I'm just running out for milk...

... it may take me a few years to find my way home. Tempting, but no. This of course would be a great time for a little retail therapy. How many times have you heard the justification "Well, it's cheaper than therapy!" I mean from people other than me. ..

Shopping as an experience - rather than necessity - seems more common than I realized. It's ingrained early. My children are showing enormous amounts of brand loyalty already, and they only watch public television. Think back to those teen years, before the era of coffee shops but after the roller rinks closed. What was there to do? A movie, perhaps, if you had the money. Cruising the Elmwood strip, if one of you was driving a reasonably cool car. But to kill any number of hours on a budget, you just can't beat hanging out at the mall. Going shopping and being social were closely entertwined during those formative years. I still feel weird going to the mall by myself. I do the nervous talking thing with over-friendly salesclerks, and I'm aware they feel sorry for me.

The other major theme about shopping as an experience is that it's a hopeful one. If only I had just perfect festive plates and matching ice-bucket, I'd be sure to entertain more. My life would be easier with a purse with the right configuration of pockets. Buying fabric and yarn is a way of endorsing your eventual creativity, without actually doing anything. I have more supplies and inspiration than I'll ever get to in a lifetime. It's true. This year, however, I hope to put a dent in the stockpiles and avoid accumulating more. Plus, I'll have to look at making presents. For some reason people are more forgiving of a handmade item than a second-hand one. Show of hands: have you regifted ever? Was it only when you thought you could do it undetected??? I'm proud to be cheap when procuring for myself or my family, but I'd always like to be considered generous and thoughtful around gift giving. Of course some folks are impossible to buy for, as they already have all the best of whatever they might need, including impeccable taste. Daunting enough to dampen the Christmas spirit in people not the least bit Grinchy.

I know that this year I enjoyed Christmas more because I had most of the buying done, and even mailed off a few packages prior to Thanksgiving. I had been buying things throughout the year, and I'm sure I might have done well at the sales, but just being done was even better. Of course I have this genetic flaw of buying things and hiding them too well, or plain forgetting about them, and purchasing too much. (When I was 20 my mom gave me the nicest selection of kids books she had unearthed from her closet.) So, partly to keep me honest and aware of purchases, I'm going to make an effort to list what I've bought/spent.

Hawthorne Effect disclaimer: Observing phenomena tends to change it. This means that trying to be accountable in the blogosphere will make me more aware of my buying behavior enough to motivate me to be especially thrifty. (brave, loyal... etc.) Hence the thinking behind keeping a record of exercise and dietary intake, which I will never do. I like the temporary amnesia that allows me a second helping because I forgot about the Ben n' Jerry Incident earlier. That's wrong why?