REI and Stress Relief (not like that!)

I've been having a lot of trouble this term. Take, for example, the fact that I'm writing this post instead of finishing my paper that's due tomorrow, studying for my midterm I have tomorrow, or prepping for the county Board of Supervisors meeting I have to cover for my reporting class tomorrow morning. I need some sort of stress relief to counteract the immense amount of stress school is causing me. Last term I spent long hours in soaking in the bathtub with a glass of wine and a trashy romance novel. It worked pretty well.

However, in January my water heater somehow fried itself and had to be replaced. The new one basically sucks. My water pressure is crap, the water doesn't get hot enough for me, and it doesn't last long enough. Because of this I can't take baths anymore -- I can't get the water hot enough (I like it so hot it's just short of burning), and I don't like feeling cold in the bathtub, so it completely loses its appeal. As a result, that form of stress relief is out.

Unfortunately, the new one I seem to have developed is much, much more dangerous: I've been shopping online. Apparently I've gained an addiction to REI.

Quite frankly, I'm embarrassed and more than a little ashamed by the amount of money I've put on my credit card in the last two months. Not to mention worried. There is absolutely NO way I can pay it off, and due to some late payments I have that horribly high penalty APR of 29% on my card. And even while I'm having a panic attack about this, I still log on to REI Outlet and buy more! I can't control myself! In my defense, I only buy the sale items from REI Outlet instead of the regular REI site (REI is insanely, ridiculously, outrageously expensive).

The way I got started was with the $100 Visa gift card my brother gave me for Christmas. I mentioned that I would probably use it for groceries and my parents told me to make sure to buy something non-food or bill related with it. My original plan had been to get some durable travel-friendly clothes for when I eventually go back to Afghanistan (as I hope I will). So that's what I did. Unfortunately, once I started I couldn't stop. I'm too scared (and ashamed) to even think about totaling up how much I've spent. I've also gotten a few things from ExOfficio, Patagonia, 6pm, and now Old Navy. It's spreading! Ahhhhh!

I'm trying to control myself, and I hope it works. But I've been trying for the past few weeks, and I just spent another $500 or so. I'm hoping to have enough self-control to send most of it back, but I'm not very good at self-control. Basically, I don't have any.

But on the other hand, I've gotten a lot of nice, good-quality clothes that should last me a long long time and serve me well in my future career. I also made the decision to stop buying normal, fashionable clothes and buy these travel clothes instead. Only it snowballed. I meant to do it gradually, over the next few years. Instead I've done it over the past few months. I just bought a hiking backpack that was half off (backpacks are really expensive, so that's actually quite a good deal) and a pair of hiking boots. Those are major purchases, more expensive than anything else I've bought, and the most important so I'm hoping that will cure me of this driving need I have to click that "Purchase" button.