30 day Blogging Challenge Day 21: On Being a Shopaholic

For as long as I can remember, I have loved shopping. This goes back years to when I was small. And not very confident. For me, dressing in clothes I loved always made me feeI  great, somitvwas a confidence booster, and with the years I began to feel better about myself. 

I would always look forward to when my mum bought me something, whatever that was. I would especially look forward to clothes shopping. I would buy magazines just for the fashion trends inside their pages, and look at the pictures  as the text was too small to read. When I was older,  I would look for similar clothes in the shops and buy them. As a teenager,  I would literally  avidly follow the trends, but when I got to university, I would buy more classic clothes, and only buy a current trend if I really thought I'd wear it a lot. This habit has stayed with me, and I still use this criteria when buying clothes or accessories . My favourite shops are Mango, Zara Zara Home, TK Maxx  and Topshop. I really like House of Fraser too, especially as they stock Urban Decay makeup, which is my current favourite brand.  

Shoes are a different matter for me: because of the posture of my feet, and the fact I have relatively small feet (for years, I was a UK size 2,then a 4 . Now, I am a 41/2 or 5, depending  on the style of shoes. My feet are narrow, and I find it very hard to find supportive shoes, although I am in a wheelchair, as it is no fun being uncomfortable,  I love looking at shoes in shops, magazines or on websites,  but there are very few styles I can wear. I love boots for the cooler weather and love sandals for the summer like everyone else, but I have to choose more carefully, and I refuse to wear trainers all the  time, as everything I wear HAS to look good together. 

I love anything glittery or sparkly, or clean-cut, classic shapes and colours, and small patterns, if there have to be patterns. There are some colours I do not wear a lot of (geeen , yellow and blue) and I don't wear much white as with my coordination when doing things, they easily get dirty.  

I don't tend to buy clothes or shoes online, unless I have seen them in a shop first and am really sure I want  them, as I have had some online orders messed up as they have sent the wrong item or size. I once bought something from a webisite in the USA which turned out to be too big, but in the end I kept it thinking it will be good to wear when I want to wear layers in the winter. Sometimes, delivery costs put me off online shopping, although there are good offers online that can't be found in shops, and more  product variety. I will pay delivery costs if it is something I really want or can't get  easily or elsewhere. 

Every time I want to order clothes from the USA, I have to be sure to,look for size conversion charts. 

Shopping has always been a way for me to destress, and I feel better afterwards, even  if all I do is download a free ebook. I still love the warm fuzzy feeling I get after having bought something! Some people see it as me being materialistic, but it is not that for me. After all, if people are going to stare, why not stare at something that looks great on me rather than my glasses, or my wheelchair?