I told myself I just to go look... (who was I kidding?)
And while I didn't buy an orchid at that event, I still ended up buying an orchid that very same day, although in a different nursery and 5 minutes before they closed for the night.
Comfort Buys
We sometimes jokingly call this "Retail Therapy" and such items, purchased during periods of retail therapy, are usually referred to as comfort buys.
We buy something we really don't need but we have this urge to buy it anyway or to buy anything because we think it will make us happy or happier. It will comfort us.
It is not just me
I come across this quite a bit when I am helping clients declutter and we find clothes with the tag still attached, and/or shoes still in the box and the shopping bag they came in.
Oftentimes when women buy clothes or shoes during retail therapy they later, once they are feeling better, realize that they don't really like those at all.
What we were trying to do was fulfill an emotional need with these comfort buys, just like we use comfort food to make us feel better. It just doesn't work.
The effects of comfort buys and comfort food
Comfort food usually adds some unwanted extra pounds to our waistline while comfort buys often end up as clutter in our home and money wasted.
In addition, the "feeling better" is often short-lived because we haven't dealt with the real issue that is bothering us.
Knowing all this doesn't always prevent us from doing it...
Even though I knew what I was doing - trying to comfort myself with buying an orchid - we sometimes can't help ourselves (not even as clutter clearing practitioners).
Just to have the awareness is already a step in the right direction. Next time we might be able to resist the urge to buy something and instead pay attention to and deal with our emotional state without spending money, creating clutter in our home or extra pounds on our waist.
Luckily I still love and enjoy my orchid, she does cheer me up while I am in the middle of dealing with the real issues.
This is the kind of awareness we are talking about in our eBook, especially in the section about mental, emotional, and social clutter.
You'll find many more helpful tips about decluttering and organizing your home, office, and papers in my eBook. Click on the image to the right --->
We have included lots of bonuses and checklists to help you move from Chaos to Peace
