Mar 02 2009
So I gave up shopping for Lent. . .
Here’s me, this summer, with my adorable friend Megan (that’s me on the right), wearing a shirt borrowed from my dad in my own little interpretation of the menswear trend. I tied up the shirt, wore it with well-fitting wide leg jeans, and I loved the way the sleeves hung after I rolled them up, emphasizing their volume perfectly. Looks like it’s time to get creative again!
The (Christian) season of deprivation is officially upon us, recessionistas. Doesn’t it seem ironic that it landed right in the middle of the Fashion Week bonanza? Suddenly scanning the runway video seems slightly more desperate than usual and it’s because I did something a little - ok, a lot - crazy: I gave up shopping for Lent.
And now I find myself wondering: why, why, why, why, why? Why would I do something like this to myself?
A (dependably snarky) friend pointed out to me earlier today that, wasn’t the point of Lent to give up something that is hard to sacrifice? And that you’re supposed to suffer?
I grumbled yes, prompting him to congratulate me on my oh.so.obvious. success. I was miserable. I am miserable. I will continue to be miserable until Easter (especially once I fully realize that this also means no new Easter outfit for me). And that was, after all, the point of this little exercise in restraint and sacrifice.
But even if you aren’t Christian or just aren’t particularly religious (or at all), there are plenty of reasons why I gave up shopping besides my Lenten one.
1) There’s the fact that though I graduated college last May, I still don’t have a normal, full-time job.
2) There’s the fact that I try not to shop, but never seem to be able to walk out of a store without some little thing. I’d like to be able to take control of this little habit.
3) There’s the fact that I’m trying to get my finances together so that I can, ahem, move out of my childhood home (that’s my nice little euphimism for: still pathetically lives with parents).
4) And of course, I can’t forget the fact that shopping on a budget is such a struggle for me that I will spend up to an hour or two trying to talk myself out of buying something. It’s such a huge internal struggle that I’ve suddenly become the girl talking to the mannicans, a la Shopaholic, about how much I really don’t need a watermelon silk dress (oh, but I do), despite their most convincing arguments.
(FYI: I actually have an unnatural fear of mannicans and their cunning ability to appear out of nowhere and look like a real person standing just a little too close to you, so I would never talk to the mannicans. More like . . . to myself. But, you know, more on that another time).
At least unlike Shopaholic, I haven’t amassed any credit card debt (I officially do not have a credit card!). But that doesn’t mean I don’t spend what I should be saving more than I should.
So is there anywhere else out there going through this with me? What else have you given up for Lent? What other recession sacrifices have you had to make? And what are your creative ideas for coming up with new outfits sans shopping?
