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Friday, February 24, 2006

Credit Cards and My 18 Year Affair

I still remember my first piece of plastic. It was a Citibank MasterCard, it was then followed by Lerner's, Macy's and Discover and about 26 others.

During my young adult years, I spent a lot of time shopping. My favorite hobby was shopping. When I went out with my mom and sisters, we went shopping. When I hung out with my girlfriends, we went....you guessed it SHOPPING!!! But it was more than that for me. I was obsessed with the little rectangular piece of plastic. I mean I loved the colors, the logos and the feeling of power that the plastic gave me. I searched high and low for a wallet that had enough slots to dispaly my little trophies of power and adulthood (and bondage as I would later learn).

As time went on, the shooping became therapy. I realized that every time I was upset, happy, sad or really angry...I shopped. God forbid I had an argument with a boyfriend. I would come home with outfits, chocolates and anything else I could purchase with plastic. It got really, really bad and ugly very quickly. Why? Because I stared collecting those little plastics. It didn't matter what department store they belonged to or what the store sold. If they had a card, I wanted it. I didn't even have a driver's license or car, but I had a MOBIL card.

What did I buy? Everything. I would take the hour and a half break between my two morning classes in college (in Manhattan) to walk to the village from 23rd street and shop all the way there and all the way back. I always walked in to class with bags, (I bet you everyone called me the bag lady). I would climb over the desks, bags in tow. Sometimes I would frequent Godiva, other times I would hit Bloomingdale's. I just wanted to shop, shop, shop. I worked two jobs just to be able to afford that lifestyle, but it caught up with me years later. When I started a family and wanted to stay home with my oldest son, I started to learn the error of my ways.

To Be Continued...



2 comments:

Anji said...

I remember the feeling when I made my first purchase with plastic. It didn't feel like spending money at all.

MrsEm said...

Do you think credit cards are technically addictive? I just read that Australian lawmakers are considering putting health warning labels on credit cards just like the warnings on cigarettes and alcohol.