Say No to Shopping by Jane Stabler

I'm going to post articles by my gorgeous writers - this one comes from Jane Stabler.

Ask Bronny tears herself away from the winter sales to figure out if a small shopping addiction is such a bad thing… There are times when I seriously suspect I have a shopping problem. Times when I know I have just about enough in my bank account to buy a happy meal but I don’t get paid for another fortnight, and I still buy shoes. Times like Saturday when I organised to meet a friend in the city for coffee – just a coffee - and on the way I bought a dress, two pairs of tights and new makeup. It seems that even bordering on bankruptcy isn’t enough to squash my desire to shop. At least I’m helping the economy.

I wonder what it is that causes this addiction to shopping, because in other aspects of my life, I am actually capable of exercising a relatively impressive level of self control. For example, as much as I love a vino, I can go for days or weeks without drinking if I tell myself it shall be so, even when the pressure to imbibe is unwavering from my friends. Similarly when I do decide to exercise (and no, it’s not often) I actually stick to it for a determined period of time. (It’s usually a short period, but I still stick.) But when it comes to shopping, it seems as far as willpower goes, I have none. I certainly didn’t need the new dress. The tights I can warrant for work purposes (I wonder if I can claim them on my tax…) but it seems I am unable to walk past something I think is remotely nice without trying it on, and that ultimately leads to trouble. And that brings me to my latest quandary.

My most fabulous boyfriend has recently informed me that we are attending a formal ball interstate in a couple of months. This is beyond fabulous news for a girl who loves to glam up, but of course the minute he uttered the words “black tie” I was stressing about a dress, and my mind was running rampantly through my decidedly inadequate wardrobe.

Now, I have many dresses (not surprising based on the above story) some of which I cringe to admit I have only worn once - even more devastating when I recall the price tags. Of course I will do the obligatory try on of all the possibly suitable dresses in my closet, but I already know they will fail the test miserably. And that’s mostly down to the fact that I have only just this weekend seen the most fabulous, beautiful creation in a glorious window display and I just know that this dress is perfect for this event.

Half of me is screaming to go and try it on because it would be perfect (and everything I own I have of course pre-empted will suck beyond belief) but the sensible part of me is reminding me I am no closer to owning anything other than shoes than I was 10 years ago, and I should really stop buying unnecessary dresses that I hardly ever get to wear and start considering property as an investment possibility.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be trying it on this week.

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