Friday, May 28

The Shopaholic's Arch Enemy is Advertising?

Did I mention that I no longer subscribe to fashion magazines? At various times I have received Demi, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper's Bazaar...and every now and then I sign up for free issues, which they, of course, remember in their system and continue to send me regularly.  Yobo asked me the other day as he browsed through another free issue of Harper's Bazaar whether I feel bad when I browse itWhy?, you may ask as I did, and he answered: because you'll want everything in it.

It's true. I do. I don't even use Polyvore much because everything I like is in the triple to quadruple digits price range. I stopped subscribing to Harper's Bazaar because I felt it was too much like Vogue, where everything is luxuriously expensive (for me). Then I realized I should just stop browsing in general, and I even stepped away from all those blogs promoting the latest products (even though I do this sometimes...),  with reviews of the latest products, or just telling you what to buy this season.  I unsubscribed to most of them, and now I read blogs with real content, or the occasional review, because personally I find reading/writing reviews a little bit boring (unless of course I'm interested in finding out about the product, or it's something new and exciting, which would be why I subscribe to the blogs I do read). For example, I've had a Makeupalley account for at least a year now but I've written maybe two one reviews...? I don't even use it to check on products often...I guess I just prefer seeing for myself in the store or wasting money on it. >P
I've also unsubscribed for all those irresistible offers I keep getting by email, whether Neiman Marcus (outlet) or Gilt. Of course some of them slipped through the cracks and I still get them (and then there's that email that I haven't checked in a month or so), but I have learned to delete them without opening them too often. But yes, I still receive Sephora offers, Victoria's Secret offers (because of the credit card), and Vichy offers. Other than that, all gone. Amazing considering I'm a member for several sites similar to Gilt, but honestly it was a waste of time to browse them. I'm not patient enough to stalk for the sale to "begin", just as I'm not motivated enough to get up early and line up so I can catfight for a cheap deal.

Overall, I guess what I'm trying to point out is that if you're spending is out of control, then take control of it! Perhaps you cannot stop watching TV and avoiding TV ads (as I do by watching online), perhaps you do like browsing sales (I do too!), perhaps you enjoy knowing when your offers are, or going to the store and browsing slowly...But if you think you are a shopaholic then starting limiting your intake of advertisements somewhere. We can't help that they're all over the streets (unless we're hermits) but I think we should have control over our lives in terms of exposure.

So that was my two cents of the day. Got something to share?

[P.S. I'm going to end my giveaways soon, so if you haven't participated already, or you know a lot of people--help me get enough to entries! Thankee~]

2 comments:

  1. i think it's awesome you're voicing this out! im currently unemployed and even though i would love to have so many things, i know i cant afford them so i really try to stay away from malls and online stores. hahaha! it's hard, but i have to keep reminding myself that i dont want to end up having so much debt.

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  2. So. True.
    I am dangerously close to spending all of my savings even before I have secured my summer job. When college loans should be my first priority, Vogue and Nylon are evil villains. I am a serial online shop-aholic who will fill up the shopping cart with what I think are sensible buys only to look at the final total and gasp, leaving me to pine over what "could have been" for the next week or so.

    Such is life.

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