No Need To Shop

Last Saturday, I spend the afternoon with one of my friends.  We went to lunch at a very tasty and inexpensive Mexican restaurant that we both love, and then she mentioned that she wanted to get a jump start on her Christmas shopping.  I’ve pretty much got all my holiday gift giving sorted out (without buying anything), but I’m always up for wandering around a store chatting with a girlfriend, so off we went.

We went to a shopping center that had a Ross, Marshalls, and Michaels all in a row.  My friend found four gifts, and I ended up with a packet of velcro from Michaels (so that I can make more diapers for my son) and a really cool woven cloth basket for $3 from Ross, which we’re using to corral our son’s toys in the living room (those wooden train cars I bought for him last week are not good if you step on them on a wood floor).

I used to love going to stores like Ross and Marshalls.  Great deals for sure, and I could always amuse myself in there, and end up with several new things.  This time, as I wandered around the kitchen section, I kept noticing that I didn’t need any of it.  New stainless steel measuring cups – nice, but I already have measuring cups.  They’re not a matching set, but they work just fine.  Pretty china bakeware – also nice, but the bakeware I have (again, not a matching set) works great.  It was the same in the clothing section.  I just pictured my very full closet, and didn’t even look at new stuff.  And housewares, a section that I used to love (pillows, towels, candles, rugs, etc), no longer holds any draw at all.  We have everything we need as far as possessions go.  Of course we do still buy things, but for the most part they’re wants, not needs.  I know we’ll need things for our son as he gets bigger, but my husband and I could get along for a good long while with just the stuff we already have.  That’s a very freeing realization.  It makes a trip around a store like Ross seem more like a sightseeing adventure rather than a shopping excursion.