Its official. I am a shopaholic. To be precise - I am a possessions aholic. And the first step to healing is admission of ones addiction right? I am disgusted with myself. I thought i only turned to food when i got happy/depressed/tired/bored.....but i am forced to realize that i also turn to CLOTHES as the answer to all of lifes ills. Going to a party? must buy a new dress. Gained weght? Must buy new outfits to look skinnier in. Special ocassion coming up? Must buy new clothes to celebrate. Had a fight with husband? Must buy new outfit to vent anger and feel better ( how messed up is that one!!) Had a new baby? Must buy clothes that will fit when ive lost all the baby weight....hahahahahahahaha......NOT funny!

Today i compiled 4 large garbage bags full of clothes that either:a. dont fit me ( and one wonders if they ever did...lets say they fit in the category of - "I shall buy this because Im going to lose weight real soon and then i will wear this divine outfit that probably only Posh Spice could ever squeeze her self into.)
b. fit me but look ridiculous - they represent various phases in my life where i was posessed by a fashionista demon who convinced me i would look good in a hot purple shiny skirt....or a peasant top that all the supermodels are wearing with those big belts but on regular ole me just looks dumb...or long flowing pants that the catalogue aptly named "resort wear" and of course im planning a trip very soon to a resort (ha ha) but when i put them on they only look extra big and baggy and my butt looks extra big and baggy also...hmmm.
c. fit my children but they wouldnt be caught dead in them - Theyre only 9 and 12 ( the older two) but already they turn their noses up at my fashion choices for them. My son patiently explains to me - Mum, shirts with 2 pockets in the front are for girls okay? He says it reaaaaal slow like i have trouble spikking his language...
d. dont fit anybody but they were on sale and heck it was a crime not to buy them. I went crazy once at a Bendon factory shop sale....Elle Mcpherson bras for only 5 dollars?! In select sizes - no problem...i buy at least 10 of them only to get home and realize that in my frenzy i have bought the wrong size and none of them actually fit me. Now im faced with a decision....do i put them away and save them for the faraway day that my 7 year old grows up and requires bras? (and lizards and roaches eat holes in them?) or let them go the road of all clothes that nobody wears?

e. clothes that fit my husband perfectly...and have fit him for many well worn years and look it and he doesnt want to part with them ever and i have to hide them so he wont know im discarding them....
As i lug these bags of clothing to the car, i ponder on all the ragged children on the streets of Saleufi, Mexico, the Sahara and everywhere else...and i feel totally disgusted. I commit, I promise, I shall NEVER ( and i repeat ) NEVER buy anymore clothes for anyone in my family ever again. Or at least for a year.But its not just clothes. Theres an over abundance of possessions in my home everywhere. There are suitcases that we moved into this house with 6 years ago and stored in the top cupboards that we have never opened. What could possibly be in them that is of value seeing as how we have done without it for so long? Theres 2 freight containers outside crammed with various pieces of furniture broken and otherwise..ldvd players that dont work, two treadmills that broke down ( from disuse...i kid you not) bikes, garden tools, 3 old computers, the list is endless....all testament to our addiction to accumulating things we thought we needed/wanted/couldnt live without...Then as well as the junk there is the possessions that are deemed too precious to actually use. I refer for example to the floral china dining set gifted to me by my mother. Which we have never eaten off. Even in our wildest dreams. Unlike my mother - i dont have upper crust six course dinner parties ( where all my children get dressed in black and white so they can be the waiters to serve each divinely prepared entree) So when in heck am i ever going to use this dining set? I have table cloths, napkins, sheets that are too beautiful to use...which i opened up today to find stained with lizard poop and chewwed by hungry roaches. Soo all the years i was saving this beautiful cloth for that special day, denying my children the chance to even look at it....the pests and vermin were having a field day with it. The madness must stop!

What is the moral of this story? Throw out your junk today. Stop buying crap you dont really need. Crack out your treasured heirlooms and use them before they fall to bits. I dont know if it works for you - but tomorrow nite, were eating a piza dinner off floral china plates and toasting each other with sprite in fancy stemmed wine glasses! Woohoo! Oh - and we'll be wearing clothes that actually fit and dont look too ridiculous.