My Little Shopping Problem

The act of shopping: Going to my local Goodwill or Buffalo Exchange and trying on dozen of shirts, pants, and jackets that I may not even buy. Sometimes, shopping can be done virtually on the internet.

I go shopping all the time. And by all the time, it means that even though I may not have the time to go out and physically go to stores, you can bet I’m on my computer in my Environmental Studies class looking at which Unif shoes I want.

It’s definitely a problem though. Rather than saving up my hard-earned money for travelling or long-term goals, I spend money in a split-second decision because I tend to value instantaneous satisfaction. One of my favorite feelings is clicking the button or walking up to the cash register with clothes piled up in my arms. I also love the anticipation of waiting for something to arrive in the mail. It isn’t a secret to my friend Davontae Henley, a junior at LMU, that the mailroom on campus is “the first place [I] go when class is over.” He adds, “I always wonder how someone could have so much mail at age 19.”

On a semiannual report done by Business Insider of how teens spend their money, 21% of their wage income goes to shopping. What is interesting about this report though, is that it only talks about the income money spent on shopping. However, in the same study, 70% of all money that a teenage receives comes from their parents. Thus, if a percentage that would include both wage income and parental income would be evaluated, the percentage of money spent on clothes would surely increase.

I know, I know. I need to save my money, but those new boots from UNIF are too cute. Sometimes, it isn’t even about having cute clothes for me though, which is when it becomes problematic. Often, I look at trends from the people I look up to and I feel a sort of pressure to step up and own the same things they do.

Take my Instagram idol, Gabbriette. She’s a model, she hangs out with the coolest people from the coolest bands, and she does it all while looking great in her expensive clothes that she definitely did not have to pay for. However, she looks so good in her Parisian beret, and now I want it. But being a college student, I don’t have the kind of money for it.

These different pressures build up and are released through that euphoric moment when I swipe the card, and again ruined when I see the low number on my bank account. As my best friend Lizzy Declan says, “I would give up shopping, but I’m not a quitter.”