Ever since we arrived in London, its no secret I've wanted to leap and frolic through the stores on Oxford street and buy all clothes and shoes and handbags in sight! However, there is a slight problem with this fantasy though....

a) Its impossible to leap and frolic anywhere near Oxford street since its the most crowded shopping industry I've ever seen - its so bad in fact, the city is planning on creating lanes for "shopping walking traffic." That's right - shoppers to the side where the stores are and people who need to get by closer to the street!

b) It costs a lot of money that I technically could argue is in the bank but I'm not allowed to use it for shopping purposes. Rick and I both run a budget where we get a certain amount to spend a month - if we don't spend it, the money does carry over to the following month and you can save up to buy something more expensive. Overall its a really great system, because it usually keeps you in check and allows us to save money for the future (ahem, which is why we could afford to come to London). However, if you have shopping habits like me and tend to buy on a whim instead of planning ahead, your budget goes into what we like to call a "theoretical debt"! For example, I bought 2 pairs of lululemon's before we left canada when the amount of money I actually had in my spending allocation as around $20.00. Well you do the math, one pair of lulu's costs $100.00. Ever since then I've been in the negatives and haven't been working to pay that debt back! Its only been getting worse and now we've converted all of our budget into pounds. I am now at negative 216.68 pounds. Not good and of course I'm hearing it from the husband who's record/LP hoppy actually helps him make money back. Man, I never sell my clothes!

c) Finally does all this shopping really make me happy? Well its tough! I LOVE my clothes. But lately I've really decided I buy to much quantity and not necessarily items that really satisfy me over the long term - besides my lulu's of course. Yesterday, Rick and I went to a new church, enjoyed the Victoria & Albert Museum which blew me away and then enjoyed some cheap classical music performed by the BBC orchestra at the Royal Albert Museum. At the end of the day I was way happier spending time and money doing these things with my husband and creating memories. So its official... I can't believe I'm saying this, I'm on "lock down." I'm attempting (in the city of London of all places) to temporarily put my archaic clothing purchases on hold, other then one specific item that I've been hunting for a long time, so if I find it, it needs to be purchased otherwise I might never ever find it again. I start a new job in the fall and I will not be spending until the debt is paid off. Any future purchases made after this, I will attempt to plan ahead and really consider if it is something worth spending my money on.

What suddenly made me reflect on all this? Well, being away from all the people I love made me realise that buying things just isn't as good as spending time with the people you love. I don't want to spend all my money on things when I could use money instead to fly back to Canada during Christmas and see everyone.

Also, the New York Times published this article, and I warn you its a little long, but so worth it! A lot of its common sense, but I think its amazing our society is finally really starting to look at the way we've built our lives around consumerism and how it affects us. I love that professional people are actually starting to consider this concept of valuing people in their lives and the experiences they have other then default to "we need people to spend to keep the economy going." Take a look...

"But Will It Make You Happy?"

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