Help Us, Oprah

Monday: brown Valentino slingbacks

I was flipping through the channels on Friday night when I happened upon the late-night repeat of that day’s Oprah. Sure, I dip in when she makes must-see TV with James Frey — or Tom and Katie — on her couch, but this time she spoke to me on a much more personal level. The subject of the show? Join the Debt Diet!

Now, I don’t really have a debt problem — anymore — but when I looked into the eyes of the women featured on the show, I saw my soul. First there was Lisa, who spent her family into $170,000 of debt, simply to “look the part no matter what the cost.” Gulp. Then there was Marnie, one of whose weaknesses was impulse-spending on her crafts, including knitting and beading. A thousand bucks on beads at a time and cha ching! $81,000 of debt. Her rationalization? “I feel really guilty about spending the money on [crafts], but at the same time, you cannot always just focus on everything horrible in your life.” Double gulp!

Of course they also did things that I never could — like throwing away bills instead of paying them (I guess I’m a masochist; I look at mine) or letting their level of debt grow bigger than their annual income (no I haven’t done it but I admit it does look easy). So in a sense watching the show made me feel better about myself. But at the same time, like any recovering addict (or I guess any functional addict, whether it’s through better cash flow or temporary restraint), I feel like I’m always on the precipice. I could slide down that slippery slope any day. And I see too much of myself in their type of behavior, their rationalizations. Let’s just say I’m on the spectrum.

But does that mean that I have to return the Louis Vuitton bag I just ordered? That I won’t start shopping for my spring wardrobe? That I’m not allowed to order another Lainey sweater when her trunk show comes to town?

What, do you think I’m crazy?

This entry was posted on Monday, February 20th, 2006 at 2:14 pm and is filed under Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.