The Chronic Consumer

I have an ongoing argument with one of my friends that was revisited earlier today when we had lunch together. This person travels a lot for business, and always gets to stay in pretty nice hotels. When she stays at these places, she thinks it’s perfectly ok to take things out of the room as “souvenirs”, but I think this is actually stealing.

I mean, I can understand keeping the little bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and maybe the branded notepad and pen that are put out on the desk, but my friend doesn’t stop there. Going through her house is like taking a cross-country trip, as she has towels, bathrobes, glasses, mugs, and ashtrays from the various Orlando, New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and laughlin hotels that she’s stayed at. It’s kind of weird, if you ask me.

Anyway, I’d like to know what other people think. Is it ok to swipe these kinds of goodies from your hotel room, or is it straight-up stealing? Let me know your opinion!

Is it just me, or is there far more advertising all around us these days? I’m not just talking about the usual billboards and magazine ads; I’m talking about an increased number of digital signage displays in places like the mall, restaurants, the airport, and even busy city streets or major intersections.

Usually, I’m not a big fan of advertising (I routinely fast-forward through all commercials while watching TiVo and skip previews on DVDs), but I have to admit that most of the digital stuff I’ve seen is very cool and eye-catching. I’ve even “discovered” a couple of great new products from digital advertising that I never would have learned of otherwise, so that’s another point in its favor.

Anyway, what do you think? Is there too much advertising these days? Does it bother you or do you like being made aware of new products and services?

A couple days ago, I posted about a new test that can help determine whether or not someone is a shopaholic. I mentioned in my post something about not using shopping as a crutch to help get me through “emotionally tough times”, a phrase that apparently didn’t sit well with some readers. I got several e-mails telling me that this is a serious subject and that shopaholics need professional help just as much as heavy drinkers need alcohol rehab.

First of all, I apologize if I offended anyone, but I didn’t think I was making light of the subject at all. Friends and strangers alike really have made comments to me about possibly being a shopaholic. You have to remember that the products I write about on this blog represent just a small portion of what I actually buy, so that’s where the concern comes in.

Second, I do realize that shopping can become just as addictive for some people as controlled substances. I’ve read and seen many stories about shopaholics running up massive credit card debt, ruining their credit rating, and basically destroying their lives. But while those with substance abuse problems can go to a drug treatment center for help, shopaholics don’t have the same options.

I thought I was doing a good thing by pointing out the existence of that test and letting you know that now there’s a means of evaluating your level of shopping addiction. Again, I’m sorry if I offended anyone. That certainly was not my intent.

One thing I absolutely hate when shopping online is when web retailers don’t offer enough payment options. For instance, tonight I was all set to buy a cool t-shirt that I wanted, only to discover that the merchant wasn’t set up to accept credit card payments. What?? Are you kidding me? How hard is it to sign up with authorize.net to be able to process those types of transactions?

Needless to say, I canceled the order and ended up not buying anything from that site. What a bummer, because I really wanted that shirt — and I saw a bunch of other things on the site that I probably would have bought in the future.

Oh, well. I’m sure I can easily find other stores that carry the shirt. I don’t know how that other website is going to feel about losing customers though!

We’re going on a bit of a road trip tomorrow (just to La Crosse, WI to visit some friends), so I’m starting to pack a bag for the journey. After all, we need our entertainment!

Anyway, this is what I’ve got in my backpack so far: three MP3 players, three cell phones, two Nintendo DS Lites, a digital camera, a PDA, and a book reader. All for a 4 1/2 hour car ride!

I guess I never really thought of us as being tech junkies before. I mean, of course we love gadgets and toys, but I didn’t realize we had all this stuff — and that we’d “need” it just for a day trip!

The last post I made yesterday was from a restaurant while I was having dinner with my family. As I said, I was testing out blogging via cell phone, and am very stoked to see that everything worked smoothly. Being able to blog while out and about will allow me to make timely posts about interesting sales I come across, cool products that I want to buy, or even just great deals on Anoretix or whatever.

Posts that come in from my cell phone will likely be a heck of a lot shorter than they usually are, but that’s because even with a full QWERTY keyboard to work with, it takes a long time to punch out all the words.

Anyway, I’m very excited about posting with my cell phone from time to time — for now, at least. I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon enough!

I’ve been spending the last few days going through my closets and drawers to try to get a bit more organized. I want to give a bunch of clothes to Goodwill to reduce some of the clutter, and also just throw all the unwearable stuff out.

While I was going through everything, I discovered that a lot of my clothes don’t fit very well anymore. Most of my pants and jeans are too big in the waist now, which also makes them too long since they hang lower. I guess this is one of the bad side effects of weight loss, that your clothes might end up not fitting anymore!

So now I’ve got to buy a whole new wardrobe for the fall. I work at an office job a couple days a week, and on those days it’s essential that I look presentable, so I really have no choice here. I wish I didn’t have to spend all this money on new clothes, but I guess I should just be grateful that I’m buying smaller sizes instead of bigger!

Okay, this isn’t shopping related at all, but I just can’t escape from Olympic news right now, so I figured I might as well join the frenzy. Michael Phelps, the 23-year-old American swimming phenom, won his record-tying 7th gold medal yesterday after coming out on top in the 100m butterfly. This was supposed to be his “signature event”, but he ended up winning by just .01 seconds — and surely looked like he was going to lose.

At any rate, that was the very first event of this Olympics that I saw live in its entirety (no kidding), and was the first time I really took a look at Phelps. All I have to say is, wow he is really cut! Great muscle definition without a hint of body fat anywhere.

I recently read an article about how Phelps has to eat 12,000 calories per day just to have enough fuel to get through his rigorous training regimen. Can you imagine having to scarf down that much food? I’d need a truckload of weight loss pills to help me recover from even one day of 12,000 calories, never mind trying to live like that!

I’m not sure when Phelps will go for his 8th gold of these games, but there’s really little doubt that he’ll get it (even though it’s a relay). After that, prepare for even more of a media frenzy surrounding this guy. He’ll get endorsements galore, and add to his list of sponsors that already include such brands as Speedo, Omega, Visa, Power Bar, and AT&T.

I consider myself relatively lucky since I only have one child to feed. That certainly makes things easier on us when money is tight like it has been for the past several months. I can’t imagine what kinds of struggles families of 4, 5, or 6 people are dealing with as the economy continues to stagnate.

But yes, even for a family of 3, there are numerous budget cutbacks that we’ve had to deal with. For example, we don’t have any “fun money” to speak of at all anymore, which means we haven’t been going out to dinner or even out for ice cream at all. We haven’t been going bowling, miniature golfing, or go karting either — all activities that we usually love to do during the summer. And worst of all, we’re not going to go on a vacation this year.

These aren’t the only cutbacks we’ve had to cope with. My husband is not getting any overtime at work, so his paychecks have been considerably smaller than we’re used to. Everyone always says don’t count on overtime pay when calculating your budget, but he had been getting steady overtime for more than 5 years, so it was hard not to take that extra money into account.

In addition, we’ve had to cut our grocery budget by $20 per week in order to be able to afford a basic cable package. That kind of sucks, but I’ve just been eliminating junk food and snacks, and buying generic brands when possible, so I’ve made do thus far.

Hopefully some areas of the economy will start to recover soon. I know the housing rescue bill that President Bush just signed will provide much-needed assistance to qualified home owners and mortgage lenders, so maybe that will have a trickle-down effect on the rest of us.

I’m hoping and praying that it does, because I want to get back to my carefree days of shopping sprees and impulse purchases!

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