Hitting the high street can be financially dangerous for the majority of Britons, reveals a report showing how we just can’t avoid spending more than we have.

It appears that shopping lists are a thing of the past and the majority of Britons and are struggling to keep track of how much money they are spending when out shopping. In fact research from online bank, Egg revealed that in one day’s shopping Britons spent £300 million more than they estimated.

The bank sent researchers to ten major cities across the UK to analyse the high street spending patterns of consumers. Research was conducted on Egg Money buses, which run on the major shopping routes of each city.

The online bank discovered that, when out shopping, three quarters (77%) of people were unsure of how much money they had spent.

Shoppers were asked to estimate the total amount of money they had spent and this was compared to the actual amount by examining the shopper’s receipts. A staggering 85% of people were incorrect in their estimates and over half (57%) of all shoppers had underestimated the amount spent.

The average person estimated that they had spent £78.90 when in actual fact the correct figure was £85.30, a difference of £6.40 or 8%.

There were significant regional differences with people in Leeds miscalculating their total shopping bill by almost a quarter (22%). Leeds was closely followed by Cardiff (19%) and then Sheffield (15%). In fact London was the only city in which people over-estimated how much they had spent by an average of £10 (9%).

A third of shoppers bought clothes (36%) others purchased were mainly purchasing entertainment items, such as DVDs, CDs and books or gifts for others (14% each), other people were buying groceries (13%).

Mark Nancarrow, chief financial officer at Egg said: "Keeping track of our money is hard enough at the best of times but with all the distractions of the high street it seems that it is nearly impossible to do so when out shopping."

"Christmas is the most expensive time of year for the majority of people and there is increased pressure to spend all round. It is better to budget now than face a financial hangover in the New Year".

Egg believes it is time to change how we spend and that is why it has launched Egg Money, a pre-pay credit card with online statements and text messages help you to keep in control.