Friday, February 11, 2011

Shopping Challenge - need input

If you're a regular reader, you know that I created my own personal "non-shopping" challenge for 2011 (and, December 2010). So far, I have a spotless record. My challenge includes not shopping for any clothes, shoes, or makeup (unless I run out of an essential makeup that I wear every day & don't have a backup in my makeup bag). The exception is running shoes, in the event that I need to replace them before 2012.

Here's my dilemma. M bought me a few fabulous birthday gifts, & they include: a beautiful gym bag, a pair of weekender tennis shoes to replace my very old/falling apart ones (read - not for working out, but the park with the kids, etc), and a new pair of pants for the gym. I have no issues with these items, as they were gifts and not something I bought. If you read the "why" of the challenge, I think it will make sense why gifts are not an issue for me. Nonetheless, I really don't need a replacement gym bag. The one M picked is seriously gorgeous, but I have a functional one that I can continue to use for at least another year. Yesterday I exchanged the gym bag for a gorgeous black hoodie. The hoodie was more expensive than the gym bag, so I payed $21 for it. I can't decide if I want to consider this a problem for the challenge. In theory, I spent my money on clothes, which is a no go. In reality, I exchanged a birthday gift for something that I will use a great deal more than the original gift, which makes me happy. But, I'm having guilt about it & I think I'll return it.

Similarly, M bought me the super cute weekender tennis shoes, but after seeing them in black (vs the white that he chose), I decided that black would be more practical, would stay cleaner, and would last longer. I exchanged them & they were $5 more. I really, really don't want the white ones.

If you were me, what would you do? I'm thinking of exchanging the hoodie & keeping a store credit for next year, but that seems a little draconian - the original gift was a birthday present. I'm really not too tempted to return the shoes. I have no idea why New Balance feels compelled to charge me more for black vs white, but it's the exact gift M intended for me to have, just in another color.

Help a girl out, please, and post your thoughts. :-)

3 comments:

  1. Haha how ironic that you are having these dilemmas!

    I honestly think that since these were gifts, they should not be counted. EVEN if you exchanged them and paid a little extra. Gifts are meant to be useful and loved by you, so it's good that you took that extra step to spend a little more for what you actually want. Don't exchange the hoodie! It's really cute and will prob get more use than the gym bag.

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  2. I think you should keep them. It's your b-day for Pete's sake. You've been doing an earnest job of trying to keep to your goals and you deserve something to keep you motivated!

    I have been inspired by your great attempts at not spending - seriously! We're on Dave Ramsey's get out of debt plan and we have two more years to go before we are totally and completely debt free. However, I find in these winter months I've been spending extra when I don't need to. So I've been trying to focus on the wonderful things I do have instead of what I want to get. I, too, turn 35 next month. Go class of '94! LOL

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  3. Thanks, ladies! I appreciate the feedback. I ended up exchanging the shoes, & although it wasn't my intention, the pair I liked best was $60 less, which more than covers the cost of the jacket from Lulu. Plus, M's not sure if he loves the Lulu jacket, so I may exchange it yet again.
    Shannan - 35 is great! ;-)

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