The Woes of Shopping

I don't really like clothes shopping. It's like I feel like I should be able to walk into just about any store and find something that I like. Unfortunately, my body has too many variables to really make shopping an easy thing: my limbs, my shape, I hate anything at my true waist (it looks terrible), I like to be modest, I believe in comfortable shoes, I don't like any kind of brand visible on my clothing.

You can see how clothes shopping could be a difficult thing for me. I know I'm not the only girl out there who doesn't like or has a hard time shopping, so it's hard to really complain. We are all built so differently, and I'm sure it's really difficult to make clothes to fit all of the body types out there. And it's especially hard since you can't really tell who will like what styles.

Another inherent problem with this situation is that I tend to wear the same clothes all the time. For a long time. If the shirt or pants are still intact and don't have stains, I'll probably still wear them. This mentality is rough when your sisters tease you about a certain shirt monstrosity that you've been wearing for years. I have a skirt that I've been wearing for about ten years now. It's an awesome skirt because it doesn't need to be ironed. I can throw it in a bag, and it will come out looking just fine. I used to wear it with the shirt monstrosity.

Then that creates a problem for when I walk in my closet, look around and hate everything in it. If almost all of my clothes items are old, it's just depressing. Periodically, we all need something new, even if it's just one item.

Because of this problem, I have decided to trick myself. I've done it a few times without really planning it, but I think I'll start planning it. When I have to go shopping, I try to find at least one thing that I like. I usually buy more than one shirt at a time, so it has worked well with shirts. After shopping, I wear the new shirt. I feel like a new, cool person when I have the new shirt on, like my wardrobe is not nearly as pathetic as it really is. And then I wait. I don't pull out the other new shirt until I walk in my closet one day, look around and think to myself, "Ugh, I don't want to wear any of these same old shirts again today. I wish I had something new." And then, viola! I have a new shirt still in the bag! (I keep it in the bag so I can't visibly see it and count it as mine during the routine of picking out something to wear.) And then that helps my mood. I feel new and cool again, only I've used one shopping trip and made two awesome periods of time out of it, instead of expending it all at once!

So, that's what I do to curtail the woes of shopping. Do you think I'm crazy? Or do you do something similar?

Okay, so I was going to be done with this post, but I decided that I want to mention that my dislike of shopping has affected my dating life. It's amazing how guys can be really judgmental about whether a girl does or doesn't like to shop. If the guy likes to shop more than I do, I think to myself, "Yes! He is awesome! Maybe he will go shopping for me and buy me clothes that will magically fit!" But of course, that is not realistic. This is probably more what the guy is thinking, "Wow, this girl has no taste in clothes and wears the same thing all of the time. This will never work if I like shopping more than she does." It probably makes the guy feel more like a girl (or causes him to think I'm really a man) because for some reason we have adopted stereotypes as a society with regard to gender and shopping. And stores tend to reflect that stereotype because, well, have you seen the clothes section for men? There is very little variety there. The styles don't change as much as they do for women, and really, you've got a choice between collared button ups, polos, and tees. Sad. End rant.