At last the world is slowly unfolding before our eyes and with that comes the prospect of discounts and deals aimed at kickstarting the retail and leisure sectors.

Top of the list, until 31st July, is a twenty five per cent discount on English Heritage membership. Family membership has always been good value but, as the price drops from £109 to £81.75, now has never been a better time to join and enjoy hundreds of ancient sites that the children will love!

Going to a wedding? You’ve made the ‘A’ list and now it’s time to find something to wear. Check out John Lewis’ online clearance sale, which has discounts of up to seventy per cent on all sorts of things, but in particular posh frocks for parties!

And now that we can increase our social circles it may be worth spending some of our ‘holiday fund’ on updating the garden furniture. Look out for price slashes at large DIY stores, garden centres and even supermarkets, all of which are desperate to get their summer lines out of the door as soon as possible.

No matter what we are shopping for it’s always worth checking for a ‘clearance’ department for any online retailer. Argos, Amazon, John Lewis, Next, Matalan and Asda, to name a few, have online clearance departments. Simply Google the retailer’s name and add ‘sale’ or ‘clearance’ for discounts on everything from Barbie dolls to baby clothes, wedding outfits to washing machines, you may not find what you’re looking for, but it’s well worth a try.

Finally, some of the big retailers, including AO.com and Argos have Ebay shops, offering big discounts on clearance stock. However, cross-check the price with other sellers; just because it says it’s discounted may not make it the cheapest!