Splurging

I went a little crazy in Target yesterday. No...not the one near my house. That one hasn't been built yet, though I do see a lot of dirt moving around. I went to the other one in Brooklyn at got a few big ticket items that I had been holding off purchasing. Then I bought some clothes.

See, I have this thing where it's important to me to have the right shopping bags. It's totally a psychological, emotional thing that comes from shame, but it makes me feel good to have bags from stores that people don't expect me to be able to shop in. In my own insecure head, that makes me feel better as a person. However, it doesn't help my bank account. So I decided to own frugality. To celebrate when I get a dress from Old Navy that looks like it's from Banana Republic. To feel just as proud as if I actually bought it from Banana Republic.

So I started with clothes shopping at Target. I have never bought clothes there, not from any snobbery per se, but because I usually blew all my money on the household things they have. This time, I stopped and looked around. I found several nice summer tops for work and a skirt. I also discovered that all my bras don't have to be from Victoria's Secret! Target has a great selection of lingerie.

By the time I was finished, I had about $120 worth of clothes to try on...this is on top of the house stuff I had in my cart. The line for the waiting room was ridiculous, so I made a very scary choice.

I bought it all. All the clothes and all the house stuff. WITH a caveat...

I made myself vow that I would return at least half of the cost of the clothes. Not half the amount of clothing, but have the amount of the clothing purchase. So...if I didn't like any of it on me, great! I could return it all no problem. But if I liked the clothes, but it was a wrong size...that didn't count as a return because I was exchanging.

So last night, I had three piles of clothes: the keep pile, the return pile and the exchange pile. Once I tried on everything...with tags still on, of course...and created the piles, I looked at price tags and moved from the exchange to the return pile enough clothes so that I was returning half of what I spent.

It was hard! I really had to prioritize what I needed vs. what I wanted. What could be added to the clothes already in my closet vs. what I would have to create an outfit for. However, by the time I was done, I spent less than $40! A third of what I took home! Today, I have a bag of clothes and a receipt and I'm going back to return some money to my bank account.