Shopaholic Diva

“Women usually love what they buy, yet hate two-thirds of what is in their closets.” ― Mignon McLaughlin

I used to be a shopaholic. I have this thing for handbags. I simply couldn't resist them. Occassionaly I would buy clothes but most of the time it's handbags. My poor husband even had to build a cupboard specifically for my bags as our closet couldn't fit all of them.

I also would get super duper excited when I see or hear the word ‘sale'. I felt giddy buying things and I always, always ended up buying things that I didn't need but want. Most of the time, the new stuff got hurled into one corner of the closet because I would still be using the same ole stuff until it disintegrated. Pathetic right?

Sigh! But that was a thing of the past.

One fine day, the Wise Owl told me, " Sister, do you know that we will questioned for every cent that we spend? God will ask if we used the wealth that He has given to us for good causes or did we squandered it away wastefully."

Oh my! That effectively got my attention. My mind immediately remembered the dark corner, deep in my closet, full of stuff that I don't need, honestly. Ooooooo...my ears started turning red from embarrassment. Thank God I was wearing hijab so the Wise Owl couldn't see the tell tale sign of my guilt.

" Verily, spendthrifts are brothers of the Shayatin (devils), and the Shaitan (Devil - Satan) is ever ungrateful to his Lord."
Surah Al Isra 17:27

Errrk! I don't want to be brothers with satan! Ok, so I needed to change my definition of 'need'. I told myself Prada handbag is NOT a necessity and neither is 20 pairs of shoes.

Actually, if you really identify your 'needs' as opposed to your 'wants', you will find that you can get by with very little. Of course, you need to be realistic about it. Like I said before, a Prada bag is not a necessity no matter what the situation is!

After revamping my list of necessities and, of course, my closet, I find myself spending less on trivial things. Shopping during sales has become a vague memory of the past. Of course, there were isolated cases when I lost my head at a warehouse outlet sale but those cases are rare in between and in those circumstances, I can only plead temporary insanity. Also, thank God it was only food stuffs.

At the current moment, I wouldn't say that I am a completely reformed shopaholic and I'm still a diva but I can safely say that my shopping bill has gone down tremendously (much to my husband's delight!) and there are no more dark corners in the closet. I must say, that should account for something, right?