The problem with shopping

"People say that money can't buy happiness. But you can go shopping, and that's pretty much the same thing."

That's a quote from 'The Life of a Barbie' twitter page. It is 100% definitely true. The joy that holding a bag full of new clothes brings, is simply indescribable.

The vast majority of us girls are self confessed shopoholics.

It may be internet shopping that tickles our pickle or tottering along the high street and staring into nicely arranged shop windows might get us going. Either way shopping is shopping, and for a lot of us, retail therapy is the best therapy going.

The women who can hold back from shopping and save their money / not enter into their overdrafts for a new pair of shoes are simply enviable. The willpower that they need to do this must make them almost explode. I imagine that refraining from shopping is almost as hard as an alcoholic finds it to walk past a pub. It's just so difficult to leave a handbag that is literally screaming out to you-

 "I GO WITH EVERYTHING!!!"

However, sometimes shopping isn't as easy as walking past a shop, running in and buying the first thing you see (well, it is, when you're desperate for some sort of impulse buy.)

One of the worst things in the world is having a desperate, uncontrollable urge to go shopping and then being unable to find anything to buy. Or, when you go looking for something that you've seen about a million times before, but when you actually go to buy it, it doesn't seem to be in existence anymore.

Another time when shopping can make you feel more than slightly suicidal is when you have the item of your dreams all planned out in your head. You look absolutely amazing in it, a completely new woman! But, then, when you actually try it on, it turns out to be the most unflattering piece of rubbish you've ever seen. And, immediately, your mood is dampened.

Fitting rooms themselves aren't exactly complimentary though. Seriously, what normal girl wants to see their body from every single angle and under the brightest lights in existence. Instead of looking at your outfit you can't see past your lumps, bumps and cellulite. Plus, you'll end up spotting some mystery rash on your arms that only appears under these kind of lights and you'll notice how badly your roots need doing. 

In the end you wish that you never even bothered to go shopping in the first place.

Sometimes a shopping trip can be the complete opposite though.

You've just had your hair done, you've got a full body tan and your healthy eating regime is going pretty well (for once). You try, and buy, practically everything you see because you look amazing in it all. But...


Then the guilt starts.

We've all suffered that pang of guilt after an absolutely massive shopping spree. We can feel our arms straining as we lug around our bags, without any real recollection of what we've just bought. We pile all our purchases into the car and then, panic as we look into our purse to see a million and one receipts.

We then try and justify why we needed to spend £100 on a pair of shoes (basically, we need shoes, unless we want to walk around bare foot?)

We next justify why we needed the same dress in three different colours and why we bought a new mascara, foundation and bronzer (because they had a free gift offer, it would've been stupid to have missed out).

So, after we've managed to convince ourself that we needed each and every item, the joy is back and we can celebrate the fact that, no matter what debt we may have generated, it's been an unbelievably successful shopping trip.

Plus, we will never have to go shopping again.

Well, not for another few days at least...