Yesterday Gary said he had paid off the bill for the new Pink laptop, and that he only had one outstanding debt. I have no outstanding debts (and really, I am sorry, don’t hate me) and I marched into his room and demanded I be allowed to pay off his one debt, the car balance. Monies were transferred, check was sent. Woohoo! Debt free.
I don’t know if it’ll last long, but I can tell you that debt free feels pretty much the same as “in debt.” That might just be because I’m good at ignoring money worries.
Still, I celebrated by going shopping online. All I wanted were a pair of Clarks sandals with low heels, open toed in off-white in my very average size. Money was not an object. Well, come to find out, I still have money, and I have no objects. Couldn’t find a thing I liked. How is this possible? If I were smothering in a mortgage and Visa bills, off-white Clark’s sandals would be tap-dancing up to my front door and coyly affecting third ballet position when I answered.
And don’t go on-line looking, sure you’ll find shoes but they won’t be the right shade of off-white. I think the issue is that this is a benchmark article of clothing. For most people that’s the wedding dress, but since I made my wedding dress the only other benchmark clothing i’ve had is the pink linen skirt I bought at Talbot’s right before Gary and I married. I thought it would be the last thing I’d ever buy without having the price questioned. It cost fifty dollars (which would be $200 in today’s dollars) and it never really fit, and it was linen. I was just sick of shopping at Neimans and Saks and not finding anything that suited me, and I had to buy something expensive on principle. (I soon found out Gary would be more prone to say “You only spent 50 dollars on that? It must be a rag. Let me see it. Ugh! Piece of junk! You need this $1,990 skirt!”)
So, after I gave up and accepted that I was shopstipated, Gary came in and said he forgot, he ripped his pants at work and bought a pair of Dockers that very day on the Macy’s card, so technically we still are 36 dollars in debt. I am not complaining about money, but I can attest that unless I buy the Clark’s shoe factory and design an open-toed, open-backed low heel off white leather sandal, money will not buy me happiness.
6 responses to “Shopstipation: A First World Problem”
Excellent term. I hate shopstipation.
Congrats on being debt free. Debt can cause health issues and cause divorce. We need more education on this issue. Thanks for your blog.
Caroline – I know? How can we stop it? Evidently it’s one of those helth issues Arizona Bankruptcy attorney is warning us about.Arizona Bankruptcy attorney – Okay, here’s my advice on how to be debt free: wait for your Mom to die. Advise all your clients. But then you still can’t find the shoes you want.
Ever since I read this blog entry I’ve been getting ads for Clark shoes on my Facebook page. None in off-white, though.
I have never worn a pair of Clark’s but I have a friend that will only wear Clark’s. I do not need something else to keep me in my debt up to my eyeballs status so I will not be looking for them for you, even though I could have found them quite easily.
Congrats. I am looking forward to being debt free someday. I guess it would be easier to get there if I actually had a job. Hmmm, something to think about.
Melissa – went shoe shopping wearing the linen jacket to be matched with the shoes and found perfect shoes. Not Clarks. Close to clarks. Surprising Woman – Clarks are Zayrina-approved, that’s all I know. And you all are very nice to not say what you are thinking, because I know I’m really being insufferable posting about this.