What is your purchasing weakness??

[Pennylane]

The one thing you just can't stop buying no matter what? My dh switched jobs awhile back so we have really been trying to watch what we spend. But I just can't stop buying books!!! I know I could get them at the library, but the moment I see it on the shelf I have to have it. Even if I have 3 or 4 other unread books at home.

For Christmas, I was given a $150.00 gift certificate at the book store and my Dh still thinks I am using that when I come home with new ones. I haven't lied to him, I just am not correcting him :)

So what can you not do without?

Ann

[boolady]

medium DD coffee, iced in hot weather, skim milk, 2 Splenda every day

[carolinamama]

Books from the bookstore are one of my weaknesses too. Something about owning it instead of borrowing it. Can't explain it but I am addicted to buying books.

My other weakness is clothing for ds. I've been very good this season though as we just bought a new house (and it's an upsize for us) and I will decrease my work hours significantly in the fall after ds2 is born. He may actually wear everything I've bought him this season :ROTFLMAO:

[cvanbrunt]

Shoes. I have 100+ pairs. DH just shakes his head. And Boden for me. D#%$ that preview sale is calling my name.....

[greatcanuk]

I have a toy addiction.

Camille

[momtoonegirl]

My weakness is buying anything for DD, especially clothes and books.

The twice a year Hanna sale, Amazon.com shoe sales, and other semi-annual sales seem to draw my attention all the time, and cause money to fly out of my purse. Everyone is also good at giving DD gift cards for Borders and Barnes and Noble, too.

Before DD, shoes were definitely my weakness. I have some really nice Italian pairs that I bought when DH and I took our last big vacation to Italy when I was pregnant with DD. Luckily my feet didn't change or grow at all :D

[lisams]

Children's clothes (the Hanna sale did me in!), books for me and the kids, and here lately Etsy has been way too tempting. Although, I've been buying things like reusuable snack bags and napkins and such, so in the long run it's a good thing, at least that's what I'm telling myself! Reminds me that I have a cute toddler backpack in my Etsy cart I need to go order.....

[citymama]

Definitely clothes for my daughter! I placed 4 orders at the Hanna outlets in the past *month.* Prior to her birth, it was travel we spent money on, not stuff, except maybe CDs.

[gatorsmom]

Shoes. What's not to like? You don't have to take your clothes off to try them on. You don't even have to drag all your stuff into a dressing room. And if you have to try on a size larger than normal it doesn't cause a week of depression.

I loveeeee Via Spigas. They are still made in Italy, they are usually very comfortable, very chic, and they aren't break-the-bank expensive (but still just enough that I have to save for them a little bit.).

Oh, and expensive chocolate. Like boutique chocolate. For a while I was crazy about Vosges Haut Chocolat. Until I tried some from a candy store in the Bellagio last year. mmmm...

[Piglet]

Hanna for the kids, shoes for me. It used to be strollers, but I have finally been reformed of that very expensive habit, LOL!

[ThreeofUs]

Books *snip* are one of my weaknesses too. Something about owning it instead of borrowing it. Can't explain it but I am addicted to buying books.

My other weakness is clothing for ds.

:yeahthat: Can't stop reading - sometimes I think it's the only thing keeping me sane. At least, I think I'm sane.

And, then, because I hate shopping B&M stores, online shopping for DS. Ahhh, the HA sale....

[MontrealMum]

Books and shoes. :boogie: Yes, I'm in library school, but there's something adreniline-inducing about buying and owning books. I've been like this for years. DH jokes that we'll have to search for our next home based on my collection of both. Of course, how could he possibly understand, only owning 5 pairs of shoes?

[Joolsplus2]

Cloth diapers and training pants lately... They are cheaper than strollers and carseats and diaper bags, which I also buy way too many of! I buy a lot of video games for ds, a lot of clothes for dd1, and for Me? Just me? thank goodness podcasts are free or i'd be buying those by the dozen to load on my iPod :love-retry:

[niccig]

My DH. He shops and spends, and luckily I don't. He'll buy books, I borrow from the library as I only keep the books that I love. He'll buy clothes, I have to be dragged to the store before summer and winter, but then I do buy a bit at once. I do like buying home organization stuff, in my endless quest to get this house organized.

