impulse shopping + lack of money= bad news

My honey thinks my obsession with fashion is amusing, at the very least. I'm a chronic online-shopping cart abandon-er, endlessly perusing fashion blogs, scrolling and pinning through Pinterest and devouring glossy mags. It's my favorite mode of self-expression, my creative outlet. I guess it's mostly my little dreamworld, since in my real world I don't own designer anything.

Most of the things in my closet I own are 3+ years old, and beat to a pulp. T and I got married 3 months before he started law school and we've lived on a shoestring budget all 3 years. Temptation in the form of shopping is getting strong, and I can resist anything but temptation!

Yesterday I took Baby to the mall just to get out of the house; I hadn't planned on buying anything and ended up walking out with $40 worth of Victoria's Secret loungewear. I swore I would never buy anything on impulse again.

Apparently, I have (mostly) given up impulse purchasing. Methinks I'll return the pants I bought at VS.

After college and before we married (when my time and money was my own), I spent it on on silly things like random scarves, Target tee shirts and excessive Starbucks lattes. But guess what? We moved to a small, small town where jobs were extremely scarce, and the jobs that did exist didn't pay well. As I figured out later, that money would have been much better spent saving for hubby's law textbooks, tuition and boring old rent. Snoozeville, I know, but life. I wished so many times I would have been more careful!

Needless to say, in the absence of money, I've become much pickier when I do buy something. I don't bring anything home unless I have a place to wear it, and can wear it with multiple items and on different occasions. For example, I have a Banana Republic leather biker jacket I love that I've worn and worn and worn. My mom bought it for me almost 4 years ago and it's almost the only jacket I wear in the fall and winter. Same with a pair of distressed (now extra-distressed, bordering on trashy) Gap skinnies I've had for 4+ years. And white linen shorts in the summer. And a faded denim pencil skirt. I'm becoming a big fan of quality over quantity..and I've discovered the importance of thinking before buying. It's just like thinking before speaking, only involving money instead of words. :)