It was a sultry, summer morning, on a much appreciated day off from school and work, as I lay in bed doing everything possible to keep my day from starting. Sipping my coffee in one hand, "Gilmore Girls" on the TV, and my other hand browsing through the infinite sales that all of my favorite stores decided to have at the same time. Why do they do this to me? They send me their emails telling me of their upcoming sales and they're ALL during the same week? It's like they do this on purpose. They know that I am unable to resist a good sale.
My favorite things in life are delivered directly to my doorstep: pizza and clothing. I truly believe in retail therapy. I like to treat myself, and I find that I do the most shopping before I leave for work in the morning when I’m dreading going, or right before I go to sleep after a rough day. It makes me feel better knowing that even if my day isn’t the best, there are good things coming my way. I find that my addiction grew stronger once I left for college. I think this is because there was nobody there to tell me "no." The people at the front desk of Traditions Hall were probably annoyed because I had packages every other day.
Here are 15 signs that you are an online shopping addict.
1. You always have a tab open in your web browser with a full shopping cart waiting for you to click purchase.
2. You have a daily routine that consists of cycling through online retailers to see what's new and what's on sale.
3. You get more promotional emails than real emails.
4. Your heart skips a beat when you get an email from a store announcing a sale.
5. You secretly online shop at work.
6. You start tracking your packages five minutes after you've placed your order.
7. You get packages in the mail that you forgot you even ordered.
8. You've accidentally bought the same thing TWICE (but in different colors, so it's acceptable).
9. You go into a depression and/or rage when the item you want is "sold out."
10. You end up finally buying that item in that open tab because you do, in fact, really need it.
11. You know your credit card and/or debit card number by heart.
12. Including the CVV number.
13. You've reached VIP status at more than one retailer.
14. You know the pain of SLOW Internet.
15. You live by the motto "Treat yo self."
Although my addiction can sometimes be frustrating, the retail therapy aspect of it works out well for me. As long as I don’t let this addiction get too serious and start spending money I don’t have, I really don’t think it’s the worst addiction out there. In the future, I will hopefully become better at budgeting or just not let myself online shop more than once or twice a week. For now, though, I will continue to online shop at all hours and unwrap my packages like they’re year-round Christmas gifts.