[wencit]

Cookbooks. Not that I always cook out of them, mind you. But I particularly love reading the ones with glossy pages and gorgeous pictures, and just get inspired by them.

My other purchasing weakness is food. (Anyone starting to see a trend here? LOL!) I love to go out to eat, I love to go to specialty food stores and browse around. Possibly my favorite place on earth is this huge grocery store in Paris, Grande Epicerie. DH and I calculated that 60% of our credit card bill last month came from food purchases, mostly dining out. I'm trying hard to be better about it, though.

[Melarina]

Shopping online does it to me. It's so much easier to point and click than to trudge through the store in person. I've narrowed it down now to mostly LE, Hanna, and B&N - but still too much! DD clothes, books, toys = big weakness.

[sarahsthreads]

It used to be yarn...so I bought a yarn shop!

Now it's other things, like beads, fabric, embroidery supplies, etc. Although, honestly, I'm pretty frugal at heart, so I don't tend to go to the shops that sell these things unless I actually *need* something. But while I'm there I might tend to buy a few more supplies than I actually need, just in case. (You know, in case there's a bad year for beads and I suddenly can't get anymore, or all the suppliers of fabric go out of business and I'm only left with what's in my craft room...)

Sarah :)

[bubbaray]

Bags of pretty much any sort.

Shoes. For me or the girls.

Gymboree -- its like an evil black hole. I can't resist.

online shopping -- LE and LLBean when I'm bored. Amazon, well, just because!

[CiderLogan]

Absolutely clothes for my girls. I am usually pretty good about not buying for DD2 because of all the hand-me-downs she has, but I can almost always justify buying for DD1 because she is genuinely in need of things as she outgrows or wears out older stuff. (sadly, then I often buy matching stuff for DD2, though...contradicting what I said before....but usually not.) But I figure I only have a few more years of buying cute stuff for them that *I* like!

Oh, and I totally agree with the addiction to etsy....I have placed so many orders there lately. Usually these are justified by being gifts, but many have also been for me!

[awoodm]

Gymboree -- its like an evil black hole. I can't resist.



This cracked me up, it is sooo true!!! I was in there so often when DS was young they offered me a job... lol. Not to mention the online shopping. Luckily I got out b/c the selection was not as enticing as he got older, now it's mainly the GAP. Who knows what will happen when the new one arrives?!?

Anna

[JMS]

Right now it's a lot of J Crew purchases.. and shoes that are not practical. I'm drooling over a pair of Christian Louboutins .. if you don't know what they are, please don't google them - you'll lose all respect for me :)

[Pennylane]

Right now it's a lot of J Crew purchases.. and shoes that are not practical. I'm drooling over a pair of Christian Louboutins .. if you don't know what they are, please don't google them - you'll lose all respect for me :)

Oh my gosh, those are gorgeous! Do you own any already? I wonder how they would hold up at the playground :ROTFLMAO:

Ann

[Pennylane]

I totally forgot clothing for my DC!! I love to buy them cute clothes. I am on the Gap website two or three times a day watching for new items to pop up!

Ann

[clc053103]

shoes and handbags.

organizing paraphernalia- hooks, drawer dividers, bins....

books- though I organized a swap in the neighborhood which is helping!

[veronica]

um.....pretty much anything posted on the bargains board

[SnuggleBuggles]

Eating out. I love to do it and I do it often. I've gotten the rest of my weaknesses kicked pretty well. :) It used to be books but now I am a library lover.


Beth

[beansprout13]

Right now it is diaper bags. I just can't stop -- and all the the Timi & Leslie and Fleurville diaper bags on mamabargains is just not helping the situation!

[Neatfreak]

It used to be Babylegs. I could not resist a coupon code offer!

Now, it's too hot for Babylegs where I live, so instead I stock up on my favourite breakfast cereal from North America, when my local grocery store gets a shipment. Honey Nut Cheerios at $8/box (the small size) is my weakness.

