Confessions of a Shopaholic

Hi, my name is Allysa, and I am a Shopaholic.

A few years ago, I fell in love with the Shopaholic book series, which chronicles a woman named Becky who has a serious addiction to shopping.  She has quite expensive taste and is an impulse buyer.  She has maxed-out credit cards, but she can't seem to control her spending.

While I am not nearly as bad as Becky, I do have a shopping problem.  Last Thursday, for example, I set out to buy my dad a Father's Day gift.  It was my only mission for the day.  My first stop was Kohls, which is one of the stores my father frequents.  I considered some new shirts or a new bottle of cologne, but I couldn't find anything that suited him.  I did, however, find two pairs of shoes that suited me perfectly.  The two pairs of shoes are identical, except one pair is black and the other pair is brown.  That's how I shop.  I find something I like and buy it in multiple colors.  Another thing to note is that I wear a size 10 shoe.  These are nearly impossible to come by in stores, so I rationalized buying them by thinking that there is a good chance that they will not be in the store the next time I come.  A bonus was that they were on sale for $20.00, which I think is a very reasonable price for shoes that can be worn every day, either dressed up or dressed down.

Then, I sat off to the mall.  I stopped first at JC Penny, where my dad buys a lot of his dress clothes.  I didn't find anything there that suited him, but I did find a little black dress that suited me.  I thought it would be perfect for the wedding rehearsal and dinner that I had to partipate in this past weekend and could also be used for a number of other events that are coming up.  Also, it was on sale for $40, which I think is a very reasonable price for a dress.

I was on my way back down the mall when I saw that a shoe store was having a sale.  I have never purchased shoes from this store, so I felt that a quick browse wouldn't hurt.  I had been thinking for a long time about how I needed a good "in-between" pair of shoes.  Shoes that aren't dressy but aren't athletic.  I don't own a pair like that.  Or at least I didn't.  There was an adorable pair of Rocket Dogs that are plaid.  The colors are predominantly red and blue, which are two of the colors that I wear most often.  I thought they would be perfect to wear with denim capris or bermudas in the summer or to wear with jeans in the fall and winter.  Also, they were on sale for $30, which I thought was a very reasonable price for a pair of shoes that match nearly every item of casual clothing in my wardrobe.

As I headed toward Dillards and Younkers, I noticed that Bath and Body Works was having a big sale.  When I saw this, I remembered that I had just put my last bottle of foaming soap in my bathroom and that the soap in my kitchen was almost running out.  Soap, for me, is a necessity.  I am an obsessive hand-washer, so I go through soap pretty quickly.  Plus, the soap was on sale for $3.00 per bottle, which I think is very reasonable for a bottle of nice, deliciously smelling soap.  It's only twenty cents more than the soap I buy from Wal-Mart, which doesn't smell as good.  With a price like that, i figured that I might as well buy four bottles to last me until the next sale on soap.  There.  Justified.

After the soap purchase, I realized that it was well into the dinner hour and I hadn't eaten much that day.  So, I headed to the food court for some dinner.  I ate rather quickly and then took my new purchases out to my car and headed for home.

No Father's Day gift in hand.

So, my goal for these next few months is to be much more aware of my spending and to not be so impulsive about what I buy.  I will make a list and go to stores only to buy what is on said lists.  No exceptions.  Ready, go...