Impulse Shopper Regret….How Did That happen?
Last Sunday with a little time to kill — the kids and I left church and headed to Walmart.
Hubby and older son were in lovely downtown Bostwick as hubby filled in for a sermon. Which is nice and religious and all, but left me with no CHILDCARE. Maybe it was beautiful weather, maybe I was still heady from church? Don’t know. But for whatever reason, delirium took place of reason, off to Walmart I travelled with 5 year-old and 8 year-old .
Before stepping through sliding door I vowed, “No impluse purchases to pacify nagging, begging, hanging-all-over-cart-so-you-can’t-move children.”
Made it about 200 yds.
Deodorant. My 8 year-old daughter started pleading for deodorant. Why?
Hannah Montana.
“Mama, I need deodorant. Can I have deodorant?” I caved on the deodorant. $4.20 worth of caving. (Can you believe Secret costs $4.20? ) I thought well, encouraging deodorant is a good thing and I can always use Hannah Montana deodorant if need be…
Then we put two beta fish in cart.
A blue one for daughter, “Blueberry.”
A red one for son, “Big Guy.”
Daughter remarked, “Blueberry has nice highlights.” As of this post, Big Guy has been dead for 24 hours. Sorry for the big guy. Overfeeding would be my guess.
We approached the CDs. Daughter leapt for Hannah Montana recording.
“No, no, no…you already have your Hannah Montana deodorant. If you want the CD, you have to put the deodorant back.” She chose the deodorant.
I put a Jackson 5 Greatest Hits CD in cart.
Impulse purchases are funny. When examining each purchase, individually they don’t seem like that big a deal. Then you find yourself wheeling cart out of the store looking at register tape wondering… how did that happen?
Life is like that. Lots of little impulse actions — losing temper here, overeating Oreos there, charging a trip to Hawaii to get mind off money woes — can add up to pushing a cart full of chaos. And a life minus peace and JOY.
It’s easier to fill up my cart with impulse items while shopping with children because I want to make the pain of shopping with children go away. It’s easy to fill up my life with impulse actions when I don’t stop, be quiet and realize I’m just trying to make unpleasant realities go away.
Search for quiet. Calm chaos. I don’t seem as impulsive when I’ve found quiet and reflective time. When I focus my daily energies on what’s really important.
I vow to be more in touch with my impulse emotions…Oh dear. What if they come out with Hannah Montana Oreos.
Now that is a poser.
That made me laugh…alot!
Wow Jamie. I just loved this post. First all, I’m laughing cause I did read your twitter about your Walmart trip and I could so relate! I could relate here too. A “couple” of impulse items and suddenly you’ve spent $50 extra.
I don’t know why they have Hannah deoderant, because as soon as you’re old enough to need it, you are embarassed by Hannah, (even if you secretly still like her).
Finally your analogy was dead on. Gave me lots to think about today, and I loved it!
Kelly Combs