I’m supposed to be getting rid of stuff and paying down my credit card balances.
Instead, over the past three weeks or so, I’ve started buying things again. Buying things online. Buying things I don’t really need. Buying things on a whim. Buying things based on a passing fancy. Buying things because I’m depressed. Since October 6th I have purchased:
From Amazon: music CD, White Goddess by Frank Hunter and his Orchestra (exotica music) – $15.39
From Amazon: music CD, Far Away Lands by Gene Rains and his Orchestra (exotica music) – $14.99
From Amazon: music CD, Songs for Suburban Savages by The Tiki Tones (exotica music) – $9.99
From Amazon: hard cover book, Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention by Paul Guinan – $5.36 + $3.99 (used)
From Amazon: Kindle ebook, Let’s Get Digital: How to Self-Publish by David Gaughran – $4.99
From Amazon: Kindle ebook, Zen of eBook Formatting by Guido Henkel
From eBay: 119 Franke Reade Library dime novels on CD – $9.99 + $3.00 shipping
From eBay: 9 issues, Pluck & Luck circa 1918 – 1920 dime novels / story papers featuring Jack Wright stories – $72.00 + $22.00 shipping
Total spent: approximately $161.00, or about half what it would cost me to list my house for sale on a Multiple Listing web site, or about the amount it will cost to purchase the rest of the materials I need to replace the planks in the front deck.
I make very poor decisions when I get depressed, which is why I end up both broke and buried in clutter, which results in my becoming even more depressed.
Additionally, since the purchases are mail order, they often do not arrive for one to several weeks – the CDs are just starting to trickle in now – by which time the “desperately pressing” need I felt to own the item has usually passed. For example, I have not even opened the envelope in which the first CD arrived.
Oh well. After scanning the cover images and the story sections I want – I purchased the “dime novels” for a longer-term reason, supposedly – I can probably resell the Pluck and Luck story papers and recoup at least some of my expenditure.
I need to stop buying things. I want to stop buying things. Apparently, however, I don’t want it enough!
Oh, also: I feel like I’m coming down with another cold. 🙁