When I moved from southeast Hollywood, so convenient to Aventura shopping, to Miami’s Upper East Side, so inconvenient to shopping anywhere, I stumbled onto a wonderful way to save money: I gave up retail therapy.
I used to think it was fun to roam the malls, looking at this and that, occasionally buying something and otherwise treating shopping as recreation. I wasn’t a big spender, but I certainly didn’t say no to a cute blouse now and then, plus lunch, maybe a book.
Having to drive much farther and fight seemingly endless construction on U.S. 1 made shopping less attractive. So I began to shop like a man: I only went into a store when I was looking for a specific item.
I didn’t consciously set out to remove recreational shopping from my life, but when circumstances did that for me, I didn’t miss it. I can’t say I never spend an afternoon checking out Ross, then Loehmann’s and then Marshall’s, but I do it much less often. Age probably has something to do with my attitude change, but these days, shopping is work, not play.
Of course, men, as well as woman, shop online, which creates a whole raft of temptation. I subscribe to all kinds of deal e-mails for my work, and I sometimes see something I’d like to have at an excellent price. One night I ordered a 32-inch flat-screen TV for $400 and immediately regretted it. Thankfully, there was a computer glitch and the order didn’t go through.
I’d still like that flat-screen — but that would mean driving all the way to Aventura.
