Not a shopper

Wednesday, September 11: Share links to your favorite online shops, preferably with a few photos of your favorite items in each shop.

I'm going to have to skip this one.  I am not much of an online shopper.  Really, I am not much of a shopper at all.

Don't get me wrong.  I love shopping.  I just don't do it very often.  Here are my reasons:

1.  The whole driving-makes-me-a-panicky-ball-of-mess thing.  Even when I lived in Farmerville Corn Country Ohio, I didn't drive unless absolutely necessary (to work, to take friends home from a party ONCE because HELLO... what will make me feel WORSE driving at night than a bunch of drunk or tipsy passengers?!  But I did want to ensure they were safely home).  Here in Greater Greenville area, driving is a complete nightmare.  Pair multiple traffic lanes with Southern drivers (you know who you are; you clearly don't know what you're doing) and add in my mental incapacity for meltdowns behind the wheel, and it equals out to me having a closet full of very old clothes and shoes full of holes.

2.  I feel guilty.  Pretty much every purchase I make comes with some guilt.  Yesterday I decided to get Chinese food for lunch.  It is pretty rare that I go out for a meal, but I just had to have an egg roll, you know?  Okay, two egg rolls and an order of chicken and broccoli.  I didn't even eat both egg rolls yesterday (though I did save one to eat today!) so don't judge me.  I think my total came to $7.something.  As I left the little restaurant, I just felt bad.  The things that run through my head when I make ANY purchase range from: "Well, I shouldn't go out the rest of the week now," to "If you had not bought that food and just eaten some yogurt from the stock at the office, you could have used that money to send to some orphaned child in Peru!"  And this is just about lunch.  Imagine how crushed I feel when I purchase something significant... Okay, you can imagine it because I can't.  Even splurging on a fancier skein of yarn makes me cringe...  I bet you can even guess why my hair hasn't been cut since May!  It's pretty awful.  I'm not necessarily a penny pincher.  I just don't like spending money. 

3.  I like to pay with cash.  I don't like giving out my card numbers or subscribing to new store cards or anything.  It feels risky to me and I am proud of my credit score.

I do have one splurge event that I love.  I have lived in Greenville for two years and gladly discovered the Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale the first year.  It is an annual sale and it is AMAZING.  This year, I spent $40.00 and bought 25 books.  That's less than two dollars a book.  $40 may not seem like a lot, but when I can't even buy a cup of hot cocoa without questioning everything I believe in, it's a lot.  And it is the one time that I don't even let myself feel guilty.  :)