[clc053103]

Right now it is diaper bags. I just can't stop -- and all the the Timi & Leslie and Fleurville diaper bags on mamabargains is just not helping the situation!

diaper bags are just a substitute for purses! ;-)

[KBecks]

I don't know if I have a shopping weakness in a specific category, but I know I love shopping and so I will enjoy researching and making a variety of purchases. First it was an umbrella stroller (got a Volo) then it was DS's school backpack (waiting to buy) it was crib bedding (done).and b-day presents for John (done) .. I just like coming up with things we need so I can go out and find the best whatever for our needs. So I have to be careful about what our needs really are before I dig into the acquisitions.

If I had more space and more money, I think my obsession would be children's books.

[Laurel]

in a word, Anthropologie.

for DD, Crewcuts would be my weakness. I'm lucky DS is still too small for their clothes.

We also spend a lot at the bookstore and newsstand.

[strollerqueen]

Strollers, natch.

[C99]

I can do without a lot of things, but I tend to buy clothing (me and the kids) and furniture/household goods. I discovered shopping at the thrift store, though, so I consider that my retail therapy! It's a lot easier to justify *another* dress for DD if I'm only spending $2 on it.

[TahliasMom]

shoes for dd and I!!! clothes for dd, i love browsing thrift stores.

[spencersmommy]

Scrapbook supplies! Just ordered some online before coming here...
And clothing for DD...though I usually get bargains at ebay!
And Target gets my money more than anywhere else!

[WatchingThemGrow]

Apparently HA stuff, as I'm about to place another order when the kids are down. I mean, can you really go wrong buying undies for your DC? I may ask them how many are on my profile when I call again, just to see :)

I'm really trying to watch what I buy for space/storage reasons as well as finances. It's a challenge.

DH says I buy too much fruit, LOL.

[Globetrotter]

Kid's clothes!

[kijip]

Gifts. I really have a hard time limiting myself on gifts, especially for kids.

[ett]

Kids books. I love buying them. And we also check out tons from the library. I like browsing the new releases and then reserving them from the library. DS1 loves to read though so I use that to justify my purchases!

[ChefGirl]

Lately, it has been BCBG for me (darn 50 - 70% off sales), and clothes for my son. I stocked up my son's schoold uniform when Talbots Kids was closing in the mall. I got him polo shirts and button-down shirts through third grade. Oh yeah, LE for the kdis are also addictive.

[zephyr]

Gap clothes for ds and clothing for me. Like a pp, I LOVE bcbg and have found some awesome deals on ebay with new stuff. I also love subdivision yard sales.

[s7714]

Mine used to be books, but then I got tired of having tons of books that I only read once and had no interest in reading again. So now I check out as many as I can from the library instead. Although the library book store is still a dangerous place for me--all those books at like a $1 each have started sneaking home with me. :innocent:

Lately I've developed a weakness for buying clothing for myself. My major weakness is a good online sale plus a free shipping code--I'll spend waaay more than I should shopping online with the intent of returning whatever I don't like. I keep using the excuse (to myself) that it's just like trying on the clothes in the store, except they're being sent to my house for free. (And goodness knows how difficult it is to try on clothes IRL with a 3 and 5 year old crammed in the dressing room with you!) Of course I do end up returning a lot of the stuff, so it's not like I'm spending that much in the long run, but I still feel guilty every time I hit that "place your order button". :love-retry:

[lizajane]

definitely clothes. i ALWAYS love getting new clothes for me, the kids or DH. we eat out or grab a quick meal/snack out WAY TO MUCH. so i am trying to cut that back. giving up meat helped a LOT with fast food. it is much harder to eat out as a veggie. 'cause you can only stand to spend so much on a salad at a fast food place.

but really, the truth is i like to buy crap. just stuff. like this little kid thing or that little thing for the house. new towels or a kitchen gadget or a photo frame or a flower pot. i had to stop doing this when we went to one income. but i can't deny that i miss it. especially right now when i am trying SO hard to fix up the "kid friendly" house on a super tight budget (we had to take everything decorative down because the babies/toddlers would move it, break it, carry it around, mess it up... and now they are 3 and 5 so i want a decorated house again!)

and finally... fabric and patterns. for the love of pete, my house has more fabric than a sewing store and due to family situation right now, i can't even sew and sell!!!

[Kungjo]

my weakness is books, clothes for me AND my DDs (especially for my DDs), and handbags. But I've been good lately.