It seems like the summer is officially over, given how the weather has performed recently.

Unsurprisingly, when the rain comes down, so does the volume of retail sales.

These have dropped almost across the board last month due to the bad weather and our low consumer confidence, while the property market remains in the doldrums

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported that sales fell 1% last month compared with August last year on a like-for-like basis. They said this was due to low confidence and increasing demands on on our household budgets (see food prices picture below).

This meant that we looked for value and planned our spending carefully to take advantage of the widespread promotions and discounts.

Stephen Robertson, the BRC's director general said:

"Miserable weather washed out hopes of a summer boost for retailers. Annual like-for-like sales fell in five of the last six months, the first time this has happened since 2005. Even food sales growth slowed. Footwear was the only other sector where sales rose, boosted by children's shoe sales."

Food and drink was the only sector to show significant sales growth, despite the chilly weather hitting salad and barbecue products. Food retailers reported higher sales of cheaper meat products such as mince and stewing meats.

In a bid to attract consumers who have been tightening belts in the face of rising inflation there was heavy discounting across both clothing and footwear stores over the month.

Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight, was not surprised by the figures saying:

"Consumers are being hit by a myriad of factors, notably muted disposable income growth, a serious squeeze on purchasing power coming from sharply rising utility bills and elevated food prices, tight credit conditions, higher mortgage repayments, sharply falling house prices, higher debt levels and rising unemployment."

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In addition there is more gloomy news from the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) monthly report on the housing market. (download pdf)

It shows the number of transactions has hit its lowest level since the survey began in 1978. Mortgage approvals are down more than 70% in the past year.

RICs spokesman, Jeremy Leaf said:

"A lack of mortgage liquidity is the key issue. The government's stamp duty policy will not be enough to kickstart transactions and is more likely to assist buy-to-let investors. More needs to be done to reinvigorate a market whose confidence has taken a severe knock."

So, are you still buying food and shoes like you used to or are you cutting back on even these?

Why not let us know in the comments below?