Confessions of a Former Shopaholic

A brief side story; in 2006 I walked into Banana Republic to behold a cozy, blue, cashmere sweater.  I wanted it.  I needed it.  It was cashmere, the ultimate in luxury!    It was priced at, GASP, $160.  For 1 sweater.  And not even a fancy sweater, mind you, but one that looked like a sweatshirt.  

I went back and forth thinking of all the (imagined) envious looks I would receive from the friends who (I imagined) wanted a cashmere sweater.  So what that my Banana Republic credit card balance was over $1,000 and my Chase card was over $2,500.  It was Christmas for crying out loud and my family needed nice gifts.  That was why the credit card balance was so high.  And after spending so much on them I “deserved” a cozy sweater to wear while shopping for them.  So I bought it, for regular price; but hey, I got points on my card!  

Fast forward to 2012.  I had gained 20 pounds so the cute, cashmere sweater has been sitting in my closet since 2007, unworn.  For the past 3 garage sales I had tried to sell it, for $20 of course - it's a $160 cashmere sweater!  No luck, so I took it to my consignment shop thinking perhaps someone will recognize its quality and buy it.  No one buys it.  I had another garage sale in May.  Disgusted that I have not been able to sell it, I lower the price to $4.  $4 for a cashmere sweater, what a deal!  The garage sale goes on for 2 days and no one buys that darn sweater.  The last 2 hours of the sale I mark all but a few items down to 25 cents. The sweater is included.  A nice lady walks out of my garage with a $160 cashmere sweater for 25 cents.  I sit back and marvel at how stupid I was in 2006.  I've come a long way, baby!

 Here is an old picture of me in the infamous sweater.  And oh, the $160 Uggs and $150 premium jeans I bought about the same time. I was setting such a wonderful example for my daughter. (Insert sarcasm here!)  As you can see she was trying to mimicked how I looked.  What other parts of my life was she trying to mimic?  

And by the way, I have no problem at all with people buying $160 sweaters, Uggs, and premium denim skinny jeans, if they have the cash and can afford it. I have several high dollar items I have bought with cash over the past few years that I love and use/wear regularly.  I saved for them or purchased them with money gifted to me.  My point is I did NOT have the cash and at the time could definitely NOT afford it.  Please don’t make the same mistakes as me, my friends, it only leads to heartache!