Single black female, addicted to retail

As I sit here, a new year and ask myself why is no room in my closet, on my side or James', under my bed, in the hall closet or on the rolling rack, I start to wonder if maybe I have a small shopping problem.  Now to me, it's only small because I am in no way close to being a shopping addict as I would never spend money that should go towards bills or savings to crave a spending habit.  The bad part about what I have is that I don't remember buying half of this stuff and herein lies my problem.  I call myself trying to curtail my addiction by beginning a 'look book.' Something similar to what designers use to showcase their new collections, my 'look book' contains images cut out of magazines that I wanted to buy, it includes clothing, shoes, jewelry, makeup, underclothes, furniture, decorating ideas, recipes and positive quotes or sayings.  I started this 'look book' in January for 2011 and I have a new one for 2012.  What I love about my book the most is that it is kind of like shopping in a way, lol... I see an item in a magazine, think to myself, "Oh yes, this has to be mine," and I cut it out and add it to my book, two days later, I look back in my book and it is still there, almost like seeing the items in my closet that I only wear once or twice due to my obsession with not being caught dead in past trends or out of season items.  This fashion bible of mine is like a guide to who I am, fashion-wise, and what I like.  There is no better feeling than looking in my book and being able to put an 'x' over an item that came and went like the trend of color block clothing.  I feel proud when I look back and realize that I didn't actually go out and spend money on the 120% marked up item, that I would have to turn around and sell at 90% off.  It's like I dodged a financial bullet.

I had a friend who use to call me and sing, "single black female, addicted to retail" in her Kanye West voice and that made me wonder, could I be?  They say most black women shop to impress others, so had I fallen into the trap of spending money on brands that rappers made famous and that I would know nothing about if I watched something that might increase my IQ rather than lower it, otherwise known as, reality TV.  Did I once try to justify spending $700 on a purse, saying that I have owned this purse for eight years and it's just as if I bought an $80 purse every year since then, I just decided to buy one that lasts.  That's still a pretty damn good excuse though.

It's inevitable, we have to buy clothes, so why not splurge a little.

Once again, I am cleaning out my pending blog posts and this one was written quite some time ago.  Sad to say, not much has changed as it relates to my shopping addiction. My recent purchases include, new black studded combat boots, a high-low hem skirt, a bright orange blazer and a side-cross necklace, trendy or what?!?!?!