My Blog Name

Over the weekend I told my boyfriend that I decided to start a blog; after he laughed, he asked my blog title; Shopaholic in Rehab. Once again, he laughed. But I explained to him why I came up with this title. If you know me, I'm a HUGE shopper. I work at a retail store one day a week or less just for the 20% discount. Honestly it cost me more money to work than what I get paid; but for some of my purchases, it really makes sense to save 20%; plus I get to look at what comes in first!

In the past few months, I have spent a lot of money on myself for new work clothes. Yes, I need to dress nice for work and I was sure I had enough (if anyone can ever really have enough clothes) but I just kept finding deals that were too hard to pass up. But did I really need anything?

During the holidays, I was snowed in and home alone for 5 days. I put on good under-garments and took every item out of my closet. I stood in front of the mirror and tried on every shirt and dress. Wow, all this time I thought I had tons of clothes but that was not the case. Well, technically I do have tons but after 2 longs days of trying on EVERY shirt, I realized that most didn't fit as I've gained a lot of weight in the past year, and some just were out of style. I found some things in my closet that I had forgot about still with the tag. I'm sure this sounds crazy to have bought new clothes but never wore but then I looked at the tag and saw how good of a deal the item was; but was it really. Sure, I bought a name brand shirt for $3-4 but if I never used it, so it was basically wasted money. And that's where it hit me ....

I needed a 12-step program for my shopping habit. But there isn't one, so I made my own. No more purchases just because; no more using the excuse that I HAD to buy it because it was almost free. If I wasn't going to use the item within the next week, I didn't need it. I had to put myself in "rehab" for shopping. I'm trying to learn how to survive with what I have, how to just say NO, how not be envious of the new styles and love the classics I have. I'm sure I will fall of the wagon from time to time but for the most part I think I will do OK.

To keep myself honest, I will post all my shopping adventures; I think this will make me think about what I buy or want. Trust me, I'm sure I will need support and comments whether not it was a smart purchase or a waste of money.