retail therapy (or 'i am a superficial twat')
i need help.
serious help.
apparently the therapy i’ve been having to overcome my shopping addiction (i kid you not) has not been very helpful.
i know this because today i received a phone call from my bank in which i was asked to confirm whether or not i was responsible for the
EXCESSIVE EXPENDITUREon my credit card over the weekend.
unfortunately i was.
its just that when i’m feeling sad/lonely/fat/stressed nothing cheers me up quite like a new pair of stilettos and other such shiny trinkets.
and lately i’ve been feeling muchly the sad/lonely/fat/stressed on a quasi-regular basis.
*tear.*
the thing is that if i keep going the way i have been, on top of sad/lonely/fat/stressed-ness, i’m also gonna start feeling muchly the broke/hungry/cold/unwashed.
i have a problem.
a serious problem.
HELP ME!
or don’t.
no pressure.
24 Comments:
At times I have an addictove personality, but to date have not had an addiction to anything other than in '90/'91/'92 when i was pretty addicted to windsurfing. But then the side effect was being buff as hell, tanned and blonder than normal, so it was not exactly a horrible thing.
But there is a gap in your life you fill with shopping, sdo perhaps you could try to find something else. That "whatever" that you keep thinking you'll do: veggie garden, taking up painting, volunteering for the poor- perhaps now's the time to do it....?
regards
thomasr
I suppose I can lock you somewhere if you want...
like in a shoe shop for instance?
What did you buy?!
ah, enny, always accentuating the positive and ignoring the possibly life destroying chronic addiction.
i dig that.
the real question is, however, what didn't i buy?
and the answer: incredibly little.
'fraid i really can't help you with this one as i suffer from a similar affliction.
today i went into priceline for those party feet thingys (my fabulous new stilettos which cost me a small fortune last week hurt my feet a teensy bit).
anyway, i ended up spending $150.
in priceline for f***'s.
its ridiculous.
surely there is some medication or something we can take.
i was once addicted to fairy bread. it was the day that i ate 17 slices of bread in a row that tipped me over the edge from 'yum! fairy bread!' to '17 slices of bread, margarine and sugar cannot be good for you'
i dont buy sprinkles anymore
i would suggest coming over to adelaide to see if there is anything remotely worth buying over here. you'll either still find something you want which will be cheaper than you're used to, or you'll find that there isnt, and you can just come drinking with me instead.
"i dont buy sprinkles anymore"
now if that's not a country ballad waiting to happen, i don't know what is.
Go shopping once a week on a Thursday night or Saturday. Leave your cards etc at home, just take $50. If you see something you like for under $50, buy it and go home. If you see something you like for over $50, go home and save the $50 for the next weeks' shopping night, when you may be able to afford the more expensive item. By then you'll be sure about it or over it but with $100 to spend on something else. By going weekly, shopping becomes routine and not a binge-purge type thing.
OR you can just put a one week rule on everything you want. See it, want it, wait one week... if you still want it after a week of thinking about it ad hw much it costs, then its probably worth it.
I second Little Faerie Girl's suggestion.
I think you should come to Adelaide too.
Did you buy any sunglasses? I love buying sunglasses. Buying sunglasses is fun. And shoes. And handbags. And belts. And jeans. And cosmetics that I will never, ever use but buy because who can resist the l337 packaging? And ......
Sorry. I'm not really helping, am I?
xxx
this has totally inspired me to do christmakuh fairy bread. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. it's mine.
*beams**
(*not highbeams, happy smily beams)
WHOA
HOLD UP
" fairy bread!' to '17 slices of bread, margarine and sugar cannot be good for you'"
MARGARINE ON FAIRY BREAD?
The fuck?
Don't worry Ms Nadine, this wise old crone of the forest will again counsel you. There will come a time when you can't afford anything which coincides with looking around and thinking 'this stuff was crap when I wanted it 15 years ago'.
I will now out myself as a hypocrite because if I win tattslotto I'll go through shops faster than Paris Hilton on speed.
Oh sweet lady - you know i cannot offer you any advice that is remotely responsible. Especially considering whenever i visit your home we seem to go to look in your wardrobe and stroke the clothes lovingly before we even open the wine. Now that is serious.
Shopping is great. Looking at pretty things hanging neatly in your wardrobe makes you feel GOOD. And that is all.
jobe, you need something that the sprinkles can stick to. so a thin swipe of margarine was what it was. i tried honey but it was too sweet, and i tried nutella, but i prefer eating that straight out the jar
re shopping, apart from the totally sensible 'leave it and if you still want it next week, get it'...i really dont think there is anything better for you than to come to adelaide and drink with me and mscynic. i mean shop. yeah...shop
i think i would be addicted to shopping if i had money, but all the money i have is spent on booze, fags and cheap men.
you could also try that one where you freeze your credit cards in ice and then if you really want to use it you have to wait for the ice to melt.
This is why I don't have a credit card any more. They are bad news, even though society is structured now so that we need them. Conundrum.
And it doesn't help when the Let's Lose Weight People give this advice:
'Success (But Not With Food)
Rewards that you control can be used to encourage attainment of behavioral goals, especially those that have been difficult to reach. An effective reward is something that is desirable, timely, and contingent on meeting your goal. The rewards you administer may be tangible (e. g., a movie or music CD or a payment toward buying a more costly item) or intangible (e. g., an afternoon off from work or just an hour of quiet time away from family).'
My new mantra: intangible, intangible, intangible.
ps I have this strange craving for fairy bread all of a sudden.
everyone's invited to my place for a faeriebread party!!!!
You don't want to get addicted to therapy, either.
So what I do is think of shopping as a pleasant hobby that keeps me from wreaking havoc a la mevzilla. And also keeps me in pointy shoes and perky bras.
Afew years ago I stopped watching tv, strangely, one of the happy side efffects was that I found myself wanting less 'stuff'.
Weird but true. Testimony to the power of advertising.
Crestfallen.
Also, if you are burdened with mortgage type debt a good book to read is "Your mortgage and how to pay it off in five years"
smugly subtitled "(by someone who did it in 3)". You will want to bitch slap the sanctimonius author (Anita Bell), who is surely harbouring some masochistic tendencies, but she does offer some good advice about how laying off the shoes now can mean you are mortgage free years earlier.
I dont know if you need to go to the tight arsed, parsimonious extremes of Ms Bell (make your own gifts! whittle your own furniture!) but take from it what you will.
Only dont buy the book, borrow it from the library,
The Library, by the way, is a great way to use up some 'shopping urge' without putting your hand in your pocket. Aquire something -magazines, CD's whatever - and take them back later. Wahey! And you can make eyes at the cute boys across the foreign language section.
Crestfallen
Umm we could have sex if it'd make you feel any better? ya'know, closure & whatnot.
Umm yeah. The sex, take it or leave it. Offers there.
xx
Post a Comment
<< Home