My name is Sofia, and I am a shopaholic.
My favorite day is the first day of each month—the day I get my monthly allowance. That means the second day of each month is time to shop! Just kidding, every day is time to shop. I have always loved to shop, and this was never really a problem, until recently. My tastes became pricier, and I began making trips to the mall every weekend.
I also love to travel. With airfare prices so high lately, I realized in order to make all my travel plans possible this year that I would have to start saving. So, on the 30th of September, one shopaholic set off on a no-shopping spree. Of course, J-Crew’s new line just had to be released around this time. How could I not buy the adorable striped dress perfect for my next Sunday brunch?! But, I resisted.
Avoiding shopping is easier during the week than on the weekends because I get caught up in schoolwork, classes, and extracurriculars.
On Wednesday, I broke down and bought a new outfit and two white tees from Brandy Melville. $100 well invested…in my closet.
The next week rolled around and Madewell was having an extra 30% off sale. That means everything is on double sale! Yay! I promptly proceeded to scroll through 11 pages of sale items and carefully selected 3 tank tops and 2 pair of sandals. Total came to $200. I left my browser open on the checkout page for a few more days and then caved in, because these were all fall ‘essentials’.
After Madewell left a hole in my wallet, I avoided shopping for two weeks. Then with lots of homework and midterms coming up, it was time to de-stress. I headed out to Santana Row with some H&M gift cards to spend (that doesn’t count as real money) to quell my need to shop. I never shop at H&M, and I didn’t find anything this time either.
So I went to Urban Outfitters, overpriced hipster heaven. I really wanted to spend $89 on the perfect fall dress, but I resisted the urge and sent myself straight back to the sale section where I tried on a few things, like a denim skirt that was on sale for $9.99. $9.99 is so cheap I might as well just own the skirt already. Unlike my usual self, I found myself questioning how much I actually liked the skirt, telling myself denim skirts aren’t really my style, and if I really wanted the skirt I could come back to buy it later. I left the store with $9.99 to save. It’s the little victories that count.
A non-shopping spree, or a spending diet as I like to call it, literally works like a regular diet. At first you want to eat everything you just pledged to give up (or buy the entire J-Crew fall line). As time goes on things get a little bit easier and you only cheat on your diet with a treat once a week (or a binge at Brandy). And once you’ve been on your diet for a while, you realize its actually not that bad and you’ve kind of gotten used to it. I’m now three weeks into my shopping diet and I don’t have the constant urge to shop like I used to.
My bank account is still pretty dry (sorry, I didn’t give up eating brunch at nice restaurants or Uber rides), but all the money that I could have spent shopping was deposited into my savings and will now pay for a trip to New York, woohoo!
To all my fellow shopaholics, I definitely recommend going on a spending diet. Once it’s over, don’t forget to reward yourself with a nice little gift, too. Find me at the Hermès store!