Guilty Pleasure

Hands up if you have ever hidden a purchase from your partner... or am I totally alone on this one?! It’s becoming a rather odd ritual of mine I must say. The same garments that only hours before were spread carefully across the bed whereupon I could lovingly gaze, are crammed into the deepest darkest corner of my wardrobe.... there they sit right now!! Hidden away. Sad isn’t it? What had before given me such great pleasure is now a guilty little secret.

Now as I fess up right here on my blog I realize that I am indeed spilling the beans to my lovely husband, who is, after all, one of the biggest supporters of my literary deluge – (sorry honey...what can I say but...oops I did it again). I always do come clean...and I have a few MOs for this – the ‘sidle up and smile for no reason’ tactic is a good one...seeing this uncalled for bout of girlish giggles will immediately prompt him to ask ‘what have you done now?’...then comes the admittance. Or, there’s the ‘wear it and pretend it’s old’ tactic, which sometimes prevails but mostly leads back to tactic number one, because, after all, he’s not a bloody fool. Or there’s the half-truth tactic... like ‘I got a great deal on this...50% off!!!’ (while quickly ripping off the $200 price tag)...best if there is no electronic record of your transaction with this one though...or, again, you will be right back to working tactic number one.

So what’s with the Machiavellian behavior? The sneaky stuff...what’s it all about...you ask? Well, because admitting my secret just brings it all home to me...and makes it hard to deny what I know in my heart of hearts....I AM A SHOP-A-HOLIC!! And hey, I know I’m not alone on THIS one!!

It’s a common topic of conversation amongst girlfriends the world over...laughing with nervous excitement over their Gloria Jeans as they recount the tales of their wanton credit card habits...hell, they even made a movie about it...Ms Becky Bloomwood was up there with the best of ‘em. And to top it all off – there is even a clinical term for it... Oniomania!! The act of Compulsive Shopping.

In fact, start to do some research on the subject and you quickly realize it is quite a serious, but perhaps underestimated, problem.

“Studies estimate that as many as 17 million Americans, better than one in 20 of us, can't control our urge to shop, even at the expense of our job, our marriage, our family and our finances.

In the land of conspicuous consumption, compulsive shopping is the smiled-upon addiction, the butt of countless sitcoms and Sunday comics, one of the few disorders that it's still OK to laugh at. Shop 'til you drop....Heck, President Bush even called it patriotic to splurge. Where's the harm?” Thanks Bankrate.com.

As I cast my mind back over the last 10 years and do a quick calculation on the grand total of my shopping habits I can’t help but wonder if I have crossed the fine line from being in control to slightly destructive behavior. No, I’m not in debt. No maxed out credit cards. But could I curb my spending habits if money was to become an issue? Hmmmm....jury’s out...but over at Queendom.com they thought they had the answers...A little survey...10 minutes and 40 questions later they had analyzed my shopping habits and arrived at the conclusion that I am erring slightly on the side of emotionally based spending.

So, I am tasking myself with a strict ‘no spend’ policy...FOR ONE WHOLE MONTH. Ugggghhh my skin is crawling at the very thought of it. While I can talk about fashion, write about fashion and of course, dream about fashion...I won’t be purchasing it. And hey, the upside of it all - I sure as hell won’t be hiding it!!

Will keep you posted on my journey through a fashion-fasting June.

Bri C

xxx