Frumpy Flight Financials

Shopping is sort of a crazy love/hate thing for people like me and inner dialogues just make it that much more confusing. Yes, I want something new because my stuff is old. No, I don't need it. Yes, I know clothing doesn't have to be about "need", it can be a desire and that's okay. No, I don't want to accumulate stuff. Yes, I definitely have a too-much-stuff phobia. No, I still want it - even after all of this. Yes, I'll usually turn around and walk away instead of splurge.

But here's the catch - have you ever convinced yourself to purchase something like a shirt at regular price and then spilled something all over it a week later? The beautiful idea then becomes a rag, and the wrath of consumerism wins again.

Just to make it sting a bit more, I usually calculate out how much I paid each time I wore it. It's as if I were making a conscious decision to rent the stupid thing for $15 a day or something. Does no good, you're right, but I feel like maybe I'll be able to rationalize it all by then saying to myself "yeah, I'd pay that money each day all over again" or the more typical "that was such a waste of money for a new rag".

When I consider hideous airplane lines, packaged food, and the air pressure tightening my jeans and making me wish I were anywhere else, I usually try to think about the good deal I got on a flight. Similar to expensive clothing you wear two times however, it's usually the flights that, an hour before booking, catapult themselves into the "no WAY would I spend that on pretzels, security controls, and dry air ... except crap, I waited too long before purchasing" zone.

Inversely, clothing gets cheaper over time. The trend dies down. It's a luxury, I suppose...whereas flights just decide to hike up further and further for no apparent reason until you're calculating about $100 for your soda and snack. I'm in a "no WAY would I spend" zone right now with booking this flight to Interbike next week in Las Vegas. I sort of need to go, and I want to, but between yesterday and today the price for my ticket has not only shot up once, it's shot up three times. And besides that, the times are getting worse, and there are more connections, so it's taking me longer to sift through the already bad flights only to find even nastier flights. Hooray for obscene transportation! I may need some retail therapy...

Let the cycle perpetuate.