I haven’t regularly gone to garage sales in over a year. I rarely go shopping.

But yesterday, I had some time in a city that actually has some real stores, and I had just found a visa gift card that I received for Christmas.

And I wanted shoes. Everybody else in the world seems to have cute shoes. Everybody but me.

I sit in my discussion group circle at my Bible Study, and although I try not to, I can’t help noticing shoes.

So when I found the giftcard, AND I was going to be around some good stores, I envisioned the perfect day.

But then reality happened and the quick errand for hubby took 10 times longer than it should have, and my normally cheerful 3yo shopping buddy fell asleep during the 2 minute drive from hubby’s store to the store I actually wanted go to.

But I braved the circumstances and shopped anyway. And found no shoes.

So today I tried again. And I did find some.

But all of that time spent in random stores reminded me why I need to stay out of them.

Seeing all that “stuff” makes me dissatisfied. It makes me want. Even when I’m not buying anything but the shoes, I start making a mental list of all the stuff I would love to have. And the list goes on much farther than any available funds.

And of course, at garage sales (I LOVE garage sales) the funds DO go much further. So I get lots more. Usually lots more than I need. And I bring it home. And it becomes much less cute than it was when it wasn’t mine yet. And eventually I look around, and I realize that all of those things I thought would make me happy are really just clutter. And they not only DON’T make me happy, they actually make me miserable.

And yes, my old shoes were fine. (But I do love the new ones!)