I plan to avoid unnecessary shopping again this year. I'm aiming for 6 months of no shopping and my husband has agreed to join me. This will probably be harder for him because he loves to shop more than I do. I seldom shop on line, for example, while little boxes come in the mail for him all the time. We can do this. We will have to find other forms of entertainment besides hanging out at the malls. We can still go out to eat, and we can stay home and play with the toys we already own. My daughter has said she will try to take the no-shopping pledge as well. I hope she can. We all have way too much stuff. Not adding to it is refreshing.
Naturally I found the perfect poem. I heard this on the Writer's Almanac on Christmas Eve morning. The line about the closet full of shoes particularly hit home.
Oniomania
Not so much the desire
for owning things
as the inability to choose
between hunter or emerald
green, to buy
just roses, when there are birds
of paradise, dahlias,
delphinium, and baby's breath.
At center an emptiness
large as a half-off sale table.
What could be so wrong
with a little indulgence?
To wander the aisles of fresh
new good things knowing
any of them could be hers?
With a closet full of shoes
unworn back home,
she's looking for love
but it's not for sale —
so she grabs three of
the next best thing.
By Peter Pereira
