Hmm...

I think I'm being too hard on myself. I do want to save, and I want to cut down on spending, but I also want to enjoy life. Part of enjoying life, for me, means buying clothes! Labeling myself as "addicted" merely because of that is not fair. I don't have a constant need to go shopping (nor do I have withdrawal symptoms if I don't go shopping!). But browsing online does relieve stress, and it does lead to me finding things that are cute. My real problem is that I have never had to conform to a budget, and I think I need to allow myself some time to get used to the idea. I was making a lot of money at my last job, my bf makes a lot of money... and both he and I were of the mentality "if I see something I really want, I'll just buy it." It's a really satisfying mentality... but now, having moved down to this part-time job, it's just not realistic anymore. That hasn't totally sunk in yet. So on the one hand, I feel guilty, and have been writing these posts trying to "punish" myself, and on the other hand I'm still stubbornly feeling like I can and should buy whatever I want. And then my bf, who still can follow "see it, want it, buy it" is pressuring me to cut down, and that's frustrating... so I suppose I'm rebelling against both myself and against him!

I did my summer shopping. I'm going to take back the excess and be happy with the remainder. I'm going to work towards getting used to the constraints of a budget, and keep in mind that in 2 years, I'll be making much more that I did before, and after my loans are paid off, I can be budgetless again!