A Case Study in Will Power Failure

It's the 25th of July, and I have to say, I have done pretty well with this month's MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. I've talked myself out of numerous JCrew *Extra 30% Off!* sale purchases, and deleted my Anthropologie Summer Sale email without even opening it. I haven't even gone to Target this month.

But then this morning I got off the Metra at the train station and was dazzled by the UP TO 40% OFF! STORE CLOSING! posters slathered over every centimeter of the station Borders.

My heart pounded. I started talking myself down from the urge to loot the whole store. But I knew how this Blowout Sale would go down. By this afternoon, that store will look like a swarm of ravenous locusts had descended upon it. You'd just find a few Happy Horses 2011 calendars and some slow cooker cook books lying disheveled on the floor. Tumble weeds would blow through the aisles. People would be disassembling the book cases and carrying away the wood.

But still, I tried to resist. Until I saw a 40% OFF sign hanging from the magazine section.

Oh. Joy.

I felt a serious daze come over me, and I walked straight to the rack and yanked out 5 - YES FIVE - of the magazines I have not let myself ever buy. The magazines that I only graze my fingers over adoringly in book stores because I do not know anyone who subscribes, and I refuse to pay $6 for them.

Ok, technically I have bought Martha Stewart Weddings before, but only when I was engaged. And I can justify that one as a "work expense" for my wedding flower side gig. I have not justification for the other stuff.
So with just 7 days to go until the end of the No Buy July, I failed. I got a really super deal on something that never EVER goes on sale and brings me a great deal of enjoyment. But I still failed. I'm going to console myself with the decision to not crack them open until my vacation next month, since I would have inevitably bought magazines for the flight.

Sigh. I guess one $16 failure this month is still better than I do most months on impulse purchasing. Maybe I'll go over these mags in urgent, delighted detail on the plane and then realize that they were not worth the $16 or the mission failure. Or, maybe I'll remember that magazines are one of my chief joys in life and clutch them to my chest with glee. It could really go either way.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did also buy a very BIG purchase last week, but it was planned, budgeted for, and sales-stalked for quite a while. I'm on the fence about keeping it, but if I do, I'll definitely give it a Big Reveal on the blog.