, poor stock presentation and staff who look about as interested as a teenager listening to an in-depth discussion on local politics, but you just try walking out of a pound shop without buying something. I swear, it's not possible.

One of the best things about them is the sheer diversity of the stock. There's everything from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Novelty cat collars, plastic shot glasses, barbecue utensils, false nails, Y-fronts, framed pictures of Marilyn Monroe, frying pans that make heart-shaped eggs, de-icer, beauty products with indecipherable words written on the packaging . . . the list goes on and on and on.

But despite their obvious brilliance, only certain people seem to be able to appreciate the humble pound shop.

Maybe it’s something to do with your upbringing.

Coming from Rhyl, I am a long-time acquaintance of pound shops. Rhyl High Street even went one better and for a long time had “The 99p Shop”.

Many a Saturday afternoon would be spent with my friends rummaging around the shelves of the tiny cavern that was The 99p Shop, trying out garish shades of Constance Carroll lipstick on the back of my hand and deciding which hideous knick-knack to buy that week.

That was a good 20 years ago and not much has changed in the world of the pound shop. That’s another great thing about them — they're the one store that will resist inflation forever.

I’m certainly planning to pass on my love of the pound shop to my kids.

They won’t know the price of things and the excitement of being able to choose from any toy in the shop is intoxicating, even if everything is the same price.

In the current climate I would recommend anyone to give pound shops a go. Put your prejudices to one side and have a look in. I promise you won’t be disappointed.