Friday, December 4, 2009

Shopping repression

When I lived in DC and had a real life, I shopped at least once a month. It was easy--I had lunch breaks, and DC had convenient retail. My shopping was not extravagant, in part because I had a lot of time to waste waiting for things I liked to go on sale. Now that has changed. Everything in Cambridge is inconvenient except the Gap, and I make no moneyz, so I rarely shop.

This is apparently only a good cheapness strategy until Black Friday. That's when free shipping starts. Also, free returns. And then, you know, what do you have to lose...?

The answer, as you might expect, is your money. I bought lots of barely justifiable stuff on Black Friday (it was cheaper then!), which arrived, turned out not to look that great, and had to be returned to the store (no free returns on this). It was almost like I had repented of this terrible sin. But, unfortunately, returns require a trip to the mall, where other stores also live, and the sinning began anew. It's just that it's been so long since I had been in an H&M... And then these pants were on sale in exactly my size for only $20...Besides, what if I don't get to shop again for another three months? It's all totally justifiable, bank account, I swear!

Anyway, the moral of this story is that the binge and purge method does not work in any realm of life. Indulge your shopping desires regularly in moderation.

2 comments:

Alex said...

Why? You ended up getting a pair of pants that you wanted, on sale for $20. That's what you would have bought on one of your moderate DC shopping trips. Or did you buy so much stuff online that you exceeded what you would have spent in 3 or 4 months of moderate shopping?

Miss Self-Important said...

I also bought a coat which I totally did not need (but is so cute!), and a sweater dress. Plus $40 worth of Burt's Bees online. Plus a pair of jeans that were too short and must be returned...or maybe exchanged. It was definitely in sum more than an average shopping week.