The Confessions of a Shopping Addict (The Sweater Problem)
I recently found myself in a love-hate relationship with my sweaters. After my sweater shopping bender of 2022, I found myself disliking the sweaters in 2023. I realized overconsumption was to blame.
I went on a sweater bender last year. I bought so many sweaters and loved absolutely every one of them. I got so many uses out of the sweaters and was so happy with my purchases. Flash forward to this sweater season. I am not so in love with these sweaters anymore. I have gotten use out of maybe half the sweaters I bought last year. All I keep thinking to myself is how much space they are taking up in my closet. What a waste.
I know what you’re thinking, “just give them away”. Well, that would simply be too easy for me. For starters, I am a hoarder. Whether it’s clothes or knick knacks, I am keeping it. Another fault of mine, I have a slight shopping addiction. A shopaholic if you will. Believe me when I tell you, a shopaholic and a hoarder are not a good mix.
My sweater bender of 2022 left me with what I thought would be sweaters to keep forever. Now, I am not so sure of that. I wasted all that money in these sweaters, and I never reach for them anymore.
What has this taught me? Well, that this is a pretty silly problem to have. Most importantly though, that I do indeed have a shopping addiction (the ‘slight’ I used earlier was just to make myself feel better).
Why do I feel the need to constantly buy, buy, buy, and then keep, keep, keep? This year I learned that I have previously been too influenced by trends. I would go out and buy what I would see on the internet. Guess what, the following year, I no longer liked the things I bought. Why is this? The trend died.
What did I learn from this? NOT TO GET SUCKERED INTO TRENDS! While it is more than okay to purchase something that you find cute and trendy, you simply cannot go overboard with it. There is no guarantee you are going to love it a year from now.
That brings me to the next lesson I learned. I now ask myself, “Will I love this in a year? Even in six months?”. This year I only bought one sweater. I love it now, with hopes that I will love it a year from now.
Overall, I have found myself in the aftermath of a trend following shopping addict. If I have learned anything at all, it is that Ariana Grande is not always right. I see it, I like it, I want it, but I don’t need to get it.
My new series, The Confessions of a Shopping Addict, will take us on a journey of how to overcome a shopping addiction. While I feel silly to type this out because it is such a stupid problem to have, it is a problem of overconsumption and a need to keep up with the times. A problem that I feel like many of our generation have thanks to the internet. While I am currently working on my overconsumption problem, I am not quite ready to tackle my hoarding problem. That’ll be an adventure for another time.
Xoxo,
The Diaries
Follow me on my socials!
TikTok: @tthediaries
Pinterest: @thediariess
Thank you for sharing this. Overconsumption is a huge issue today